Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images and lyrics from the group Avalon singing … Everything To Me … poignantly singing of how we Christians need to be pursuing a relationship with Christ which becomes our obsession in life rather than being obsessed selfishly with worldly things.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Psalm 16:2 [NLT] … 2 I said to the Lord, “You are my Master! Every good thing I have comes from you.”
… We all need to get to the place King David was able to find himself in surrender to his God.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Psalm 16:1-11 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… David was able to surrender his heart in song COMPLETELY to his Lord.
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Reference Passage : … Psalm 63:1 [NLT] … 1 O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water.
… When our pursuit of God becomes our obsession as it was for young David in the wilderness being pursued by Saul.
Reference Passage : … Proverbs 3:5-6 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Giving ALL OUR HEART is the tough part, isn’t it?
Reference Passage : … Luke 9:23 [NLT] … 23 Then He [Jesus] said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.“
… Jesus demands nothing less than ALL of our hearts, dedicated to pursuing Him … see John 15:5-7 … AT THIS LINK
Reference Passage : … 2Corinthians 5:17 [NLT] … 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
… And looking in the mirror all I want to see is the newness which seeks after Christlikeness.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Monica Brands, uses a troublesome character from the Lord of the Rings trilogy to illustrate our obsessive nature to put something - anything - above our pursuit of Christ’s love/grace. The ODB author wrote: “My precious . . .” First portrayed in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, the image of the emaciated creature Gollum [see photo] in his maniacal obsession with the “precious ring of power” has become an iconic one today — representing greed, obsession, even insanity.
It’s also a troublingly relatable image. In his tormented love-hate relationship with both the ring and with himself, Gollum’s voice echoes the hunger in our own hearts. Whether it’s directed at one thing in particular, or just a vague longing for “more,” we’re sure that once we finally get our own “precious,” we’ll be satisfied. But instead, what we thought would make us whole leaves us feeling even emptier than before.
When I saw the movie version of Tolkien’s trilogy, that character, Gollum, was particularly unsettling, … perhaps because he represented that part of me which was pursuing something else in my life other than a more abiding relationship with Christ. It was like looking in a mirror and seeing what I didn’t want to admit was still part of the real me.
But I do know - and believe - there is also the new me (see 2Cor. 5:17) which I desire to become, … that part of me which seeks to surrender COMPLETELY to my God (see Ps. 63:1 and Prov. 3:5-6), … the part which Christ demands of any/all of His disciples (see Luke 9:23 and John 15:5-7, … the real me which is TOTALLY surrendered to my Lord (hear the linked song).
I pray that this is the one we all want to look in God’s mirror of truth (i.e., His word) and see today.
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for reshaping me in Your image.
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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 obsessively becoming the real, new, me in Christ. … 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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