Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube of song and lyrics from Shelly Moore singing … Jesus, I Come … poignantly singing of how we take our challenges to God first.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Nehemiah 1:11 [NKJV] … 11 O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.”
… God’s servant’s first response in the face of enormous sadness and challenges was to pray.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Nehemiah, Chapter 1 [NKJV]… USE THIS LINK …
… When Nehemiah was confronted with the news of the wall falling in Jerusalem, motivated to take action, his first response was prayer.
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Reference Passage : … Proverbs 3:5-6 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Even when we know we can take action, we need trust God and take our concerns, first, to Him.
Reference Passage : … John 16:33 [NKJV] … 33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
… Jesus’ promise to be our overcomer when we encounter fearful things in this world.
Reference Passage : … Philippians 4:6-7 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… When we, as Christians, are confronted with worrisome or stressful challenge, prayer should be our first battle strategy.
Reference Passage : … 1 Peter 5:6-7 [NKJV] … 6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
… We first must take our cares to God rather than harboring them in our own concerns.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Linda Washington, uses the story of a dear auntie, who illustrates what our first approach to problems should be … prayer! The ODB author writes … I respect my Aunt Gladys’s intrepid spirit, even if that very spirit concerns me sometimes. The source of my concern came in the form of news she shared in an email: “I cut down a walnut tree yesterday.”
You must understand that my chainsaw-wielding aunt [see photo] is seventy-six years old! The tree had grown up behind her garage. When the roots threatened to burst through the concrete, she knew it had to go. But she did tell us, “I always pray before I tackle a job like that.”
The ODB author’s somewhat humorous story does illustrate the kind of response we, as Christians, should always have when we’re faced with a perplexing or anxiety-producing challenge; and that is the same strategy used by Nehemiah when he learned that the walls in Jerusalem had been destroyed (see highlight passage). And that battle strategy, of course, was first - and foremost - to go to God humbly in prayer.
And so, if we’re faced with some daunting, maybe even fearful, challenge today, I pray that we all will use the same life strategy as did the chain-saw wielding Auntie or our biblical example of Nehemiah, bringing our challenges, as Paul wrote about in Phil. 4:6-7 to God in prayer … FIRST!!
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, for always being there to hear my concerns when I bring them to You.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, … King Jesus, … I’m praying that all who’ve gathered here to read my journal entry today are doing what the linked song sings and bringing all our concerns/cares to You, Lord, … FIRST. … 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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