Berry Patch Devotions in 2021 - Day 242
Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from Chris Tomlin singing … Let Your Mercy Reign … poignantly singing of letting God’s mercy and grace fall on us as disciples of Christ.
==============
Highlight Passage: 2Chronicles 34:3 [NLT] …
3 During the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, Josiah began to seek the God of his ancestor David. Then in the twelfth year he began to purify Judah and Jerusalem, destroying all the pagan shrines, the Asherah poles, and the carved idols and cast images.
… Josiah, at a very young age, becomes a good King in Judah and reverses many years of ungodly reign by destroying all pagan/ungodly worship of idols.
=============
Highlight Passage [Context]: … 2Chronicles 34:1-10 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God’s word chronicles how young King Josiah, follows God’s ways and reverses years of ungodly rule in Judah, tearing down the idol worship which had become prominent during the reign of Josiah’s grandfather and father.
==============
Reference Passage: … Lamentations 3:22-23 [NLT] …
22 The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. 23 Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning.
… God, thru Jeremiah, declares that His mercies are always available to those who seek after God’s ways.
Reference Passage: … Ephesians 2:4-5 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Paul declares strongly to fellow Christians that our Lord is rich in mercy to those who seek His grace, … shown to us by His love, going to the cross to save us.
Reference Passage: … Hebrew 4:16 [NLT] …
16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
… God gives instructions on how we can receive God’s mercy by humbly coming to God’s throne of grace.
Reference Passage: … 1John 1:9 [NLT] …
9 But if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from ALL wickedness.
… God, thru Paul, promises His mercy to forgive and cleanse those who humbly confess their (our) sins to a gracious God.
My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, James Banks, AT THIS LINK … tells of seeing a single sunflower going next to highway (see photo) and thinking that only God’s mercy and grace would allow one single flower to grow and thrive in such an unusual and hostile place. … But God’s that way with his mercy and grace, isn’t He?
Certainly the chronicle of King Josiah, in today’s ODB entry, showed how the young anointed king was like that sunflower. He became King at age 8 and was led by God’s grace and His Holy Spirit to undo many years of ungodly living in Judah under his grandfather and father, who allowed idolatrous practices and worship. But even tho Josiah was young (see highlight passage), he tore down the places of idol worship and revived and promoted the worship of the one, true God.
Today, … we see idol worship all around us, don’t we? And we know that our God hates such practices. So, like Josiah, what are we doing to show - by our words and our lives - that God can forgive our unGodly living (see 1John 1:9); and then how are we showing others how our God will shower those willing to follow Christ with His grace?
I want to be one of His sunflowers growing up in this hostile world. Don’t you?!
My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, … for giving me Your empowering grace to show forth Your mercies by living a Christlike life in this unGodly world.
My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray that all reading here will join me, … to declare that we follow Your ways, Lord, and we do all we can to show Your Godly ways in a world full of idols and unGodliness. … 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment