Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images from Don Men leading worship and singing … God Will Make A Way … poignantly singing of how God will help us find our way thru the worst of life’s challenges.
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Highlight Verse[s]: 1st Thessalonians 3:12-13 [NLT] …
12 And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows. 13 May he, as a result, make your hearts strong, blameless, and holy as you stand before God our Father when our Lord Jesus comes again with all his holy people. Amen.
… Paul had been thru so much; and he so wanted others to experience the depth of God’s love as he had found thru God’s grace.
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Highlight Passage [context]: 1st Thessalonians 3:6-13 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Paul prays that his fellow Christians could discover the depth of God’s love in their lives and to share it with others.
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Reference Passage [NLT] : … John 13:34-35 [NLT] …
34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are My disciples.”
… Jesus so wanted their love for each other to show God’s love for all mankind.
Reference Passage [NLT] : … 1st Corinthians 13:13 [NLT] …
13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
… Oh how the Apostle wanted other Christians to discover God’s greatest grace … and that is love.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Anne Cetas, used a personal observation of a group processing how they could do more to show God’s love in the world. The ODB author wrote: “Is God doing something new in your life?” was the question the leader asked in a group I was in recently. My friend Mindy, who is dealing with some difficult situations, responded. She told of needing patience with aging parents, stamina for her husband’s health issues, and understanding of her children and grandchildren who have not yet chosen to follow Jesus. Then she made an insightful comment that runs contrary to what we might normally think: “I believe the new thing God is doing is He’s expanding my capacity and opportunities to love.”
As the Apostle Paul traveled his known world and went thru so much (go read 2Cor. 11:22-33) and as he shared God’s good news with others, he prayed for these lost ones to find, to know, and share the love of God [see photo], … that love and grace that he had experienced (see the highlight passages). And Jesus wanted His disciples to share His “agape” love for others by sharing their love for one another (see John 13:34-35), knowing that God’s love is the greatest character trait that He gives us to share with our fellow man (see 1Cor. 13:13).
Currently a horrific hurricane, called “Harvey,” tore thru the US city of Houston; and as a result of the devastation from wind and floods, the people of the USA have shown togetherness and giving in probably the greatest display of love seen in America in decades. And this is in the context of some of the worst exhibits of hatred and separation seen in America as well. I believe that this has been God showing Americans how His ways of love can always overcome the worst storms of selfishness in our lives.
I pray we learn His lesson.
My Prayer Today: Abba Father, … King Jesus, … Dear Lord, … may we see how Your love is the only answer we have to defeat our selfish nature. … 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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