Sunday, August 22, 2021

August 22, 2021 … Love - Not Revenge …

Berry Patch Devotions in 2021 - Day 234 


Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...  Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from Dionne Warwick singing  What the World Needs Now … poignantly singing of how the world needs more of what God has to give in abundance, … His sweet love!  


Revenge is NOT justice !! 

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Highlight Passage:  1Samuel 24:18 [NLT] …  

18 Yes, you have been amazingly kind to me today, for when the Lord put me in a place where you could have killed me, you didn’t do it. 

Saul admits openly that David had show great respect for his king by sparing Saul’s life when David could’ve killed the anointed king.               

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Highlight Passage [Context]: …  1Samuel 24:1-4, 14-18 [NLT] …  USE THIS LINK … 

  Saul is broken to tears by David’s sparing his life when David had the opportunity to kill his king.         

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Reference Passage: Leviticus 19:18 [NLT] …  

18  Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. </i> 

  God’s command to His people, thru Moses, to NOT seek revenge, but rather to show love. 


Reference Passage: … Matthew 5:38-39 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK ...  

… Jesus negates the “eye-for-an-eye” teaching in the Old Testament by teaching to “turn the cheek” and show love for someone who has wrong us.  


Reference Passage: … Romans 12:17-21 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK ... 

… God, thru Paul, teaching, by quoting truth from the Old Testament, about showing love rather than revenge to those who’ve wronged us. 


Reference Passage: 1Peter 3:9 [NLT] …  

 Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing.

  God’s prophesy and promise, thru Isaiah to His people (and that’s us, too!) of God’s strength when we, who believe in and follower the Lord, are feeling weak or fearful.


My Devotional JournalToday's Our Daily Bread author, Sheridan Voysey, AT THIS LINK  … tells a story of a farmer who found garbage which someone had deposited on his farm; and finding an envelope with an address on it in the garbage, he took it upon himself to redeposit the garbage on the garden of the offender’s home, … feeling good that he had gotten revenge.    


Getting back at someone who has wronged or offended us feels good, doesn’t it? We can feel like it’s justice to revenge a wrong, can’t we?  But if you’ve taken in the scriptures above, and if we “FEEL” that God’s word is absolute truth, as I do, what does God say about going with our feelings and seeking revenge?  

God says that we should seek to show love to the person who wronged us, doesn’t He?  So, are any of us, who read here, convicted by this?  If so, take in the linked song; and let’s go out and show a little love today, which, as the song sings, the world needs so desperately now.   

My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, … for reminding me that revenge is NEVER your way when we feel wronged.

 My Prayer Today:Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray that all reading here will join me, …  to choose to show love, rather than hold a grudge, for someone who’s wronged us.     … 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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