Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of song/lyrics with Queen Latifah singing Fix Me Jesus … poignantly singing of our Lord is willing - and very able - to repair and renew our lives for service to Him.
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Highlight Verse[s]: 1Kings 19:4 [NLT] … 4 Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.”
… After Elijah’s encounter with Jezebel, physically/spiritually exhausted, the Prophet wants to give up and die; … but God is there for the repairs.
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Highlight Passage [context]: 1Kings 19:1-10 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Elijah is spiritually broken and needs serious renewal from HIs God.
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Reference Passage : … Matthew 11:28-30 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus’ offer - and promise - that He’s ALWAYS there to help us when we need Him in times of exhaustion or need of renewal.
Reference Passage : … 2Corinthians 12:9-10 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Paul testifying to God’s grace being available to give us strength when we are depleted of spiritual energy.
Reference Passage : … Philippians 4:6-7 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God, thru Paul, gives us God’s prescription for dealing with emotional/spiritual anxiety … to humbly/thankfully come to God in prayer with our concerns.
Reference Passage : … 1Peter 5:7 [NLT] … 7 Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.
… Peter tells us where to take our cares when we feel spiritually depleted.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Julie Schwab, used a story about a spiritually exhausted Pastor to illustrate how we all can get to a place where we need spiritual renewal from the Lord. … The ODB author wrote: “Emotionally, we’ve sometimes worked a full day in one hour,” Zack Eswine writes in his book The Imperfect Pastor. Although he was referring specifically to the burdens pastors frequently carry, this is true for any of us. Weighty emotions and responsibilities can leave us physically, mentally, and spiritually exhausted. And all we want to do is sleep.
Any of us can get to that place of emotional, spiritual, or even physical exhaustion where we almost want to give up as Elijah did when he used up all his power in dealing with Jezebel after his victory with Ahab and his Baal prophets. But in the highlight passage we read how God was available and able to restore Elijah, … just as our Lord is available for us when our emotional/spiritual resources become exhausted.
There are times, aren’t there, when our emotional warning lights go off, like they do in our cars when repair is needed (see photo)? And we feel like Queen Latifah must’ve felt when she sang the linked song … in need of fixing by our Lord. But … we know from His own promises (see Matt. 11:28-30 and from the Scriptural exhortations from Paul (see 2Cor. 12 and Phil. 4 above) that our Lord is ALWAYS there for us with His grace to cover our weakness with His strength.
But we have to be willing to go to a caring God, as did Elijah [above] and as Peter decries (in 1Peter 5:7), and give our cares over to the Lord. I pray we do so today if our warning lights have gone off and we need His repairs.
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for being there as our Fixer when we are broken.
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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 reach out to our caring Eternal Fixer when we are in need of repair. … 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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