Berry Patch Devotions in 2023 - Day 18
Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from New Wine Worship singing … Song of Repentance … poignantly singing of how we all need to repent from our sins and turn to follow Jesus on the road to heaven.
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Highlight Passage: … Ezekiel 14:6 [NLT] … </b>
6 “Therefore, tell the people of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Repent and turn away from your idols, and stop all your detestable sins.
… Ezekiel is charged to preach repentance to God’s people …
Highlight Passage (Context): … Ezekiel 14:1-8 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God calls on Ezekiel to preach repentance to the priests and leaders of God’s chosen people.
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Reference Passage: … Psalms 139:23-24 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… King David prays desperately, in repentance, for God to lead him back to follow the LORD more closely.
Reference Passage </u>: … Isaiah 30:15 [NLT] …
15 This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved.In quietness and confidence is your strength. But you would have none of it.
… God, thru the Prophet Isaiah, rebukes God’s people, calling them out to turn from their idolatrous ways and to return to follow the LORD.
Reference Passage: … Luke 5:31-32 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus shows the Jewish leaders how/why He had come to show God’s chosen that they (we) must repent of their (our) sins and follow Him.
Reference Passage: … Acts 3:17-19 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Peter preaches repentance to the people and religious leaders in the Temple after the resurrection.
Reference Passage: … Revelation 2:4-5 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus rebukes His church in Ephesus and calls them (and us) to repent an true bak to their (our) first love - and that is our Lord!!
My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Tim Gustafson … AT THIS LINK … tells of a missionary pastor in Africa, showing the ODB author a wooden idol (like the one in the photo) and how the called Pastor would return to the bush weekly to preach the need for those who worshiped idols to repent and turn to Jesus as the one and only God to follow.
And then the ODB author quotes Bible teacher Alistair Berg. defining an “idol” as .. “anything other than God that we regard as essential to our peace, our self-image, our contentment, or our acceptability.” And that definition, which I really know is true, convicted me, along with the linked song and the Scriptures I share above, to look deeply at my own life and see if there is ANYTHING which I tend to return to which stands between me and total surrender to follow my LORD.
All of us really need to keep short amounts with God in this way, shouldn’t we; … to see if we’re letting any idols creep into our lives? And if we discover any, we need to repent and seek to return to our first love (see Rev 2:4-5). And I’m stopping right now to pray a prayer of repentance for myself and for any who might be reading with me here.
My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, … for calling me continually to return to You as my first love.
My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray that all reading here will join me, … to turn away from any idols that come between You, Lord, and our desire to follow You. … 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.
1 comment:
Amen...we pray !
Kjetil
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