Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube of song and lyrics from Phillips , Craig, and Dean singing … He’ll Do Whatever It Takes … poignantly singing of how God’s Spirit will do whatever it takes to lift up the fallen child of God.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 [NLT] … 9 Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. 10 If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble.
… The Spirit, thru “The Teacher” shows us that “Lone Ranger” Christianity will never be as effective as two working together for God’s glory.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Ecclesiastes 4:8-12 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… “The Teacher” (i.e., Author) of the journal shows that we are made to help one another in times of need.
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Reference Passage : … Proverbs 27:17 [NLT] … 17 As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.
… Christians, working together and helping one another are so much more effective than any one of us working alone.
Reference Passage : … Philippians 2:3-4 [NLT] … 3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
… God, thru Paul, exhorts Christians to look out of the interests of each other.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Kirsten Holmberg, uses a personal remembrance to illustrate how “Lone Ranger” Christianity just doesn’t cut it in life. The ODB author writes … My children have enjoyed the thrill of a backyard ice-skating rink during our cold Idaho winters. When they were young, learning to skate was challenging: persuading them to deliberately set foot on the hard, icy surface proved difficult because they knew the pain of falling. Each time their feet slid out from under them, my husband or I would reach out to pull them again to their feet, setting them upright and steadying their frames. [see photo] …
When we find ourselves flattened on the cold ice of life’s hardships, is there a helping hand nearby? If so, it might be from God. Or when someone else needs a friend, could we be God’s answer to lift them up? In being a companion, we often find one.
I pray all reading here, … from the ODB entry, the song, and the Scriptures above, … realize that we’ll never be as effective as disciples of Christ if we go it alone in life. … NO, … and I repeat from above, … “Lone Ranger” Christianity just doesn’t cut it!!
We were made in God’s image to be relational; … i.e., to lift one another up, just as God’s Spirit will do all He can to lift us up when we’re down (hear the linked song!). So, let us all look out today, and all days, to be “iron sharpening iron,” and to do what Paul exhorts [in Phil. 2:3-4, … doing all we can to look out of the interests of others.
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for always being there to lift me up when I’m down.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, … King Jesus, … I pray, Lord, that all reading here reach out to lift some one up today who happens to be down. … 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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