Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of song and lyrics from Steven Curtis Chapman singing his song … His Strength Is Perfect … poignantly singing of how our God is gives us His empowering grace and strength when we feel weak.
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Highlight Verse[s]: 1 Chronicles 28:10 [NLT] … [see photo] 10 So take this seriously. The Lord has chosen you to build a Temple as his sanctuary. Be strong, and do the work.”
… King David exhorts his son to be courageous in the task ahead to build the Temple.
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Highlight Passage [context]: 1 Chronicles 28:8-10, 19-21 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… King David encourages his son, Solomon, to build the Temple God had called him to build.
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Reference Passage : … Deuteronomy 31:7-8 [NIV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Moses passes along the torch of leadership to Joshua to lead God’s people into the promised land.
Reference Passage : … Proverbs 3:5-6 [NIV] … 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. 6 Seek his will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take.
… Solomon encourages his son to trust and depend on God.
Reference Passage : … Acts 1:8 [NIV] … 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
… Jesus, encouraging His disciples to be His witnesses throughout the world with His presence and power to give them courage.
Reference Passage : … 2 Timothy 1:6-7 [NIV] … 6 This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.
… Paul encourages Timothy to be the leader of God’s church in Ephesus.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Winn Collier, used a historical reference to illustrate how Christians should encourage others to be courageous in the face of challenging circumstances. And the ODB author wrote: Among a display of male statues (Nelson Mandela, Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi, and others) in London’s Parliament Square, stands a lone statue of a woman. The solitary woman is Millicent Fawcett, who fought for the right of women to vote. She’s immortalized in bronze—holding a banner displaying words she offered in a tribute to a fellow suffragist: “Courage calls to courage everywhere.” Fawcett insisted that one person’s courage emboldens others—calling timid souls into action.
In the biblical examples today’s ODB entry uses, along with those added by yours truly, we see King David exhorting his son, Solomon, to courage in building the Temple God had commanded David to build (see highlight passage). In Deuteronomy 31 we read of Moses encouraging Joshua to take God’s people into the promised land. In Proverbs 3 we read of Solomon showing his son how to trust in God by following the ways of the Lord rather than the ways of self. In 2Timothy 1, we see the Apostle Paul encouraging young Timothy to be courageous in his task of ministry in Ephesus. And finally, in Acts 1, as Jesus ascended into Heaven, we read His charge to all of us, as His disciples, to have courage in being His witnesses to the world.
n all of these, our God is personally or using one of His own to lift up another in the family of God, showing that it is the empowering grace of God which will help us move forward to do God’s work for His glory and giving us the courage to move on His behalf.
So, whom can we encourage today with such an uplifting message?
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for Your charge to courage in being Your witnesses to the world.
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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 encourage all we can to have courage in doing the Lord’s work today. … 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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