Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video and lyrics from Chris McClarney singing … Beauty for Ashes … poignantly singing about how our God is willing to make us over from the ashes of death into the beauty of life.
=============
Highlight Verse[s]: Matthew 6:4 [NLT] … 11 When the king heard what was written in the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes in despair. … [Ordering the Priests] … 13 “Go to the Temple and speak to the Lord for me and for the people and for all Judah. Inquire about the words written in this scroll that has been found. For the Lord’s great anger is burning against us because our ancestors have not obeyed the words in this scroll. We have not been doing everything it says we must do.”
… Josiah recognized that repentance and renewal were needed to follow God’s ways.
==============
Highlight Passage [context]: 2 Kings 22:1-4, 8-13 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Josiah, the young King of God’s people, recognizes that the Israelites needed a “do-over” to follow God’s will and His ways from His word.
=============
Reference Passage [NLT] : … Luke 9:23 [NLT] … 23 Then He said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be My follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow Me.”
… Jesus commands His disciples to change from selfishness to “Saviorness”
Reference Passage [NLT] : … 2nd Corinthians 5:15- 17 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … … Christians must realize that we are new in Christ, made-over by our repentance and surrender to the One Who made the do-over possible by His death on the cross.
Reference Passage [NLT] : … Philippians 1:6 [NLT] … 6 And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
… The truth about God doing a complete make-over of our character into that of Christlikeness.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Kirsten Holmberg, writes about an adoption where doing things over changed everything for their new son (see photo). The ODB author wrote: When we brought our adoptive son home from overseas, I was eager to shower him with love and provide what he had lacked over the preceding months, especially quality food, since he had a nutritional deficit. But despite our best efforts, including consulting specialists, he grew very little. After nearly three years, we learned he had some severe food intolerances. After removing those items from his diet, he grew five inches in just a few months. While I grieved at how long I’d unwittingly fed him foods that impaired his growth, I rejoiced at this surge in his health!
When I became a Christian over 3 decades ago, I came to recognize that I needed some serious repentance and a “do-over” from the way I had lived, sinfully and selfishly, to the way commanded by Jesus in Luke 9:23. And the remainder of my life has been a fulfillment of God’s promise (from 2Cor. 5:17 and Phil. 1:6), a “make-over” from my former selfishness into a character much more like my Savior Jesus.
And I pray we all know that this is a life-long process which will only be completed when we’re with Jesus in glory. So, PTL for His willingness to give us this “do-over” and to become more like our Lord today than yesterday and even more tomorrow than today.
My Prayer Today: Abba Father, … King Jesus, … Precious Spirit … Help me, Lord, to surrender to You today for Your complete make-over into Your image. … 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