Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images and lyrics from the group Casting Crowns singing … Broken Together … poignantly singing of how marriages and relationships work best when broken people work TOGETHER.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Ecclesiastes 4:12 [NLT] … 12 A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.
… Life is not meant to “go it alone!”
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Highlight Passage [context]: Ecclesiastes 4:1-12 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God, thru Solomon, teaches that life is better taken on in relationships and friendships rather than as “Lone Ranger” Christians.
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Reference Passage : …Proverbs 27:17 [NIV] … 17 As iron sharpens iron,so a friend sharpens a friend.
… Friendships and relationships, when working TOGETHER, sharpen our life-handling skills.
Reference Passage : … Philippians 2:3-4 [NIV] … 3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
… We Christians need to avoid trying to be the Lone Ranger type, doing all we can to help each other tackle life TOGETHER.
Reference Passage : … Hebrews 10:24-25 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… We Christians were meant to work together to tackle the challenges of life, … to motivate and encourage one another.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Kirsten Holmberg, uses a basketball analogy to illustrate how God intends us to work together to tackle life rather than go it alone. The ODB author wrote … As we watched my daughter’s basketball game from the bleachers, I heard the coach utter a single word to the girls on the court: “Doubles.” Immediately, their defensive strategy shifted from one-on-one to two of their players teaming against their tallest ball-holding opponent. They were successful in thwarting her efforts to shoot and score [see photo], eventually taking the ball down the court to their own basket.
The ODB analogy is a good one for Christians tackling life together. God, thru Solomon, in the highlight scripture today, teaches us that we were meant to tackle life TOGETHER, whether that’s in a marriage, as Casting Crowns sing in the linked song, or merely in friendships … as the Bride of Christ in the unity of our relationships with Christ. The remaining reference scriptures simply reinforce that truth, don’t they?
When we join in a three-strand cord, in a strong Christian relationship with the Holy Spirit, we can lift each other up so much more easily than trying to be “Lone-Ranger” Christians (see Proverbs 27:17 and Hebrews 10:24-25). Trying to go life alone just doesn’t cut it, does it?
No, as the Apostle Paul encouraged fellow Christians, we do so much better in life when we cut out the selfishness [see Phil. 2:3-4] and join with other Christians to be a strong, unified, defense as the world comes against us.
Let’s all pray that we drop the Lone Ranger attitudes today and join in with other Christians to defend our Lord’s Name and His Honor in the public arena.
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for giving us fellow believers to defend Your honor TOGETHER in the game of life.
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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 seek other Christians to take on the challenges of life TOGETHER!! … 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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