Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube version with song and lyrics from the group Anointed singing … God Is All Around Us … poignantly singing of how God’s grace can - and will - ALWAYS be there for us - even in the simplest, silliest, moments.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Matthew 14:17 [NLT] … 17 “But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish!” they [His disciples] answered. …”
… The Disciples just could not yet grasp that Jesus was God.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Matthew 14:13-21 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God shows His followers that He’s in control of ALL situations, no matter how mundane.
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Reference Passage : … John 16:33 [NLT] … 33 I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
… Jesus promises that He has overcome the trials of this world/life; and that we can find peace in our relationship with Him.
Reference Passage : … Romans 8:28 [NLT] … 28 And we know that God causes EVERYTHING to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
… That’s ALL THINGS, not just some things!!
Reference Passage : … 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God, thru Paul, show us that His grace is ALWAYS sufficient, and often offered to others thru us, to give us/others strength in the midst of our weakness.
Reference Passage : … Hebrews 13:56 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God promises to ALWAYS be there for us and with us.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, John Blase, uses a personal reflection to illustrate how God is ALWAYS there with us, even in mundane moments of challenge which seem almost silly. The ODB author wrote … She was completely focused on the top shelf [see photo], where the glass jars of spaghetti sauce sat. I’d been standing beside her in the grocery aisle for a minute or two eyeing that same shelf, trying to decide. But she seemed oblivious to my presence, lost in her own predicament. Now I have no problem with top shelves because I’m a fairly tall man. She, on the other hand, was not tall, not at all. I spoke up and offered to help. Startled, she said, “Goodness, I didn’t even see you standing there. Yes, please help me.”
Sometimes the circumstances of life seem too mundane to realize that God is still there with us, … and He wants us to know that we can go to Him in ANY situation, as the group Anointed sings in the linked song; … yes, even in a grocery store when we need to get to the jar of pasta sauce on the top shelf.
Sure, when we’re desperate as Christians, we may have grasped and believe in the truth of Romans 8:28; and we are shored up by the reality of Hebrews 13:5. But in the midst of a silly little situation like the one in the ODB story, do we realize that God is there with us and that tall guy down the isle from us can be the Lord’s agent of help and grace?
So, if/when we’re in some silly circumstance where we have trouble seeing where God is, let us go to Him and let Him multiple the loaves and fishes for us [see highlight passage].
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for ALWAYS being there with/for us.
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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 be willing to seek our Lord in ALL situations. … 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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