Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time as I asked readers yesterday 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 God’s word to lead us into this new year.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Psalm 143:8 [NLT] … 8 Let me hear of Your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting You. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to You.
… In total surrender to God’s Spirit, David asks for the Lord’s guidance.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Psalm 143:4-11 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… King David desperately seeks the guidance of God’s Spirit.
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Reference Passage : … Psalms 139:23-24 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… When we’re confused as to directions in life, it’s good to ask God to show us the way.
Reference Passage : … Psalm 119:105 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 105 Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.
… God’s word is our “GPS.” [God’s Positioning System] … But we must use it to give us direction in life.
Reference Passage : … Luke 9:23 [NLT] … 23 Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be My follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow Me. … “
… Jesus charges us to deny our flesh and follow Him if we are to take His road in life.
Reference Passage : … 2 Timothy 3:16-17 [NLT] … 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.
… Really all we need to do is use God’s “GPS” to equip us to move down His path in life.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, John Blase, uses a personal story to illustrate how, so often, all we need to do is use God’s “GPS,” His word to guide our paths in life. The ODB author writes … My father has always had a directional sense I’ve envied. He’s just instinctively known where north, south, east, and west are. It’s like he was born with that sense. And he’s always been right. Until the night he wasn’t.
That was the night my father got lost. He and my mother attended an event in an unfamiliar town and left after dark. He was convinced he knew the way back to the highway, but he didn’t. He got turned around, then confused, and ultimately frustrated. My mother reassured him, “I know it’s hard, but ask your phone for directions. It’s okay.”
For the first time in his life that I’m aware of, my seventy-six-year-old father asked for directions. From his phone. [See photo]
I don’t know about other readers here; but I really identify with the ODB author’s dad. Once when my wife and I were traveling by car and she knew we were lost, I remember telling her, “We’re not lost, I just don’t know where I am.” And of course, I was unwilling to just stop at a gas station and ask where we needed to go. But these days I must admit that with our “GPS” on my cell phone [see photo], I am willing to ask “SIRI” where I need to go.
And I hope that my fellow readers realize and rely on the illustration I’ve used often in past journal entries, … that God’s “GPS” is His word with HIs Spirit empowering direction finder. And that’s what King David was expressing his surrender to follow the Lord when he was desperate for direction (see the highlight passage from Psalm 143).
And when we’re willing to deny our own desires for control (see Luke 9:23), we’ll discover that all we need to do is follow the Light of His direction-finder (see Ps. 119:105 and 2Tim. 3:16:17), using His word as our GPS, … He will show us the way … HIS WAY (see Ps. 139:23-24).
The question for us all here is … Are we willing to set aside pride, and just ask for God to use His “GPS” to lead us in life?
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, again today … 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 to follow thru with the resolution I prayed for yesterday; and that it is to surrender to God’s “GPS” as we walk thru this new year. … 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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