Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images and lyrics from the group Mercy Me singing their song … Even If … poignantly singing how, in the midst of life’s worst challenges, our faith in a God Who is ever able to deliver us is all we have to sustain us.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Daniel 3:17-18 [NLT] … 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. 18 But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”
… These three had an “EVEN IF” faith … do we?
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Highlight Passage [context]: Daniel 3:6-18 [NLT] …USE THIS LINK …
… Shadrach, Mesach, and Abednego would not bow down before the King’s idol …EVEN IF … they were to be thrown into a fiery furnace.
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Reference Passage : … Romans 8:28 [NLT] … 28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
… Yes ALL things are for our GOOD, … EVEN IF … it doesn’t seem like that in the middle of the circumstances.
Reference Passage : … 2 Corinthians 9:8 [NLT] … 8 And God will generously provide all you need. … ALWAYS … EVEN IF it doesn’t seem like it at the time.
… God, our provider will give us all we need, … and more, … EVEN IF things seem overwhelming.
Reference Passage : … 2 Corinthians 12:9 [NLT] … 9 Each time He [Jesus] said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.
… Jesus provides Paul, in a time of great trial, the truth and hope that God’s grace will ALWAYS be enough to help us … EVEN IF … He doesn’t deliver us from the trouble immediately.
Reference Passage : … Ephesians 3:20 [NLT] … 20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.
… For sure, our God is able!!
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Alyson Kieda, used the story in the book of Daniel about the three boys who would not bow to the King’s idol [see photo] and were delivered by God from a fiery furnace … to illustrate the type of faith our Lord wants all of use to have, … an “EVEN IF” faith. … The ODB author wrote: Sometimes life deals us a tremendous blow. Other times the miraculous happens. …
God desires that we cling to Him—even if our loved one isn’t healed, even if we lose our job, even if we are persecuted. Sometimes God rescues us from danger in this life, and sometimes He doesn’t. But the truth we can hold firmly is this: “The God we serve is able,” loves us, and is with us in every fiery trial, every even if.
Fellow Christian … if you take in and meditate on the story of Shadrach, Mesach, and Abednego, and hear the linked song by Mercy Me, … I think you’ll get the message of this ODB devotional, … that God desires all of us to have an “EVEN IF” faith. And that is the type of faith the three boys had when they were thrown into the fiery furnace, … a faith to believe that God COULD deliver them, … EVEN IF … He didn’t.
And the question, as we face the fiery trials of life, is … do we believe God can deliver us; … and are we willing to hold on to our faith … EVEN IF … He doesn’t?!
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Lord, Jesus, thank You for giving me the faith to know You can deliver me.
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My Prayer Today: Abba Father, … King Jesus, … Precious Spirit … I stand ready to be thrown into the fire, knowing that You, Lord, are able to deliver me. … 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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