Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of song and lyrics from Roy Orbison singing his classic hit … Only the Lonely … poignantly singing of a social problem we all must deal with at times … loneliness.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Hebrews 13:1 [NLT] … 1 Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters.
… God always wants his family to treat each others as family.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Hebrews 13:1-8 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… When David is in a place where all seems lost and impossible, he cries out to God.
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Reference Passage : … Deuteronomy 31:6 [NIV] … 6 So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”
… Moses encourages Joshua who knew that Moses was about to die.
Reference Passage : … John 13:34-35 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus charges us to show the world that we’re His disciples by showing His love to one another.
Reference Passage : … John 14:1-4 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus ministers to the fear and upcoming loneliness of His disciples just before He would go to the cross and then leave them to go to glory.
Reference Passage : … Hebrews 13:5-6 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Remembering God’s promise that He will never leave us or forsake us.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Mike Wittmer, makes reference to the age-old social crisis of loneliness to show us that the Family of God is the Lord’s prescription to deal with this eternal problem in the world. The ODB author wrote … Following her husband’s death, Betsy has spent most days in her flat, watching television and boiling tea for one. She’s not alone in her loneliness. More than nine million Brits (15 percent of the population) say they often or always feel lonely, and Great Britain has appointed a minister of loneliness to find out why and how to help.
Some causes of loneliness are well known: We move too often to put down roots. We believe we can take care of ourselves, and we don’t have a reason to reach out. We’re separated by technology—each of us immersed in our own flickering screens.
Loneliness has been a social ill forever. And recently the Brits have even recognized the problem involving millions of UK citizens by appointing a “Minister of Loneliness” (see photo). But certainly back in Bible times, God addressed the challenges of loneliness in his word.
Moses spoke to Joshua (see Deut. 31:6), knowing that Joshua would feel lonely after Moses died. In the NT, Jesus addressed this upcoming problem amongst the Disciples in the upper room, knowing that they would experience loneliness after He, their Messiah, would go to the cross and after He would be transported to Heaven [see John 14:1-4].
And that’s why God, thru the Author of Hebrews, charges Christians (see the highlight passage) to remember that the Family of God was God’s prescription for loneliness; and we, as brothers/sisters in Christ, must always minister to one another thru the family of God (see especially John 13:34-35 and Hebrews 13:1).
And who knows, … as we minister to one another’s loneliness with God’s love, we might even experience showing family of God hospitality to an angel or two (see Heb. 13:2).
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for Your everlasting and ever-faithful mercy and grace.
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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 reach out and show the love of God to someone we know is lonely because they are all around us. … 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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