Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... … Please take the time to take in images, song and lyrics from the group Phillips, Craig, and Dean singing … I Want To Be Just Like You … poignantly singing of how we, as disciples of Christ, should do all we can to become just like Him.
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Highlight Verse[s]: John 14:10 [NLT] ... 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me.
… Jesus, relates to Philip and the other disciples in the Upper Room how when we see heart Him, we see and hear God, the Father.
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Highlight Passage [context]: John 14:8-14 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus, the night before His crucifixion, clearly poses the truth that He and The Father are one.
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Reference Passage : … John 14:21 [NLT] … 21 Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.”
… Jesus, also in the upper room, commanding His disciples to show their love for their Lord and Savior by being obedient and following His commands (i.e., His word).
Reference Passage : … John 15:5 [NLT] … 5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.
… Jesus, also to His followers, shows that we can can only be fruitful as His disciples when/if we are connected to His Spirit and receiving His empowering grace.
Reference Passage : … Galatians 5:22-23 [NLT] ... 22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
… Paul helps fellow Christians (and us) to become more like Christ by showing us the characteristics of Christlikeness in the fruit of the Spirit.
Reference Passage : … Philippians 1:6 [NLT] ... 6 And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
… Paul also declares that God’s Spirit is doing a perfect “make-over” of our spirit becoming more like that of Jesus daily until we are like the Lord in glory.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, John Blase, described how he and his father were look-a-likes, which is a picture of us as disciples of Christ doing all we can to look like our Heavenly Father by becoming more like His Son, King Jesus. … The ODB author wrote: They looked down at the faded photograph, then up at me, then over at my father, then back at me, then back at my father. Their eyes were as wide as the proverbial saucers. “Dad, you look just like Papa when he was young!” My father and I grinned because this was something we’d known for a long time, but it wasn’t until recently that my children came to the same realization. While my father and I are different people, in a very real sense to see me is to see my father as a younger man: tall, lanky frame; full head of dark hair; prominent nose; and rather large ears. No, I am not my father, but I am most definitely my father’s son.
I’m also one who is a father/son look-a-like. But the Father Whom I want to look like is our Abba Father in Heaven; and Jesus was very clear with His Disciples before He went to the cross for them (and us) that to become more like our Heavenly Father, we need only to look at God, the Son, and do all we can to look like Him.
“Like Father - Like Son” (see photo) is the message of today’s ODB entry above; and it was the message Jesus conveyed to His followers (see reference passages from John 14/15); … just as it was the teaching of the Apostle Paul for disciples of Christ to experience the “make-over” of God’s Spirit as we become more like the image of Christ by being obedient to His word and booming more like Him daily. [see passages from Galatians and Philippians above).
So, … what are we doing today to let God’s Spirit make us over into Christ’s image? Personally, that’s why I’m here this morning, praying to become more like my Lord today … and digging into His word everyday to abide in Him and reflect His likeness and Light into this very dark world. … How about you?
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My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Lord, … for pouring Your grace and likeness into my soul today thru Your word.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray, Lord, that all reading here will join me, … to become more like our Heavenly Father by becoming more like His Son today … and even more so tomorrow. 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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