Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in YouTube images and lyrics from the group Phillips, Craig, and Dean singing … Great I AM … powerfully singing of the reality that our God is above all in our lives including our understanding …
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Highlight Verse[s]: John 6:65-66 [NLT] … 65 Then He said, “That is why I said that people can’t come to Me unless the Father gives them to Me.” … 66 At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted Him.
… When Jesus could not or would not meet the expectations of His followers, many of His disciples abandoned Him. … Do we when He says “NO” to our prayers?
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Highlight Passage [context]: John 6:47-51, 60-66 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus’ strong preaching was too much for so many of Jesus’ followers.
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Reference Passage : … Psalms 31:14, 63:1-4 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… And yes … this is the God to Whom I pray daily … and I trust Him … ALWAYS!!
Reference Passage : … Isaiah 55:8-9 [NLT] … 8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. 9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
… We cannot expect our God to think as we think and do as we would do … because He is God and we are not!!
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. …”
… What King Jesus demands of His true disciples.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Anne Cetas, uses a trying situation which will test the faith of any believer about our God. The ODB author writes … Last year, friends and I prayed for healing for three women battling cancer. We knew God had the power to do this, and we asked Him to do so every day. We’d seen Him work in the past and believed He could do it again. There were days in each one’s battle where healing looked like it was a reality, and we rejoiced. But they all died that fall. Some said that was “the ultimate healing,” and in a way it was. Still the loss hurt us deeply. We wanted Him to heal them all—here and now—but for reasons we couldn’t understand, no miracle came.
What is the quotient of our faith when we pray and pray and pray, as the author of today’s ODB entry did, but God, who could certainly heal the women in this story, chooses to say “NO” to their (or our) prayers? That’s the question we’re faced with today, or any day, when God seems far away or just “M.I.A.”
Literally every day I pray one of the Psalms cited above, Psalm 63: 1-4; and I believe what it says about me seeking to honor my God, Who is the “great I AM.” And I also believe the truth of the prophetic message from God, voiced to us by Isaiah in Chapter 55:8-9 of His book.
My God is far above my understanding; and it’s so easy to say, “God is good,” when things are going as I might want them; but I’m here to declare that GOD IS GOOD … ALWAYS! And He is the God to Whom I give my allegiance today and all days.
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for Your grace and goodness even when I don’t understand it.
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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 hold onto our trust in God no matter the circumstances. … 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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