Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of song and lyrics from the group Avalon singing their song … Orphans of God … poignantly declaring that the truth that true children of God can know that there are no orphans in the family of God.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Acts 20:32 [NLT] …
2 “And now I entrust you to God and the message of his grace that is able to build you up and give you an inheritance with all those he has set apart for himself. … “
… Paul leaves his dear fellow Christians in Ephesus to return to Jerusalem; but he knows they will be able to be protected by God’s Spirit and His promises which the Ephesians inherited from Paul’s teaching/shepherding.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Acts 20:17-20, 32-38 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Paul says a fond good-bye to his spiritual children in Ephesus, leaving them under the watch-care of God’s Spirit and His uplifting word.
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Reference Passage [NLT] : … Isaiah 41:10 [NLT] …
10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am Your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.
… The Prophet speaks God’s promise to His family that He’d alway be there to watch over us.
Reference Passage [NLT] : … John 14:15-18 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus tells His Disciples that He will be leaving them but will never abandon them by sending His Spirit to live in their hearts forever.
Reference Passage [NLT] : … Romans 8:31-39 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Paul shows all Christians that fellow born-again believers cannot and will never be separated from God’s love.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Amy Boucher Pye, used a personal family reference to teach on where our real home will be in glory. The ODB author wrote: I had a lump in my throat as I said good-bye to my niece on the eve of her move to Massachusetts to attend graduate school at Boston University. Though she had been away four years as an undergraduate, she hadn’t left our state. A two and a one-half-hour drive easily reunited us. Now she would be more than 800 miles away. No longer would we meet regularly to talk. I had to trust that God would take care of her. …
Whether it’s children we launch from the nest or other family and friends who move away—saying good-bye can be very difficult [see photo]. They move beyond our influence and into their new lives. When we let go of their hands, we can trust that God has them in His. He can continue to shape their lives and meet their real needs—more than we ever could.
Sure, … we all likely have had to say a fond good-bye to a dear one, haven’t we; … whether it’s at their funeral or when they go off from our watch-care to go it on their own? But for us Christians, as Paul felt for his beloved Ephesian friends (see highlight passages) , it’s uplifting to know that when we have loved ones who’re in the family of God, they will ALWAYS be under the watch-care of a loving Father, with His Spirit living in them.
As Jesus promised never to leave us alone (see in John 14) and Paul encouraged us that in our relationship with Christ we can NEVER be separated from God’s love (see in Romans 8), … as the group Avalon sings, “There are no orphans” in God’s family; and we will always be under His caring hand when we are in surrender to His Spirit [see Isaiah 41:10].
I pray that we all know and feel His love today.
My Prayer Today: Abba Father, … King Jesus, … Dear Lord, … I thank You … right now … because I know that I'm headed toward home with You, dear Father. 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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