Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from Alan Jackson singing the old hymn … What A Friend We Have In Jesus … poignantly singing of we, as Christians, have a forever friend in our Lord, … King Jesus.
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Highlight Passage : … 2Timothy 4:11 [NLT] ... 11 Only Luke is with me. Bring Mark with you when you come, for he will be helpful to me in my ministry.
… Years after their falling out (see Acts 15/16 below), we see that the Christian relationship between Paul and Mark had been reconciled.
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Highlight Passage [context] : … Acts 15:36 - 16:5 [NLT] ... USE THIS LINK …
… John Mark mistakenly fails and separates from Paul and Paul, mistakenly, separates from Mark and Barnabas. But in later (see 2Tim passage above) they are reunified in Christ.
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Reference Passage : … Proverbs 3:5-6 [NLT] ... USE THIS LINK …
… When we hold on and trust God no matter what, He will be our friend and show us His way … which is THE WAY!
Reference Passage : … John 15:12-15 [NLT] ... USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus’ own words on His commitment to His disciples to be their friend … FOREVER … but His qualification that we are His friends only when we obey His commands.
Reference Passage : … Hebrews 13:8 [NLT] ... 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. … Jesus never changes!
… He desires to be our friend ALWAYS … the question is, do we desire to be His friend by obeying and following Him.
Reference Passage : … James 4:4 [NLT] ... 4 You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.
… Jesus’ brother shows that being friends with the world is being an enemy of God.
Reference Passage : … Revelation 3:20 [NLT] ... 20 “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.
… Jesus so desires to manifest Himself in us, … i.e., to be our friends; but this can only happen when we open our hearts and let Him in.
My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, James Banks, AT THIS LINK uses a story of human failure to illustrate our very human inability to be what we’d like to be at times. But then author Banks shows how Jesus’ steadfast love and grace can - AND DOES - pursue our friendship in spite of our human failures.
I pray all reading here have taken in and meditated on the linked song and especially ALL of the Scriptures above, … realizing just how much Jesus desires to be our friend, … no matter what we encounter in life or in spite of our past failures. But the “bottom-line” question for us is whether we really desire to open our hearts to Jesus as He pursues our affection as His friends. And I’m dealing with the conviction of that question today. How about you?
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My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Lord, … for being my friend always, … when I’m willing to surrender, open my heart, and follow You.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray, Lord, that all reading here will join me, … to trust in Jesus’ friendship … ALWAYS!! 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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