Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images and lyrics from Stephen Curtis Chapman and with him singing … His Strength Is Perfect … a song I often go to when I’m feeling weak in mind, body, or faith.
Highlight Verse[s]: Jeremiah 1:8 [NKJV] …
8 Do not be afraid of their faces, for I AM with you to deliver you,” says the Lord!
… God is faithful to help us through even the most challenging patches of life.
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Highlight Context: Jeremiah 1:1-10 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jeremiah, is given a difficult charge but also the promise of God’s strength to deal with his prophetic and difficult life ahead …
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Reference Passage #1 … Proverbs 3:5-6 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… But do we really trust our Lord to lead us.
Reference Passage #2 … Isaiah 26:3 [NKJV] …
3 You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.
… If we desire to have God’s peace, we have to stay focused on Him and not on our selves or our circumstances.
Reference Passage #3 … Philippians 4:13 [NKJV] …
9 I can do all things through Christ, Who gives me the strength.
… It’s the message of the song from Stephen Curtis Chapman linked above.
My Journal for Today: … Our Daily Bread author, Lawrence Darmani, who is from Ghana, tells a story of personal threat to illustrate how Christians must deal with the troubles in life. He wrote: When I served as an intern for a Christian magazine, I wrote a story about a person who had become a Christian. In a dramatic change, he said goodbye to his former life and embraced his new Master: Jesus. A few days after the magazine hit the street, an anonymous caller threatened, “Be careful, Darmani. We are watching you! Your life is in danger in this country if you write such stories.”
That was not the only time I have been threatened for pointing people to Christ. On one occasion a man told me to vanish with the tract I was giving him or else! In both cases, I cowered. But these were only verbal threats. Many Christians have had threats carried out against them. In some cases simply living a godly lifestyle attracts mistreatment from people.
We all have times in our lives when we feel threatened or highly stressed; and we may even feel like we don’t have the strength to handle what we’re going through. But in such times don’t you just love to be lifted up by meditating on stories of faith like Moses leading God’s people from Egypt, … or Elijah’s faith in bringing down fire from heaven, … or in Jesus’ Disciples who were delivered from weakness and fear to become strong warriors for the faith.
Right now, my friends, we’re living in perilous times; and the prospects for peace and security don’t look good, do they? But when things get tough, even frightening, … I choose to remember and believe and live in the promises of truth provided by God to the likes of Jeremiah or Isaiah or the Apostle Paul (see Scriptures above); and I will do as Stephen Curtis Chapman sings and let God’s strength cover my weakness.
My Prayer Today: Heavenly Father, … Your strength, Lord, is perfect when my strength is gone. Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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