Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images and lyrics from the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir singing … The Field of Souls … poignantly singing of how we as Christians are called to work the fields of this world, planing God’s leads of truth from HIs word and praying for a bountiful harvest of souls and service.
"City Blossoms" ... Inner City Garden Project
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Highlight Verse[s]: Luke 8:11 [ESV] ... 11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
… Jesus explains that the seeds we plant in the “field of souls” are seeds of truth from God’s word.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Luke 8:4-8, 11-15 [ESV] ... USE THIS LINK ...
… Jesus explains how we plant God’s seed of truth from His word by living our lives as Christ, praying that the seeds will land on fertile soil and produce much fruit.
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Reference Passage : … John 15:1-5 [ESV] … USE THIS LINK …
… The only way we can bear much fruit for God’s kingdom is to abide in Christ and receive and share His essence from His word with others.
Reference Passage : … Galatians 5:22-23 [ESV] … 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
… Praying that we all do all we can in 2020 to be more fruitful in/for Christ.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Anne Cetas, uses a poignant and productive illustration of planing gardens in our inner cities to show others how to live more productive and fruitful lives. … The ODB author wrote: “Kids should be able to throw a seed anywhere they want [in the garden] and see what pops up,” suggests Rebecca Lemos-Otero, founder of City Blossoms. While this is not a model for careful gardening, it reflects the reality that each seed has the potential to burst forth with life. Since 2004, City Blossoms has created gardens for schools and neighborhoods in low-income areas. [see photo] The kids are learning about nutrition and gaining job skills through gardening. Rebecca says, “Having a lively green space in an urban area . . . creates a way for kids to be outside doing something productive and beautiful.”
Well, I don’t think it takes a Ph.D. in worldly living to see what the ODB entry is trying to say to us on this last day of the year. As Christians, Jesus charged us to abide in Him [see John 15] so that we can live fruitful lives. And as we move into 2020, I charge all readers to take a personal inventory, using the “fruit of the Spirit” listed in Gal. 5:22-23, which are the character qualities of Christlikeness.
Let’s ask ourselves if these fruit are growing in us … “love, joy, peace, etc.” … and whether we are abiding in our relationship with Christ intimately enough to be planting seeds of those fruit by sharing God’s truth (i.e., from His word) with others. So, as we move into the New Year, let’s plant those seeds in the “field of souls” (as the Brooklyn Tab sings) and watch them grow in God’s fertile kingdom soil for His glory.
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My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Lord, … for planting Your seeds in me which will prayerfully grow to share with others.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray, Lord, that all reading here will join me today, to sow the seeds of God’s truth in the fertile soil of God’s kingdom to see them become fruitful in the New Year. … 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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