Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video and lyrics from the group Third Day singing a contemporary version of the old hymn … Blessed Assurance … poignantly singing of the assurance and hope we have in Christ that our story will end in glory with our Lord. … And THEN TO THIS LINK to hear another version of the same hymn song sung by “Elevation Worship” … and sing along with the hope that we have in Christ … “Oh what a Savior, … wonderful Jesus!!”
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Highlight Verse[s]: Revelation 22:3-4 [NLT] … 3 No longer will there be a curse upon anything. For the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him. 4 And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads.
… It’s the perfect ending for mankind after our fall in the garden.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Revelation 22:1-5 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God gives John (and us) His vision of what is to come in glory … the best of all endings to HisStory.
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Reference Passage [NLT] : … 2Corinthians 5:17 [NLT] … 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
… When anyone comes to know Christ as Lord/Savior, he/she becomes a new person, being made-over, by sanctification into Christlikeness.
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.
… God’s Spirit is doing a remake of all who are in Christ … making us over into His image.
Reference Passage [NLT] : … Revelation 21:1, 5 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… John wrote down the vision God gave him (and us) of the New Jerusalem … the new earth, redeemed and renewed for God’s glory and our eternal home.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Amy Boucher Pye, related a story of a friend’s confusion about the ending of the movie, Apollo 13 [see photo]. The ODB author wrote: As the lights dimmed and we prepared to watch Apollo 13, my friend said under his breath, “Shame they all died.” I watched the movie about the 1970 spaceflight with apprehension, waiting for tragedy to strike, and only near the closing credits did I realize I’d been duped. I hadn’t known or remembered the end of the true story—that although the astronauts faced many hardships, they made it home alive.
Apparently the ODB author’s friend, in viewing the movie about the Apollo 13 mission in 1970, which had a glorious ending, got confused with the horrible ending to the Challenger space shuttle diaster in 1986. And her confusion illustrates how one would view our eternal future if we had the viewpoint of someone who doesn’t KNOW, beyond doubt, what awaits mankind when God unfolds His Story (i.e., HISTORY). And God has done this for all who would believe in His rescue from death into eternal life in the vision the Apostle John documented in God’s “Revelation” story.
When we read that book, especially the final two chapters, and if one believes them, as do I (and hopefully any reader here with me), it has to give us hope. Yes, as when Apollo 13 reported, “Houston, we have a problem,” we humans have a definite “problem,” which started in the Garden of Eden and has gotten us to where we are now. But like the ending to the Apollo 13 mission, our life has been and will be saved; and we will live forever with our Lord (as we read in the highlight passages).
If we believe that, we can live with a very different hope and perspective than that of an atheist, who cannot see anything beyond this “Challenger”-like mission in life. To that person, our earthly mission is all there is; and yes, “Houston, we [definitely] have a problem!” But to me, in Christ, I am being repaired (see 2Cor. 5:17 and Phil 1:6) and I see nothing but a glorious reunion with my Savior in glory. How about you, dear one?!
My Prayer Today: Abba Father, … King Jesus, … Precious Spirit … I am so thankful for having been rescued from death and brought to an eternal hope of glory with You, dear Lord. … 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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