Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of lyrics from Ryan Stevenson singing … Eye of the Storm … powerfully singing of the reality we Christians can find in our relationship with Christ when the storms of life engulfs us.
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Highlight Verse[s]: 1st Chronicles 28:20 [NKJV] …
20 And David said to his son Solomon, “Be strong and of good courage, and do it; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord God—my God—will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you, until you have finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord.
… Solomon gets encouragement from God thru his father to carry out the instructions of God to build His Temple.
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Highlight Passage [context]: 1st Chronicles 29:9-20 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… King David turns over the awesome task of building God’s Temple to his son, Solomon, who must’ve been overwhelmed by the task.
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Reference Passage #1 [NKJV] : … Isaiah 41:10 [NKJV] …
10 “Fear not, for I AM with you; be not dismayed, for I AM your God. I will strengthen you, … Yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with My mighty right hand.
… No matter what rough waters we face in life, God is there to help us thru.
Reference Passage #2 [NKJV] : … Luke 8:22-25 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… As long as we’re in the boat with Jesus, we must have faith that He is in control.
Reference Passage #3 [NKJV] : … 1st Corinthians 10:13 [NKJV] …
13 No temptation [also translated “TRIAL”] has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted [or tried] beyond what you are able, but with the temptation [or trial] will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
… God is faithful to lead or carry us thru any temptation/trial.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Joe Stowell, tells a personal story to illustrate the rough waters in life we often must navigate which test our faith in our relationship with Christ The ODB author wrote: I was enjoying the start of my first whitewater rafting experience—until I heard the roar of the rapids up ahead. My emotions were flooded with feelings of uncertainty, fear, and insecurity at the same time. Riding through the whitewater was a first-rate, white-knuckle experience! And then, suddenly, it was over. The guide in the back of the raft had navigated us through. I was safe—at least until the next set of rapids.
Transitions in our lives can be like whitewater experiences. The inevitable leaps from one season of life to the next—college to career, changing jobs, living with parents to living alone or with a spouse, career to retirement, youth to old age—are all marked by uncertainty and insecurity.
I think it’s pretty easy to see how this word picture applies to our lives, can’t we? Certainly we’ve all faced trials in life which seem like the roughest of whitewater rafting; … or maybe like those rough waters faced by Jesus and His disciples in the storm described in Luke 8 (see link). But like Jesus’ Disciples in that boat, we need to realize that Jesus is in the boat with us; and we need to have the faith described centuries earlier by Isaiah when God’s people were sinking in their self-induced storm of sinfulness (see Isaiah 41:10).
In these storms or rough waters of life, we need to have the faith described by Paul to fellow believers, exhorting them (us) to remember that God will always be faithful to lead or help us thru any trial in life (see 1st Cor. 10:13). And when we do come thru the rough waters, as Ryan Stevenson sings in the linked song, we’ll find that God is ALWAYS in control.
My Prayer Today: Heavenly Father, … Lord, … Help us face this patch of rough waters with the faith that You will carry us thru. … 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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