Sunday, July 31, 2022

July 31, 2022… Above all - Knowing Christ …

Berry Patch Devotions in 2021 - Day 212 


Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...  Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from Kari Jobe singing … The More I Seek Youpoignantly singing about pursuing to know our Lord with all of life’s worship and work.  



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Highlight Passage: … Philippians 3:12 [NLT] … 

12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.

  Paul declares that his main pursuit in life was to perfect the calling to which Christ had called him.     


Highlight Passage (Context): … Philippians 3:7-16 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK  

  Paul shows fellow Christians that our main pursuit in life - as it was for him - should be to know and follow Christ.                                                                                                                     ===============                                                                 


Reference Passage: … Deuteronomy 4:29 [NLT] … 

29 But from there you will search again for the Lord your God. And if you search for Him with all your heart and soul, you will find Him..

God promises His people, thru Moses, that all who seek to know God with ALL their hearts will find Him.  


Reference Passage: … John 17:3 [NLT] … 

And this is the way to have eternal life—to know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the One you sent to earth.

Jesus prays to His Heavenly Father, showing that the only way to eternal life is to know the Father thru our knowledge of His Son.


Reference Passage: … Ephesians 1:16-18 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

Paul prayed that fellow Christians to pursue and know and follow Christ’s ways in all of life.   


Reference Passage: … Colossians 1:9-10 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… Again Paul prayed that fellow Christians would come to intimately know the Lord and to live as Christ did, following His ways in life.  

                                                                                

My Devotional Journal:</b> Today's Our Daily Bread author, Adam Holz … AT THIS LINK  tells of Randy Jackson, a judge on the popular talent show, American Idol, congratulating contestants who took well-known songs and gave them a new twist or arrangement by saying, “You made that song your own, dawg!” 


And this story was was used by the ODB author to encourage Christians to get to know God so intimately and deeply as to personalize our lives by imitating our Lord in all we think, say, and do.  Truly it has always been God’s promise (see Deut 4:29) to reveal Himself to anyone who seeks Him with ALL our hearts.  The question is … DO WE?  


I had a mentor years ago who showed me that the best way to get to know and follow Christ is to get to know Him thru His word (see photo).  Because, as He would say often, … To know God is to love Him; … to love God is obey Him; … to obey God is to serve Him; … and to serve God is to be blessed by Him.  And because I want to be blessed by my Lord, I seek to know Him EVERYDAY thru His word. 


And if you, as do I, desire to be blessed by God, you will do all you can to get to know God.  And the best way to know and follow God, is to pursue getting to know Him thru His word as the Apostle Paul exhorted fellow Christians in the Scriptures above. And so, that is my prayer for all of us today.   


My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, … for revealing Yourself to me thru Your word, Lord.

My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray that all reading here will join me, …  to delve into Your word again today, Lord, so that we can get to know You more intimately today than yesterday and more tomorrow than 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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