Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube of images and lyrics from Kari Jobe singing … You Are For Me … poignantly singing of how our loving/caring Heavenly Father is ALWAYS there for us … not matter what!!
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Highlight Verse[s]: Matthew 26:39 [NKJV] … 39 He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”
… Jesus in dire human pain, but knowing that His Abba Father loves Him … no matter what.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Matthew 26:36-39 [NKJV]… USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus in agony prays in the garden for His Heavenly Father to take the cross away and find another way …
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Reference Passage : … Matthew 28:20 [NKJV] … 20 … and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” … Jesus’ promise to His Disciples (and to us) …
Reference Passage : … Hebrews 13:5 [NKJV] … 5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
… God’s assurance that He will never forsake us in our times of pain/trial.
Reference Passage : … 1Peter 5:6-7 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Peter assures fellow Christians of God’s undying, faithful, caring, eternal love.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Adam Holz, uses a personal story of dealing with his young son’s pain to illustrate how our Heavenly Father must’ve grieved over the pain of His Son. The ODB author writes … I didn’t expect a profound lesson about the Father’s heart at the dentist’s office—but I got one. I was there with my ten-year-old son. He had an adult tooth coming in under a baby tooth that hadn’t fallen out yet. It had to come out. There was no other way.
My son, in tears, pleaded with me: “Dad, isn’t there another way? Can’t we just wait and see? Please, Dad, I don’t want to have this tooth pulled!” It just about broke my heart, but I told him, “Son, it’s got to come out. I’m sorry. There’s no other way.” And I held his hand as he wriggled and writhed while the dentist removed that stubborn molar, tears in my eyes too. I couldn’t take his pain away; the best I could offer was to be present with him in it [see photo].
That story of the dad in agony over his chid’s pain is one with which I can empathize, having been there with a daughter, writhing in pain, in my arms; and all I could do it be there and hug her and assure her that I’m there for her. And Christian parents who’ve been in situations like that have just an infinitely small reflection of what it must’ve been like for Jesus’ Abba Father, His Heavenly Dad, to hear His divinely perfect Son praying for the pain to pass, but knowing that all He could do, as God, the Father, was be there for His Son and hear His pain.
Today, we may experience a trial that we’d rather not face, … one which may be painful; … but it may be a trial we know is necessary. So, … we, who know we have an Abba Father Who cares, … a Heavenly Father Who has promised always to be there for us; … we must go to Him, just as Jesus did in Gethsemane, and be loved by an Abba Who loves us dearly and eternally.
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for being there for me - ALWAYS - in my pain.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, … King Jesus, … I pray, Lord, that I will always know Your faithfulness in my moments of pain; and experience Your eternal love. … 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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