Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in YouTube images and lyrics from the group, Big Daddy Weave, singing a contemporary version of the old hymn … Trust and Obey … poignantly singing of how we must trust and obey in God’s word to lead us into this new year.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Ecclesiastes 9:10a [NLT] … 10 Whatever you do, do well. …
… Simple but profound advice from a man who had discovered that a life lived for self was meaningless.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Ecclesiastes 9:4-12 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Solomon proclaims that the only meaning in life comes from moving ahead and living life as well as one can for God’s glory.
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Reference Passage : … Psalms 139:23-24 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… My prayer to live wisely in this complicated/confusing world.
Reference Passage : … Proverbs 3:5-6 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… The only way to live wisely is to trust God’s truth completely and beware of our own instincts, feelings, and fleshly desires, which can - and will - lead us astray.
Reference Passage : … John 14:21 [NLT] … 21 Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love Me. And because they love Me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal Myself to each of them.”
… Jesus charges us to obey His commandments (in His word) so that He can manifest Himself in/thru us.
Reference Passage : … Ephesians 5:15-17 [NLT] … 15 So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. 16 Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. 17 Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.
… God, thru Paul, exhorts us to live as wisely as possible in this world polluted with evil.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Poh Fang Chia, uses a personal illustration to show how we must be wary of our feelings and let God’s truth, thru His word, guide us through this complicated/confusing world. The ODB author writes … I’ve always wanted to learn how to play the cello. But I’ve never found the time to enroll in a class. Or, perhaps more accurately, I haven’t made the time for it. I had thought that in heaven I could probably master that instrument. In the meantime, I wanted to focus on using my time in the particular ways God has called me to serve Him now.
Life is short, and we often feel the pressure to make the most of our time on Earth before it slips away. But what does that really mean?
Do any of you reading here feel, as often as I do, that we’re wasting the time God has given us, especially when circumstances confuse or confound us? Do I sense an “Amen?”
Well, after King Solomon had come to his later life, he became “a Teacher from his experience and failures,” and he put forth the strong truth at the end of his personal journal, declaring ”That’s the whole story. Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty.” [Eccl. 12:13] And that’s God telling me (us) that the only way to make life meaningful in the time we have is to trust and obey Him (thru His word); and then to do all we can to follow our Lord into eternity.
How about it? How’re we doing as we head into the New Year? Personally, you’ll find me here EVERYDAY, doing all I can to follow my Lord’s “GPS,” i.e., His word. So, join me, if you like, and we can do all we can together to live wisely in this wacky world and to avoid the flesh, … walking in the Spirit, doing all we can to glorify our Lord as He leads us into eternity.
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for Your “GPS,” … Your word.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, … King Jesus, … I pray, Lord, that all reading here can, and will, join me in a resolution this new year to do all we can to trust and obey God’s word, walking in the Spirit as we march together into 2019. … 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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