Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube of images and lyrics from Phillips, Craig, and Dean singing … Your Grace Still Amazes Me … poignantly singing of how God’s amazing grace is a mystery but available to all who’re willing to come to the Father with repentant hearts, willing to surrender to the Lord’s saving or sanctifying grace.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Luke 15:18-19 [NLT] … 18 I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, 19 and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’
… When we’re willing to go to the Father with our confession and repentance, He’s ALWAYS willing to forgive and redeem us.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Luke 15:11-24 [NLT]… USE THIS LINK …
…Jesus’ parable of the lost son indicating that there’s always redemption for our sin when we’re willing to confess and repent of it to the Father.
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Reference Passage : … Isaiah 53:6 [NLT] … 6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.
… We’ve all gone beyond God’s law of purity; but God made a way, thru His Son, for our redemption and restoration.
Reference Passage : … John 3:16 [NLT] … I think you know this one, don’t you?!!
… God’s love extends to any/all who’re willing to bring their sin for His redeeming grace.
Reference Passage : … Romans 3:23, 4:7 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Paul declare our universal sin nature but God’s eternal forgiveness being available to any/all who come to Him in repentance for His redemption.
Reference Passage : … 1John 1:9 [NLT] … 9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from ALL wickedness.
… There’s simply no sin - except a life-long rejection of Jesus as the Son of God - that can’t or won’t be forgiven if we’re willing to confess/repent that sin.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, David H Roper, uses a farm story to illustrate God’s willingness to forgive even the worst of sins. The ODB author writes … When I was in college, I worked a summer on a ranch in Colorado. One evening, tired and hungry after a long day of mowing hay [see photo], I drove the tractor into the yard. Acting like the hot shot I thought I was, I cranked the steering wheel hard left, stamped on the left brake, and spun the tractor around.
The sickle was down and swept the legs out from under a 500-gallon gasoline tank standing nearby. The tank hit the ground with a resounding boom, the seams split, and all the gasoline spewed out.
The rancher stood nearby surveying the scene. I got off the tractor, stammered an apology, and—because it was the first thing that popped into my mind—offered to work the rest of the summer without pay.
The old rancher stared at the wreckage for a moment and turned toward the house. “Let’s go have dinner,” he drawled.
It’s a good story with which most - if not all - of us can identify. Yeah, we’ve all likely done things which we probably thought there was no way we could be forgiven or redeemed, haven’t we? But when we take in Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son/father (in the highlight passage), we see the reality of the rest of the Scriptures above, … all of which declare that any/all sin that we’re willing to bring to the Father in confession/repentance, can be - and will be - forgiven, allowing us to be redeemed and ultimately restored to God’s family of love.
I don’t think I need to write any more, do I? No, … let’s just all take in the song and join with the singers, praising God for His amazing grace!!!
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for Your redeeming/restoring … AMAZING … grace!!
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, … King Jesus, … I pray, Lord, that all reading here have come to the place in life to be able to experience God’s amazing, redeeming grace. … 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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