Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images and lyrics from Steve Green singing … Find Us Faithful … powerfully singing of how we Christians must give witness to our faithful following of our Lord, King Jesus, in His victory parade we call “life.”
2016 Chicago Cubs Victory Parade
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Highlight Verse[s]: 2Corinthians 2:14 [NLT] … 14 But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume.
… We, who’ve surrendered to follow Christ, become testimonies to His victory as we follow Him triumphantly.
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Highlight Passage [context]: 2Corinthians 2:14-17 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Paul relates how we Christians follow Christ triumphantly, showing our faithful allegiance to any and all who might join the Lord’s victory parade.
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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 that we give up ourselves to follow Him in victory over life - AND DEATH.
Reference Passage : … Acts 1:8 [NLT] … 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 calls on all who would follow Him to be His witnesses in our surrender to Him as King Jesus.
Reference Passage : … Ephesians 4:1-3 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Paul declares his voluntary surrender to follow Christ and exhorts others to join with him in this victory by living lives worthy of our calling as “Christians.”
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Lisa M Samra, uses a reference to a baseball victory parade to illustrate how we, as Christians, must triumphantly follow Christ in the victory parade of life to show our allegiance to Him. The ODB author wrote: In 2016 when the Chicago Cubs baseball team won the World Series for the first time in more than a century, some sources said that five million people lined the parade route and gathered at a downtown rally to celebrate the championship [see photo].
Victory parades are not a modern invention. A famous ancient parade was the Roman Triumph, in which victorious generals led a procession of their armies and captives through crowded streets.
Such parade imagery was likely in Paul’s mind when he wrote to the Corinthian church thanking God for leading believers “as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession” (2 Corinthians 2:14).
And the ODB images and exhortations today beg the challenge for us as Christians … as to whether we are willingly and openly following Christ in His victory parade, following His death and resurrection, to show the world our allegiance to King Jesus, … prayerfully so that others will join in His parade to glory.
I pray all reading here are in that parade today.
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for leading those of us who will follow You into Your eternal victory and glory.
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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 follow Christ, openly becoming witnesses to His victory over death. … 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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