October 3, 2021 … Broken Yet Restored …

Berry Patch Devotions in 2021 - Day 276 

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...   Please take the time to take in a song and lyrics from Steven Curtis Chapman singing … His Strength Is Perfect … poignantly singing of how our God lifts us up when we are weak. 

Kintsugi  -  Broken ... Yet Restored .. 

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Highlight Passage:  2Corinthians 4:7 [NLT] …  

7 We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure.This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. 

…  We Christians are like fragile/broken jars of clay being restore and strengthened by God’s empowering grace.                 

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Highlight Passage [Context]: … 2Corinthians 4:7-18 [NLT] …  USE THIS LINK … 

… Paul encourages fellow Christians who feel broken and weak with the reality of our restoration and strength coming from our relationship with Christ.   

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Reference Passage: … Isaiah 41:10  [NLT] …  

10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.. 

…  No matter how weak we feel, God’s strength is ALWAYS there to lift us up.  

Reference Passage: … Matthew 11:28-30  [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …  

… Jesus invites us - as His disciples - to yoke ourselves and our weaknesses to His empowering grace.  

Reference Passage: … 2Corinthians 11:21-33 [NLT] …  USE THIS LINK … 

… Paul shows fellow Christians (and us) what he went thru but relied on God’s strength to get him thru those times of brokenness and weakness. 

Reference Passage: … 2Corinthians 12:9  [NLT] … 

9 Each time He said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 

…  Paul reminds fellow Christians of Jesus’ promise to let His power us when we’re feeling weakened or broken.   

My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Adam Holz, AT THIS LINK  … writes of  what he calls “the dwindles;” and that is that feeling of weakness when the effects of aging seem pronounced in our lives.        

And that is a topic about which the Apostle Paul reminded his fellow Christians often in his letters, … often being written from prison or reminding them [and us] of what he, Paul, had endured (see 2Cor 11:21-33).   For most of us, … certainly yours truly, … our “dwindles” are nothing compared with what Paul endured.  Yet, as I am uplifted today by the linked song and the Scriptures above, I’m reminded, … by the picture of Japanese Kintsugi art (see photo), that God can restore even broken vessels …  like you and me … to be strong enough to carry His Gospel truths to others.

And right now, with the aches and weaknesses of an old 78 years old warrior … i.e., my DWINDLES … I needed this message of re-empowerment from God’s word.  How about you?  

My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, …for keeping me uplifted today with Your empowering grace.      

My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray that all reading here will join me, …  to let Your grace, Lord, lift us up when we are feeling weak or broken. …   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.