Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from Crowder and Tauren Wells singing All My Hope … poignantly singing of how we can put all our hope in Jesus for our eternal well being … even when we feel imprisoned by life’s trials.
All our hope is in JESUS !!
=============
Highlight Verse[s]: 1Peter 1:8-9 [ESV] ... USE THIS LINK … 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
… Tho we can’t see Him, our eternal hope and joy lies, not in our circumstances, but in the promises which come from the hope we have in Jesus.
==============
Highlight Passage [context]: 1Peter 1:3-9 [ESV] ... USE THIS LINK ...
… Peter writes to persecuted Christians about the blessed hope we have for an eternal life insured by Christ’s finished work on the cross.
==============
Reference Passage : … Proverbs 3:5-6 [ESV] … 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.
… Only when we trust in our God and His promises can we find any joy in following Him thru life.
Reference Passage : … Habakkuk 3:17-18 [ESV] … USE THIS LINK …
… God helped a confused and despondent Prophet learn that our hope and our joy only come from Him, … not from the world’s circumstances.
Reference Passage : … John 5:24 [ESV] … 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
… Jesus’ promise that our belief and faith in His finished work on the cross is our only eternal hope.
Reference Passage : … Hebrews 11:1, 6 [ESV] … USE THIS LINK …
… God shows believers that, tho we cannot see our God, we can trust Him for our internal rewards.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Sheridan Voysey, uses a story of a man unjustly convicted to die in prison and who spent 3 decades on death row but never lost his faith or hope in Jesus. … The ODB author wrote: In 1985 Anthony Ray Hinton was charged with the murders of two restaurant managers. It was a set up—he’d been miles away when the crimes happened—but he was found guilty and sentenced to death. At the trial, Ray forgave those who lied about him, adding that he still had joy despite this injustice. “After my death, I’m going to heaven,” he said. “Where are you going?” …
Finally, on Good Friday 2015, Ray’s conviction was overturned by the US Supreme Court. He’d been on death row for nearly thirty years. His life is a testament to the reality of God.
Okay, … I wrote here yesterday that life can - and often does - suck!! … For Anthony Hinton, wrongly convicted to death row for over three decades, his faith in God’s mercy and his hope in a God he’s never seen was challenged way beyond what most of us will face in life. But as Crowder and Tauren Wells sing in the linked song, Anthony had placed all his hope in Jesus, and even if he had been wrongly executed, Anthony, who had become a hopeful servant of Jesus, had joy in knowing that he would spend eternity with His Lord.
I pray we all hold onto God’s promises for those of us who believe in Christ as Lord and Savior, especially as we face the sentences and circumstances of life. And so, … as we all meditate on God’s truth and promises in the Scriptures above, join me as we tenaciously hold onto that hope in Christ.
=============
My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Lord, … for giving me joy and hope … even in the challenges and injustices of life.
=============
My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray, Lord, that all reading here will join me to find joy in our belief in the finished work of Jesus on the cross and His resurrection. 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