Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images and lyrics from Chris McClarney singing … Beauty for Ashes … poignantly singing of how our Lord will one day come to make the desert of this world’s sinfulness bloom with the glory of God’s eternal presence and glory. … And then ON TO THIS LINK to hear the group Mercy Me sing their glorious reflection of what it will be like when we’re taken to be with our Savior in His glorious return for His Bride.
The Mojave Desert Blooms
==============Highlight Verse[s]: Isaiah 35:1-2 [NLT] … 1 Even the wilderness and desert will be glad in those days. The wasteland will rejoice and blossom with spring crocuses. 2 Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers and singing and joy! The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon, as lovely as Mount Carmel or the plain of Sharon. There the Lord will display his glory, the splendor of our God.
… The deserts of sin will bloom with the glory of God one day when Christ returns in glory. ==============
Highlight Passage [context]: Isaiah 35:1-10 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God’s promise to His people that the parched earth that they were experiencing from Babylon would bloom with eternal beauty and glory when the Messiah returns in His glory to reclaim His Bride.
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Reference Passage : … Isaiah 61:1-3 [NIV] … USE THIS LINK …
… 700+ years before Christ came, Isaiah prophesies of the coming Messiah … to give the parched earth a look at the glory that would be theirs (ours) if they (we) receive Him as Messiah.
Reference Passage : … Luke 4:14-20 [NIV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus, fulfills God’s prophesy, thru Isaiah 61:1-3, of Him, as Messiah, coming to give the earth, parched of sin, an opportunity to bloom again.
Reference Passage : … Revelation 22:20 [NIV] … 20 He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!”
Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!
… I pray all reading here join heartily in the wish of the Apostle John that our Lord would come soon to bring His Bride to glory.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Xochitl Dixon, uses an earthly botanical occurrence to illustrate how God will one day make the desert of sin in this earth bloom once again as it did for Adam and Eve in the original Garden. And the ODB author wrote: The Mojave Desert includes the expected sand dunes, dry canyons, mesas, and mountains of most deserts. But American biologist Edmund Jaeger observed that every few years an abundance of rain results in “such a wealth of blossoms that almost every foot of sand or gravelly soil is hidden beneath a blanket of flowers.” [see photo] The Mojave wildflower show isn’t a yearly phenomenon, though. Researchers confirm the dry earth needs to be soaked by storms and warmed by the sun, at just the right times, before blooms will cover the desert with vibrant colors.
This image of God bringing forth life despite the arid terrain reminds me of the prophet Isaiah. He shared an encouraging vision of hope after delivering God’s message of judgment on all nations (Isaiah 35).
And oh how I pray that all reading here believe God’s promise (in Isaiah 35 and 61 above) that The Messiah will one day, after having come to show off His Kingship [see Luke 4:14-20], will come again in glory to allow this earth, parched in sin, to bloom again as it once did, before the fall of Adam&Eve from the garden.
Jesus came to show that He was The Messiah and that He would one day, as Chris McClarney sings, bring beauty from ashes and allow all those who’ve received His saving grace to bask in the eternal beauty He will bring to earth when He comes again.
Oh, as the group Mercy Me sings, we can only imagine … !!!
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for Your promise to come again and bring the bloom of Your glory to the desert of this 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 await and prepare for the coming of our King Jesus to bring beauty to the ash heap of this world. … 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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