Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video with song and lyrics from the Maranatha Singers singing truth from our Savior … My Peace I Give Unto You … Poignantly singing Jesus’ promise to give us His peace.
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Highlight Verse[s]: John 14;27 [NLT] … 27 “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. …”
… A red letter promise of peace to all who would trust and believe in Him.
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Highlight Passage [context]: John 14:15-27 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus promises His disciples - and US TOO - His peace, … a peace that the world will never understand!!
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Reference Passage [NLT] : … Proverbs 3:5-6 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God, thru Solomon, challenges us to TRUST HIM for the way we are to go in life and to avoid leaning on our own feelings.
Reference Passage [NLT] : … Isaiah 26:3 [NLT] … 3 You (LORD) will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, all whose thoughts are fixed on You!
… God, thru the Prophet, show us how to avoid stress … by focusing on HIM!
Reference Passage [NLT] : … Philippians 4:6-7 [NLT] … 6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
… God, our Heavenly Physician, gives His absolutely solid prescription for anxiety.
Reference Passage [NLT] : … 2 Timothy 3:16-17 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Paul teaches us how focusing on God’s truth - from His word - gives us all we need to handle the stresses of life.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, David Roper, teaches on something we all experience - STRESS - and Jesus’ prescription for our dealing with anxiety. The ODB author wrote: We have an ancient cherry tree in our backyard that had seen better days and looked like it was dying, so I called in an arborist. He checked it out and declared that it was “unduly stressed” and needed immediate attention. “Take a number,” my wife, Carolyn, muttered to the tree as she walked away. It had been one of those weeks.
Indeed, we all have anxious weeks—filled with worries over the direction our culture is drifting or concerns for our children, our marriages, our businesses, our finances, our personal health and well-being.
Do I sense an “AMEN” to this last paragraph? ... Yeah, … if we all put a “stress meter” (see photo) on our lives, many of us would measure high on the scale, wouldn’t we? So, today, thru my focus on God’s truth - from this ODB entry and His word - I was reminded of God’s prescriptions for our handling the stresses of life. Four points [i.e., prescriptions] to take away from God’s promises and His truth today …
—> Self focus … OR … Savior focus ?? (see Isaiah 26:3)
Do we find ourselves focusing on self a lot? If so, we’re taking our eyes off of the One we should be following. He said to follow Him (hope you have Luke 9:23 internalized!); and so, should we be surprised that trying to go it on our own leads to stress? I think not!!
—> Question God … OR … Trust God ?? (see Prov. 3:5-6)
Again, … are we trying to lean too heavily on doing things or controlling things on our own? That’s a danger zone of selfishness!! … But if we can trust in God’s will and follow Him thru His word, He will lead us in His ways; and that’s the safest place we can be!
—> Self disciplines … OR … Faith disciplines ?? (see Phil. 4:6-7)
All too often we try to develop our own “TO DO” list, with self directed habits, rather than becoming and being disciplined in such things as finding purpose through prayer and meditation on God’s word. What are our primary disciplines in life; … yoga or prayer? The former can be helpful, … the latter can be life-saving!
—> Worldly influenced … OR … Godly influenced ?? (see 2Tim. 3:16-17)
Does taking in talk radio … or the daily news … or the lunch room gossip really help to reduce the stress in our lives? … DUH!! … I’m here every morning, starting my day, focusing on God truth to jump start my day in a way that ALWAYS gives me peace, joy, and His love. Pretty good prescription for stress reduction, wouldn’t you say?
Well, fellow Christian, you decide which focus you’d rather have … on stress or the Savior?! Personally I think it’s a no brainer!!!
My Prayer Today: Abba Father, … King Jesus, … Precious Spirit … Help any of us here, Lord, to take Your prescriptions for producing the peace that only You can give us. … 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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