Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of song and lyrics from the group Sidewalk Prophets singing Live Like That ... poignantly singing of how we, as Christians, need to life like Jesus did, … like He commanded us to live, … like His word spells out His will for our lives.
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Highlight Verse[s]: James 1:22 [NKJV] ... 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
… God, thru James, commands believers to not just be hearers of the word, but doers!
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Highlight Passage [context]: James 1:22-25 [NKJV] ... USE THIS LINK ...
… God’s word, thru James, commanding us to live as God’s word commands.
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Reference Passage : … Proverbs 3:5-6 [NKJV] ... USE THIS LINK ...
… Trusting God to lead us in life and not depending on our own ideas or perceptions.
Reference Passage : … Luke 11:28 [NKJV] ... 28 But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
… Jesus declares that those who hear the word of God, then live it out, will be the ones who are blessed by God.
Reference Passage : … John 14:21-23 [NKJV] ... USE THIS LINK …
… Those who strive to live obediently as Jesus commanded His disciples will be the ones who truly love Him and will manifest Him in the way they (we) live. Praying that’s us !!
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Arthur Jackson, uses a story illustrating how difficult it is to live out God’s truth. … The ODB author wrote: Brian was scheduled to be an usher at his brother’s wedding, but he was a no-show. Understandably, family members were disappointed, including his sister Jasmine who was the Scripture reader for the occasion. At the ceremony she flawlessly read from the well-known Scripture passage about love in 1 Corinthians 13. But after the wedding when her father asked her to deliver a birthday gift to Brian, she hesitated. She found it harder to live the words about love than to read them. Before the evening was over, however, she had a change of mind and admitted, “I can’t stand and read Scripture about love and not practice it.”
Have you ever been convicted by Scripture that you read or heard but found it difficult to carry out?
Pertinent and powerful question by the ODB author, isn’t it? I think we’ve all found it much more difficult to “Life Like That,” as the linked song sings; … i.e., to live in surrendered obedience to God’s word as James exhorts in the highlight passage and his half brother, Jesus, taught to His disciples in the upper room (see John 14:21-23).
It’s what the Nike company motto, … “Just Do IT!” … declares, isn’ it [see photo]? They want us to live out our sports dreams, … hopefully wearing or using their sports equipment, … don’t they? And, in somewhat similar fashion, that’s what God’s word exhorts us to do as well, … and that is … not to just hear God’s truth, .. but to live it out in our lives.
And I pray that is what anyone reading here, along with yours truly, has as our goal today.
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My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Lord, ... for showing us the way to really “Just Do IT!”
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray, Lord, that all reading here will join me, surrendering to obediently live out God’s word 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.</ span>
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