Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images and lyrics from the group Mercy Me singing their song Even If ... poignantly singing of God’s promise from His word to lift us up when we confront times when we feel fear or weakness.
==============
Highlight Verse[s]: Psalm 23:4a [NLT] ... 4 Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for You are close beside me. ...
... And even in his most fearful moments, David truly believed that His God was right there with him.
==============
Highlight Passage [context]: Psalm 23 [NLT] ... USE THIS LINK ...
... Young David, the Shepherd Boy, wrote this song to give him strength when he felt lonely and afraid watching over his sheep.
==============
Reference Passage : ... Isaiah 41:10 [NLT] ... 10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.
... When I’m down and discouraged, this truth lifts me up.
Reference Passage : ... Philippians 4:13 [NLT] ... 13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.
... Believing in the truth exhorted by Paul gives me strength when I’m feeling weak.
Reference Passage : ... 2Timothy 1:7 [NLT] … 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.
... This truth helps me realize that any fear I have does not come from God.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Lisa Samra, uses a historical reference to illustrate how we must face the trials of life trusting in God’s willingness and ability to give us His strength to cover our fears and weaknesses. … The ODB author wrote: In 1957, Melba Pattillo Beals was selected to be one of the “Little Rock Nine,” a group of nine African American students who first integrated the previously all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. [see photo] In her 2018 memoir, I Will Not Fear: My Story of a Lifetime of Building Faith under Fire, Beals gives a heartbreaking account of the injustices and harassment she struggled to face courageously every day as a fifteen-year-old student.
But she also wrote about her deep faith in God. In her darkest moments, when fear almost overwhelmed her, Beals repeated the familiar Bible verses she had learned at an early age from her grandmother. As she recited them, she was reminded of God’s presence with her, and Scripture gave her courage to endure.
In that 1957 trial, and in the midst of her fear, Melba Beals, remembered and believed God’s word in Psalm 23; and reciting it over-and-over, as her grandmother taught her, gave her the strength to face the trials she and the other eight students faced from the hatred of all those they confronted in Little Rock in those days.
I have my own anti-fear mantra as well; and when I’m faced with trials or fears which hold me back from moving forward, I stop and recite the three reference verses above, … and after each memorized verse, praying to One of the Trinity (first God, the Father, … then God, the Son, … then God, the Holy Spirit). … It’s a technique taught to me by a mentor years ago. And like recitation of Psalm 23 for Ms. Beals, my three verses ALWAYS belay my fears because they are TRUTH and I believe them to be true.
We all have times when life’s trials or troubles bring us into that “valley of the shadow of death” which David wrote about in Ps. 23. But when we’re there, we can know and realize that our Good Shepherd is ALWAYS there with us to lift us up and to give us strength when we need it. So, take the time to take in the linked song; and if you’re feeling weak - as was the singer did when he wrote the song - be lifted up and led toward glory by our Good Shepherd.
=============
My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Lord, ... for always being there to lift us up and give us Your strength.
=============
My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray, Lord, that all reading here will join me to walk thru any fear valley by knowing and believing and reciting Your truth. … 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.</ span>
No comments:
Post a Comment