Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of song and images with Gene Autry singing the old cowboy song Home on the Range … poignantly singing of how we all seek for that place where we ALWAYS feel at home and we hear NOT a discouraging word.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Romand 15:1-2 [NLT] … 1 We who are strong must be considerate of those who are sensitive about things like this. We must not just please ourselves. 2 We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord.
… We should always speak words that lift others up who need lifting up.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Romans 15:1-6 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God, thru Paul, exhorts fellow Christians to speaking only Christlike, grace-filled words.
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Reference Passage : … Proverbs 16:24 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 24 Kind words are like honey — sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.
… From God, thru Solomon, … kind words are so much more energizing than harsh words.
Reference Passage : … Ephesians 4:29 [NLT] … 29 Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.
… God, thru Paul, exhorting Christians to speak only those words with uplift others and provide them with Christlike grace.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Mike Wittmer, used a story about President Lincoln who needed words of encouragement because of his responsibilities in life; and then the author showed us how we all need words of encouragement. … The ODB author wrote: Who do you know who needs encouragement? Everyone! Look around you. There isn’t one person in your line of vision who is as confident as they seem. We’re all one failure, snide comment, or bad hair day away from self-doubt.
Pertinent and provocative questions, aren’t they? And I harken back to the message of the linked song, … one I remember from my youth, watching cowboy movies with Gene Autry, “the singing cowboy,” who sung of us seeking a “home on the range, … where seldom is heard a discouraging word, and skies are not cloudy all day.” We all long for that place, don’t we? And that place, of course, is heaven, … where there will be no discouraging words spoken; and the Son will shine ALWAYS!
However, until we get to our final home on God’s range in heaven, we should be seeking to make this place, darkened by sin and discouragement, a lighter and more encouraging place by sharing more words of grace (see photo). That’s what the Apostle Paul was exhorting fellow Christians (that’s you and me, too!) in today’s highlight passage [and as well in Eph. 4:29]; and it’s what Solomon put forth in Proverbs 16:24.
We all need words of encouragement, don’t we? So, whom can we share such words with in our lives. Let’s all look to do that with EVERYONE we encounter today.
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for giving me Your grace to share with others today.
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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 lift others up with words of encouragement today. … 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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