Berry Patch Devotions in 2020 - Day 9
Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from David Crowder singing … Come As You Are … poignantly singing of how we Christians can - and should - come to the Lord with burdens and set aside our anger, bitterness, and pride, … choosing rather the joy of knowing Christ and receiving His grace.
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Highlight Passage: Ephesians 4:31 [ESV] ...
31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
… Paul exhorting Christians to set aside all bitterness and the strife which grows out of bitterness … wrath, anger, clamor, and slander.
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Highlight Passage [Context]: … Ephesians 4:25-32 [ESV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Paul trying to help fellow Christians overcome the barriers to Christlike living.
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Reference Passage: … Proverbs 10:12 [ESV] …
12 Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.
… Solomon shows us that love is the most powerful tool to uproot and root of strife or bitterness.
Reference Passage: … Matthew 6:14-15 [ESV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus shows His followers how forgiveness is the tool to uproot bitterness in our lives.
Reference Passage: … Colossians 3:8, … 13 [ESV] … USE THIS LINK …
… God, thru Paul, charges disciples of Christ to put away and uproot anger and strife among believers, using God’s love/grace to uproot all those selfish and damaging emotions.
Reference Passage: … Hebrews 4:14-15 [ESV] … USE THIS LINK …
… God, likely thru Paul as the author of Hebrews, helping Christians avoid any root of bitterness in our lives which produces bitter fruit like pride, anger, and malice.
Reference Passage: … 1Peter 5:6-7 [ESV] …
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
… Peter exhorts Christians to humble ourselves and take our anxieties and troubles to our loving and caring Lord.
My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Anne Cetas, AT THIS LINK writes of how difficult it was for a friend to uproot a lot of anger and bitterness when a relative moved away from her area, taking away her beloved niece and nephew.
And it can be so, SO easy to let anger and bitterness to take root in our hearts when circumstances go awry, can’t it? Right now, with all the viral emotions swirling in the world, feeding our anger and even breeding bitterness, it would oh so easy to let those hurtful roots to go deeper into our hearts.
However, we read the exhortations from Solomon and Paul in God’s word above, and prayerfully we internalize these truths and do all we can to avoid letting roots of bitterness go deep in our lives, producing bitter fruit like harsh words, anger, and malice toward others. We need to do all we can to dig up those roots of bitterness [see photo], using God’s tools of love, grace, and forgiveness [see Matt 6 above] as Jesus encouraged His disciples to do.
So, … I’m praying we come to our Lord, as Peter encouraged fellow Christians in 1Peter 5:6-7 and see if we have any of those damaging roots growing in our lives now and then, we must choose do all we can in the future to dig those roots up and toss them out on the fire-heap of God’s mercy and grace.
My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Lord, … for showing us the way to dig up the hurtful roots of anger and bitterness in our lives.
My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray that all reading here will join me, to dig up any roots of anger or bitterness in our lives and let God’s love and grace burn them up … forever !! … Amen
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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.
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