Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images and lyrics the group Mercy Me singing their song … Even If … poignantly singing of reality of the trials of God when God seems so far away … that the fires of life produce the purity of our character.
=============
Highlight Verse[s]: Psalm 66:10 [NLT] … 1
0 you have tested us, O God; … You have purified us like silver.
… The key to God’s peace is trustfully focusing on our relationship with our Lord.
==============
Highlight Passage [context]: Psalm 66:8-12 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… The Psalmist sings of God testing His beloved to bring them the abundant life.
=============
Reference Passage #1 [NKJV] : … Job 23:10 [NLT] …
10 But He (the Lord) knows where I am going; and when He tests me, I will come out as pure as gold.
… With all that Job went thru, He still maintained faith in His Lord to purify him thru the testing.
Reference Passage #2 [NKJV] : … John 16:33 [NLT] …
33 I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
… Jesus actually promises His Disciples that they (we) will have many trials in this world; but He also promises that He has overcome the world.
Reference Passage #3 [NKJV] : … James 1:12 [NLT] …
12 God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
… Jesus’ brother, James, also exhorted persecuted Christians to see the trial of life as a test which will produce the crown of royalty.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, James Banks, used an apt word picture about this life which accurately pictures the way many of us feel a lot of the time. The ODB author wrote: My training for the long-distance race was going badly [see photo], and the latest run was particularly disappointing. I walked half the time and even had to sit down at one point. It felt like I had failed a mini-test.
Then I remembered that this was the whole point of training. It was not a test to pass, nor was there a grade I had to achieve. Rather, it was something I simply had to go through, again and again, to improve my endurance.
Perhaps you feel bad about a trial you are facing. God allows us to undergo these times of testing to toughen our spiritual muscles and endurance. He teaches us to rely on Him, and purifies us to be holy, so that we become more like Christ.
If you’ve taken in the linked song and the word picture painted by the OBD author above, as well as the truths of the Scriptures, there’s really not much need for me to comment further, is there? This message is clear; isn’t it?
And what we need to do is to relish in the reality that our God has overcome the fires of this life; and EVEN IF (as the song sings) we are thrown into the cauldron of life as Christians, all the flames will do is purify us for glory.
My Prayer Today: Abba Father, … King Jesus, … I find joy in my trials, knowing that they are to prepare me for my eternity with You. … 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment