Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video and lyrics from Brian Littrell singing a new version of the old hymn … I Surrender All …poignantly singing of the reality of the only way we can capture the power of our Lord …. to surrender our self to the Savior.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Romans 12: 10 [NLT] … 10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; …
… It’s how we should treat one another; … yes, even those who offend us.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Romans 12:1-13 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God, thru Paul, teaches of the ultimate Christian irony … that we can only capture God’s empowering grace thru surrender to His Spirit.
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Reference Passage [NLT] : … Luke 9:23 [NLT] … 23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. ..."
… Jesus declares strongly that it takes surrender of self to Him to be able to follow Him as His disciple.
Reference Passage [NLT] : … Philippians 2:3-8 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Paul’s teaching on Christ’s modeling of humility for those of us who follow Him as disciples.
Reference Passage [NLT] : … 1st Peter 5:5-7 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Peter exhorting Christians to surrender in humility to others so that God will lift us up and take our cares upon Himself.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, David C McCasland, taught on how we model our lives to follow after Jesus, humbly surrender our lives to Him and treating others like He treated others when He walked among us. The ODB author wrote: The story we tell is about Jesus, the Savior, who gave His life for us. Together with other believers we live for Him and share His love with others.
Romans 12:3–21 describes the attitude of humility and love that should permeate our relationships with each other as followers of Jesus.
The white flag of surrender (see photo) is not a symbol that we Christians, especially in the west, relish, is it? Yet, it is the flag that Jesus modeled and taught that we should carry in our relationships with each other.
If we cannot learn and live the reality that we only can glean the empowering love and grace of God through surrender to His Spirit and humility to others, we are going to live powerless lives as Christian disciples. Jesus declared this clearly to His followers in Luke 9:23 … that we must deny ourselves and follow (or model ourselves after) Him. And the Apostle Paul (in Phil. 2:3-8) exhorted Christians to be just like Jesus - humbling ourselves to each other. … And finally, it’s what Peter taught [in 1Peter 5:5-7] and exhorted fellow Christians; … to avoid pride which blocks God from showering His grace upon His followers.
And it’s one of those Christian ironies of life; … that we must wave the white flag of humility and surrender to God’s Spirit so that our Lord can - and will - pour His enabling/empowering grace into our lives, giving us the strength and power to overcome our human weaknesses.
So, as we go forth today, let’s imagine that we’re carrying Christ’s white flag, announcing to others our surrender to follow Jesus.
My Prayer Today: Abba Father, … King Jesus, … Precious Spirit … I’m waving Your white flag of grace today!! … 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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