Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images and lyrics of Jason Gray singing his song … Glow In The Dark … poignantly singing of we need to look past our feelings and stereotypes and see people with the light of our relationship with Christ.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Judges 11:29[NLT] … 29 At that time the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he went throughout the land of Gilead and Manasseh, including Mizpah in Gilead, and from there he led an army against the Ammonites.
… In the final accounting of his life Jephthah’s abilities and gifts rose above his heritage with his people coming for him to lead the people in battle.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Judges 11:1-8, 29 [NLT] …USE THIS LINK …
… Jephthah was a mighty warrior, rejected by his people because of a rather questionable heritage.
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Reference Passage : … Proverbs 3:5-6 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Often people misjudge our present based upon faulty perceptions or assumptions about our past. But when we simply trust God to lead us, … HE WILL.
Reference Passage : … Hebrews 11:32-34 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God, thru Isaiah, promises to ALWAYS be there to lift us up in moments of trial/trouble.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Tim Gustafson, used a reference to a common question which is often used to delve into one’s life and make judgements on that person’s life base on his past or heritage. … The ODB author wrote: “Where are you from?” We often use that question to get to know someone better. But for many of us, the answer is complicated. Sometimes we don’t want to share all the details.
How often do we stereotype and make judgements about people based on surface observations, like skin color, or partial information about one’s past? And often such profiling can lead to inaccurate or improper judgments about someone’s current abilities. That was the case in today’s highlight Old Testament passage about a leader of the people of Gilead named Jephthah.
Jephthah’s people had driven him out of their tribe based on the fact that his mother was a prostitute; but later when Gilead was threatened by the Ammonites, they came back to Jephthah, who is mentioned in God’s NT “Hall of Faith” (see Hebrews 11:32-34, to lead them in battle because of Jephthah’s then recognized leadership in warfare.
Lesson: We should “judge” people based on the fruit of their relationship with God and not on surface observations or past heritage. Watch the linked video, take in the attached photo, and then realize that we must not rely on our fickle human feelings to lead us, but rather God’s guiding light of truth (see Prov. 3:5-6).
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Lord, Jesus, thank You for leading us with Your light of truth.
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My Prayer Today: Abba Father, … King Jesus, … Precious Spirit … Help me avoid letting my faulty perceptions and narrow sightedness get in the way of following Your truth. … 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.
2 comments:
Thank You Lord for the gift of discernment and the blend of the fruits of the Spirit that give us Your wisdom in our relationships. Without these provisions our human feelings certainly get in the way! Especially with people we encounter each day, it is so easy to place feelings above love. Lord give us patience with the more difficult people in our lives and remind us what we were once like before inviting You to be Lord and Saviour in our own hearts. Amen!
Good word, Diane ... !!! ... Bill
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