Berry Patch Devotions in 2021 - Day 184
Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from Natalie Grant singing … Clean … poignantly singing about how our God’s Spirit is doing in a cleaning job in our hearts and our soul as we follow the ways of our Lord in life.
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Highlight Passage: James 4:8 [NLT] …
8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.
… James chides fellow Christians to get closer to God and be cleansed of our unclean and worldly ways.
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Highlight Passage [Context]: … James 4:4-10 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… James charges and challenges Christians to make themselves clean in the eyes of God.
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Reference Passage: … Psalm 139:23-24 [NLT] …
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; … test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 Point out anything in me that offers You, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
… Repeating the prayer song of David should be our prayer and desire every morning.
Reference Passage: … 2 Corinthians 7:1 [NLT] …
1 Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God.
… Because we have God’s promises of eternal life in Christ, we are called to cleanse ourselves from the ways of the flesh and the world and move toward holiness.
Reference Passage: … Titus 3:4-7 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… It was Jesus and His Spirit Who washed us clean when we came to receive His saving and sanctifying grace.
Reference Passage: …1John 1:7 [NLT] …
7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
… If we choose to live in God’s light of truth, He will cleanse us from our sin.
My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Patrician Raybon, AT THIS LINK … uses a word picture of our recent challenge to wash our hands thoroughly (see photo) to prevent the COVID virus from spreading. But we have a much worse pandemic in our lives, don’t we? … It’s the comprehensive and deadly virus of sin; and the ODB author shows us that it is God’s charge that we ALL do ALL we can to cleanse ourselves from this deadly pandemic by the choices we make once we come to Christ as our cleansing Lord/Savior.
As Natalie Grant sings in the linked song, we Christians have surrendered to a God Who can - AND WILL - make us clean from our pandemic of sin. But, … as the Scriptures above attest, we must be willing to do what it takes to make holy and cleansing choices in our lives to be cleansed and made whole by God’s Spirit.
Oh how I pray that we’re humbly seeking that holy cleansing by the prayer of David (in Ps 139:23-24) EVERY DAY; and living the life of 2Cor 7:1 and 1John 1:7 so that our Lord can give us the enabling/empowering grace to live a clean and holy life in serving His kingdom for His glory.
My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, … for helping me to clean myself up for Your glory today.
My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray that all reading here will join me, … to allow our Lord’s grace to wash us clean from our selves and give us the power to help others to find the cleansing grace Jesus has for all of us today. … 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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