Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of song and lyrics from Andrae Crouch singing his song … Through It All … poignantly singing of the faith we need to deal with the challenges of this life.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Habakkuk 3:17 [NLT] … 17 Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, 18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!
… Habakkuk’s faith grew to the point of holding on to his joy … NO MATTER WHAT happened!
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Highlight Passage [context]: Habakkuk 3:17-19 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… The Prophet learns to have faith in His God … NO MATTER WHAT!! =
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Reference Passage : … Isaiah 41:9-10 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God’s promise, thru Isaiah in very rough times for Israel, to always be there to lift up any remnant of believers who trust in the Lord.
Reference Passage : … Proverbs 3:5-6 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God thru Solomon teaches us at avoid our human feelings and perceptions and trust in God - NO MATTER WHAT!
Reference Passage : … Philippians 4:11-13 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… The Apostle Paul’s faith, through all he had endured (see 2Cor. 11:23-33), remained firm of faith in Christ, Who could - and did - give him the strength to endure.
Reference Passage : … 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus had shown Paul that he could endure anything with he strength and help from God’s grace, thru our faith in Christ.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Peter Chin, used used a story of a great 18th century American artist to show how encouraging words from his mom had launched his career forward. … The ODB author wrote: In 2017, the opportunity to help people in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in the US prompted a group of us to travel to Houston. Our goal was to encourage people who’d been impacted by the storm. In the process, our own faith was challenged and strengthened as we stood with them in their damaged church buildings and homes [see photo].
The radiant faith exhibited by a number of these people in the wake of Harvey is what we see expressed by Habakkuk at the end of his seventh-century bc prophecy.
Habakkuk is one of my favorite Prophets in the OT, … maybe because I identify with his frustration and confusion when he came to God, wondering why God allowed God’s chosen people to stray so far from their faith. But God stayed with Habakkuk - and His people too, just as He did with Isaiah in tough times (see Isaiah 41:9-10). And Habakkuk, learned to have faith in God NO MATTER WHAT happened (see highlight passage).
And that’s also what the Apostle Paul would preach to God’s people over 700 years later (see Phil. 4:11-13), … i.e., that God would give His faithful the strength to endure any challenges (see 2Cor. 12:9) … as long as our faith held strong in Christ and we avoided trying to figure out the unexplainable on our own (see Prov. 3:5-6).
So, do we need more of a “Through It All” faith today as Andrae Crouch sings in the linked song? Today, I’m okay; and I pray so for you; … BUT … will we be tomorrow? I pray that too !!
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for the strength you give us to have a “thru it all” faith.
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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 hold on to our faith … NO MATTER WHAT!! … 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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