Berry Patch Devotions in 2021 - Day 229
Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from the group Hillsong Worship singing … All Things New … powerfully singing of how our God makes all things new when we surrender in faith to follow Him.
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Highlight Passage: … Acts 15:37-38 [NLT] …
37 Barnabas agreed and wanted to take along John Mark. 38 But Paul disagreed strongly, since John Mark had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in their work.
… Paul and Barnabas go separate ways and Barnabas takes John Mark with him to encourage Mark in ministry.
Highlight Passage (Context): … Acts 15:36-40 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God’s word describes Paul and Barnabas splitting in ministry in disagreement about the character of John Mark, … who would later be made over by the encouragement of Barnabas to write one of the Gospel accounts of Jesus.
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Reference Passage: … Psalm 139:23-24 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… David’s prayer in song to follow God’s ways and to be made new by God, … a prayer to help me start each day.
Reference Passage: … 2Corinthians 3:18, 5:17 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God, thru Paul, shows fellow Christians that we who surrender to God’s ways in Christ will be made new into Christ’s image thru His Spirit.
Reference Passage: … Galatians 2:20 [NLT] …
20 My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.
… Paul declares how Christ made him a new person when he (Paul) died to himself in faith to follow King Jesus.
Reference Passage: … 2Timothy 4:11 [NLT] …
11 Only Luke is with me. Bring Mark with you when you come, for he will be helpful to me in my ministry..
… Reading Paul’s account of how his attitude about John Mark had changed to dramatically trust Mark in ministry, having distrusted John Mark in the past [see Acts 15).
My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Alyson Kieda … AT THIS LINK … tells about Thomas Edison being labeled as mentally confused and “addled” as a child. But later in life, being recognized as an inventive genius, Edison credited his mother, who home-schooled her boy, … saying, “My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me, and I felt I had someone to live for, someone I must not disappoint.”
Often in life, for someone who has been mis-labeled or rejected or walking the wrong road in life, there is a person who will encourage and mentor or teach that one a new direction to follow God’s ways. As we read above, in the highlight passage - and later in 2Timothy 4:11, that’s what happened in the life of John Mark, who was mischaracterized by Paul and later encouraged to newness in Christ by Barnabas, becoming a strong follower of the Lord and even writing one of the Gospel accounts about King Jesus.
Perhaps you, as I did, had someone in your life who mentored or taught you how to follow Christ and allow His Spirit to make you over into an image more like Christ … day-by-day. Do I sense a strong and grateful “HALLELUJAH,” from you like the one I’m feeling right now? Because we can all be make new in Christ when we decide to surrender our lives to follow our Lord. How about we all get moving on that promise (see Scriptures above) today; and even seek to help others find the right road to newness in Christ.
My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, … for giving me a mentor who showed me how to follow You everyday, Lord.
My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray that all reading here will join me, … to help someone in our lives to grow closer to Jesus by showing them how to follow You, Lord. … 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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