Berry Patch Devotions in 2021 - Day 202
Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from Zach Williams singing … How Great Thou Art … powerfully singing of how real-deal Christians seek to have others see more and more of Jesus in the way we live and less and less like our old-sinful selves.
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Highlight Passage: Matthew 5:12 [NIV] …
2 Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven …
… In the “Beattitudes” (v 3-10) God shows what will lead to a “happy” life and to our reward, as born-again Christians in heaven.
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Highlight Passage [Context] : … Matthew 5:3-12 [NIV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus defines what real Christianity is all about to the people who were following Him, … in other words how to live a joy-filled life, blessed by God.
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Reference Passage… Luke 9:23 [NLT] …
23 Then He said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.
… Jesus lays out the reality that only when one is willing to deny our basic nature and choose to follow Him can we really be His disciple.
Reference Passage: … John 13:34-35 [NLT] …USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus challenges His followers to live the “love-life” that will be on display to witness God’s love to others, showing off to others what a “real-deal” Christian looks like.
Reference Passage: … 2Corinthians 5:17 [NLT] …
17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
… Paul helps fellow Christians realize that when they are surrendered to Christ, (as He proclaimed in Luke 9:23), will we see the newness that the Holy Spirit brings in the life of the “real-deal” Christian.
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.
… Here’s what is produced by God’s Spirit dwelling in a “real-deal” Christian … the “fruit of the Spirit.”
My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, David H Roper, AT THIS LINK … … writes about applying for a job where the company presented him with a list of legalistic rules they expected all employees to follow. And in reading thru the rules, the ODB author wondered why there weren’t expectations like the ones Jesus has laid out for “real-deal” disciples of His to follow.
And that’s what Zach Williams sings about in the linked song, … how we disciples of Christ are seeking, thru our choices, to be a little (no, … REALLY A LOT) more like Jesus, and a LOT LESS like our sinful selves. We all have a nature that, … when we’re truly born-again, … Jesus gives us His Spirit’s strength to be able to deny ourselves (see Luke 9:23) and become more like Jesus (see Gal 5:22-23). And when we’re seeking and surrendered to following Jesus, we demonstrate for others why a “real-deal” Christian looks more and more like Jesus and less and less like the sinner we were all born to be (see John 13:34-35 and 2Cor 5:17).
How about it, fellow follower of Jesus, … is that our goal today … to become more like Jesus? I pray it is!!
My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, … for calling me out of myself today to be more like You.
My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray that all reading here will join me, … to seek and to show-off our “real-deal” Christian self to others. … 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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