Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of song and lyrics from a fellowship of Christians singing … All To Jesus I Surrender … poignantly singing of we are reminded at this special time of Christmas to give of our lives as Jesus freely give of His.
Highlight Verse[s]: 2Corinthians 8: [ESV] ... 5 and this [i.e., the giving of fellow Christians], not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.
… Paul shows fellow Christians how our giving reflects the grace of God, giving so freely to us by our Lord.
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Highlight Passage [context]: 2Corinthians 8:1-9 [ESV] ... USE THIS LINK ...
… God, thru Paul, exhorts Christians to extend Godly grace (i.e, our giving spirit) to others just as our Lord extended His saving grace to us.
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Reference Passage : … John 3:16 [ESV] … 16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
… Yes all our eternal hope is in God’s greatest gift, … His Son and our Savior, Jesus. Our Heavenly Father gave His ALL for our everything.
Reference Passage : … Philippians 2:5-11 [ESV] … USE THIS LINK …
… My favorite “Christmas” passage of Scripture, showing what our Lord gave up for us, humbly setting aside His heavenly glory, … to become human, … to walk with us, … and to die for us, that we might live with Him forever.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, James Banks, uses a personal remembrance at Christmas to be reminded that we, who follow Jesus as Lord, must give in our lives as Jesus gave in His - EVERYTHING! … The ODB author wrote: “I got you a present!” my two-year-old grandson shouted excitedly as he pressed a box into my hands. “He picked it out all by himself,” my wife smiled. I opened the box to find a Christmas ornament of his favorite cartoon character. “Can I see it?” he asked anxiously. Then he played with “my” present for the rest of the evening, and as I watched him, I smiled.
I smiled because I remembered gifts I had given loved ones in the past, like the music album I gave my older brother one Christmas when I was in high school that I really wanted to listen to (and did). And I realized how years later God was still stretching me and teaching me to give more unselfishly. [see photo]
Sometimes it takes the innocence of a child to remind us, during this Advent season, what the giving of gifts is all about, … remembering that our lives are to reflect the giving example of our Lord, … Who gave His all for our all.
So, I pray, on this Christmas day, that we all give our gifts with the surrendered attitude that Jesus gave for us when he set aside His glory and humbled Himself to come as a Babe in a manger … and walked among us, … even died on a cross for us, … that we might live with Him forever in glory. (see Phil. 2:5-11) Because when we give like He gave, we give our all as He did.
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My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Lord, … for setting aside Your glory … to give us our eternal glory.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray, Lord, that all reading here will join me today, to share our gifts to others as reflections of God’s grace in giving His all for our eternal glory with Him. … 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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