Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images and lyrics from Alan Jackson singing the old classic … Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus … poignantly singing how we must focus our eyes on our relationship with Christ and not let visions of worldly/fleshly things divert our attention from God’s grace.
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Highlight Verse[s]: 2Corinthians 4:17-18 [NLT] … 17 For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! 18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.
… Focusing on the here-and-now will take our mind’s eye off or what is really important … our relationship with Christ.
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Highlight Passage [context]: 2 Corinthians 4:8-18 [NLT]… USE THIS LINK …
… Paul exhorts Christians to focus on Christ and the Cross rather than on our circumstances
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Reference Passage : … Isaiah 26:3 [NLT]… 3 You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
… God’s anti-anxiety prescription is to keep our trusting focus on Him.
Reference Passage : … John 10:10 [NLT] … 10 The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
… Since Jesus’ promise here is truth,… so, why would we ever take our eyes from His purposes and dwell on what the world or Satan would try to get us to see.
Reference Passage : … Romans 8: 28, 39 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Truth [!!], … showing us that nothing can separate us from God’s love … and that our God works thru all of life’s circumstances FOR OUR GOOD.
Reference Passage : … Hebrews 11:1 [NLT] … 1 Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.
… Seeing life thru the eyes of faith keeps our focus on God’s will and His purposes and reduces or eliminates our anxieties about the circumstances of life.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Anne Cetas, uses an illustration of how a friend of hers used a glass cross to keep his focus on Christ and away from the troubles of the world. The ODB author wrote: My coworker, Tom, keeps an 9 inch by 12 inch glass cross on his desk. His friend Phil, who like Tom is cancer survivor, gave it to Tom to help him look at everything “through the cross.” The glass cross [see photo] is a constant reminder of God’s love and good purposes for my friend, Tom.
That’s a challenging task for all believers in Jesus, especially during difficult times. It’s so much easier to focus on our problems than on God’s love.
I so love the simple, but powerful message of Alan Jackson’s rendering of the old hymn, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, linked above, because it gives the same TRUTHFUL message as the ODB today. And the truth is that when we can take our eyes off of our own desires and the lures of the world (and Satan), we can see so much clearer what’s really important thru eyes of faith.
That’s the message of all of those truths from God’s words provided above for the meditation of any reader here. Perhaps you’re one whose attention has been anxiously focused on some challenging circumstances in your life. Well, God gives us His anti-anxiety prescriptions (see above); but we must choose to view life thru the eyes of faith, trusting that God is in COMPLETE control and always doing or allowing what is good for us.
So, let’s turn our eyes upon our Lord today and see life His way!!
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Lord, Jesus, thank You for giving me eyes of faith.
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My Prayer Today: Abba Father, … King Jesus, … Precious Spirit … Shine Your light brightly on Your purpose so that I can easily see it today. … 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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