Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images and lyrics from Steven Curtis Chapman singingHis Strength Is Perfect ... poignantly singing of how God can - and will - give us strength when we feel weakened or down hearted. … Or ON TO THIS LINK to hear Laura Story singing of how God’s grace abounds when we need it to lift us up.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Psalm 59:17 [NKJV] ... 17 To You, O my Strength, I will sing praises; for God is my defense, my God of mercy.
… David often sang His own songs of praise to lift his spirits when fearful or feeling weakened.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Psalm 59:1, 14-17 [NKJV] ... USE THIS LINK ...
… When being pursued by Saul, David wrote and sang this song to give him strength.
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Reference Passage : … Matthew 28:20b [NKJV] … 20 …, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
… Jesus’ promise to His disciples to be with us until He comes again for us.
Reference Passage : … Hebrews 13:5 [NKJV] … 5 … For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
… God promises that He will never leave us or forsake us when we feel down or discouraged.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Patricia Raybon, writes of the French resistance During WW2 using songs to draw hiding Jews from the forest near their town [see photo] to show them they were safe to hide with the French from the Nazis. … The ODB author wrote: When French villagers helped Jewish refugees hide from the Nazis during World War II, some sang songs in the dense forest surrounding their town [see photo] — letting the refugees know it was safe to come out from hiding. These brave townspeople of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon had answered the call of local pastor André Trocmé and his wife, Magda, to offer wartime refuge to Jews on their windswept plateau known as “La Montagne Protestante.” Their musical signal became just one feature of the villagers’ bravery that helped save up to 3,000 Jews from almost certain death. In another dangerous time, David sang when his enemy Saul sent nighttime assassins to his house. His use of music wasn’t a signal; rather, it was his song of gratitude to God his refuge.
I don’t know about other readers here; but I’m one who feels undergirded with strength when I meditate on good Christian music which has a strong lyrical message of God’s mercy/grace, much like David must’ve used when he wrote songs like the highlight passage from Psalm 59.
My readers will note that everyday I find at least one such song from YouTube which gives me [and prayerfully you] God’s assurance and lift me (us) up. These songs, like they did for the Jews in the ODB illustration, can give us strength when we’re feeling weakened, just like Steven Curtis Chapman or Laura Story sing in the linked songs today. And I pray that readers are brought out of the dark forests of discouragement [see photo] or personal weakness with God’s grace to lift us up with the music.
If any readers are feeling weak or oppressed today, I would suggest that you begin collecting some uplifting Christian music, perhaps on your cell phone or digital tablet, to which you can go when you need to be reminded that God will never leave you or forsake you (see Matthew 18:20 and Hebrews 13:5).
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My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Lord, ... for songs like those linked today which ALWAYS lift me up when I’m down.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray, Lord, that all reading here will join me, to use strong Christian music to lift us out of any dark forest of discouragement. … 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>
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