Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of song and lyrics from Andre Crouch singing his Gospel classic … Through It All … poignantly singing of how we can depend and trust in God … NO MATTER WHAT!!
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Highlight Verse[s]: Psalm 22:1 [NLT] … 1 My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help?
… David knows no where else to go in his desperation, so in a Messianic prophetic song, he sings out what Jesus did from the cross in His desperate separation from His Father.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Psalm 22:1-5[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 : … Job 1:20-22 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Job, in spite of all God allowed Satan to take from him, proclaimed his faith in the Lord.
Reference Passage : …2 Corinthians 12: 9 [NIV] … 9 Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.
… Paul remembers Jesus’ promise to give him strength when his runs out in dire circumstances.
Reference Passage : …1 Peter 5:7 [NIV] … 7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.
… Peter knew where to go when he was in trouble.
Reference Passage : … Hebrews 13:5-6 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Quoting from the OT, a NT author proclaims God’s promise never to abandon the true believer … NO MATTER WHAT!!
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Leslie Koh, uses the desperate story of overwhelming trials a friend had to endure to realize God was always there thru it all. The ODB author wrote … In just six months, Gerald’s life fell apart. An economic crisis destroyed his business and wealth, while a tragic accident took his son’s life. Overcome by shock, his mother had a heart attack and died, his wife went into depression, and his two young daughters remained inconsolable. All he could do was echo the words of the psalmist, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1).
The only thing that kept Gerald going was the hope that God, who raised Jesus to life, would one day deliver him and his family from their pain to an eternal life of joy.
Gerald, in the ODB story, reads like a modern-day Job, doesn’t he [See Job 1:20-22], holding on to his faith in spite of horrible circumstances? How many of us could have - or actually have - done that? It’s really tough to go “thru it all,” as Andre Crouch wrote/sung in the linked song, and still maintain our faith, isn’t it?
But if we really believe in God as did Job, even though doubts - serious doubts - capture our minds for a time, as they did with David’s song in Psalm 22. We might even declare, as David did, prophesying what Jesus would say from the cross, … “why have You (LORD) abandoned me?” But in the depth of a true believer’s heart, we know that our Lord will never leave us, nor abandon us (see Heb. 13:5). So, that we can always bring our worries and fears to a caring God (see1Pet 5:7).
So … how about it, fellow disciple? … Let’s echo the old NIKE log and “JUST DO IT!” … trusting in our God … no matter what!!!
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for everlasting, 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 trust God today no matter what trials we may be facing. … 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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