Closing: Guided Prayer
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My First Recorded Message for This Year: 2023 Sunday Afternoon in My Backyard.
My video can be found on TikTok of my message of Proverbs 3:5-6. I didn’t know in the beginning I was going to record anything, but I guess God wanted me to since I had not recorded anything since last Easter. I really enjoyed it. Should you visit the link that I posted in a previous post, like, follow, and leave your comments in the comment section. Follow me also on Facebook, and Instagram.
May God bless you, and keep you. May He smile upon you and give you peace.
As always, thank you for joining me on my journey with Food for the Soul.
The other part of the heart didn’t make it, but that’s alright.
Out and About in My Backyard
Today I just felt like looking beautiful and going outside. The sun is so pretty. The birds are playing, and it feels just right out here. I heard the birds chirping loudly this morning; woke me right up out of my sleep. I feel better than I have ever felt in a very long time, and that’s good. I am watching a little squirrel play in my yard, they are all over the place. I have not seen them play in a long time.
I took lots of pictures. I use my backyard as a backdrop, and they turned out beautifully. Just being out here amongst the trees is refreshing. I wish I could hug them all. While I am out here, I think I will do a recording, I haven’t did one since Easter last year. I hope you all are enjoying your day. I hope the sun is shining where you are. Have a beautiful, blessed day.😇
Devotional Romans 5:12
Can one man make a difference? Human history shouts in the affirmative. One man, one woman, one child can have an enormous impact, either for good or evil. Adam, by eating of the fruit which God had forbidden, plunged himself and all his posterity into sin. And the inevitable result of sin was death.
The world is full of “if onlys”. If only Adam had not eaten of that fruit! If only the people had listened to Noah’s preaching! If only Moses had not lost his temper! If only Peter had stood up for Jesus!
On the other hand, the world is full of “what ifs”. What if Abraham had not faithfully followed God’s command? What if David had not stood up to Goliath? What if Paul had not written to the churches?
May your life be empty of the “if onlys” that come from disobeying the clear instructions of God in his Word. May history be filled with the “what ifs” of your faithful acts of obedience to God.
One Man entered history 2,000 years ago and lived a life free of “if onlys” so that we might live lives free of regret and full of joy, in his service and to his credit. Jesus unwound the “if onlys” of Adam’s sin and its effects and wove them into a magnificent tapestry of grace, to the glory of his name.
What God Will Do: Isaiah 46:4
Love this❤ Shared from Bible Verses: Daily Devotional app – https://bibleverses.app
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Devotional: Mark 11:25
The only way any prayer is ever heard is through the righteous imputation and intercession of Jesus Christ. Yet it is Jesus who here reminds us that successful prayers are accompanied by holy lives.
If you have anything against any one, Jesus says, forgive them from your heart before you seek to pray to your heavenly Father. Do not presume to ask for a forgiveness that you are not yourself willing to grant others.
We garner this insightful view of prayer, then, from Jesus himself — your prayer life is both indestructible and delicate, it is both independent of your actions and yet influenced by the decisions you make.
You see, the access we have to God through Jesus Christ is based entirely on his goodness, not your own. For this reason, you can always pray to God, come boldly to God, when you are clinging to the perfect and sufficient work of Christ on your behalf.
On the other hand, scripture is very clear that our way of life — what we do and fail to do — will greatly influence our communion with God. Paul admonishes husbands to honor and cherish their wives “that your prayers be not hindered” (1 Peter 3:7). Jesus warns not to even bother praying if we are harboring resentment or bitterness or unforgiveness in our hearts.
Today, then, dear believer, go boldly in Christ’s name to the throne of grace, and freely love and forgive others so that your prayers are not hindered.
Devotion: Philippians 2:5-7
Philippians 2:5-7 ESV
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God…emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant
Devotion
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God…made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant
Philippians 2:5-7 KJVLet this mind be in you. The Christian life is not merely intellectual assent to a list of orthodox tenets. It is internalizing the teaching and example of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
And as we look at Christ through the infallible lens of God’s Word the Bible, we are reminded that his way is up-side-down (or rather right-side-up) from the way of this world. Jesus did not work his way to the top; he started at the top, as God himself, and yet chose to humble himself for the sake of his people.
Here was a self-made man: Jesus, who is due all glory and honor, made himself of no reputation. Jesus, who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, took on himself the role of a servant. How sad and ironic that most of us spend all our energy in life striving to do the exact opposite.
This is doubtless why Jesus, from the outset, told those who admired him that they would have to deny themselves in order to become his disciple. Yet so many Christians want to claim discipleship, but without the sacrifice, without the self-denial, without the humility.
Beloved, let this mind be in you — may you internalize the reality of who Christ is, of how he lived, and of what he demands of us.
Devotional: Job 23:10 (ESV)
Verse
Job 23:10 ESVHe knows the way that I take;
when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.Devotion
He knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold
Job 23:10 KJVAre you feeling the weight of some crushing burden or heartache? Job’s words speak immeasurable comfort in the midst of any trial.
First, remember he knows the way that I take. God is not unaware of your difficulty, nor is he insensitive to the pain you are feeling. He knows. He is intimately acquainted with your situation and your condition.
And if the all-wise, all-powerful, loving God is allowing one of his people to pass through affliction, you can rest assured that there is a purpose behind it. You may not as yet see it; you may not now even agree with it. But rest assured that when he has tried you, you will come out of the trial as refined, purified gold.
He hath tried me. The source of the fire may be cruel or malicious intentions on the part of others, but ultimately God is the one who is controlling the temperature and allowing you to pass through it. In Job’s case, the Bible reveals that the devil himself was the author of his sufferings; and yet Job correctly affirmed that the trial was coming through the hand of the Lord (2:10).
Believer, rest in this wonderful assurance, that God is at once next to you in your trial and on his throne in heaven. He knows the way you are taking, and is ruling over every detail of your difficulty until you are sanctified to his glory.
Verse: 1Peter 2:9
Verse
1 Peter 2:9 ESVYou are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Devotion
Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light
1 Peter 2:9 KJVSalvation is of the Lord. That is the point of Peter’s reminder: you are a chosen generation. As Jesus himself affirmed, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you” (John 15:16).
And what a salvation you have been chosen to! You are now a royal priesthood, a sacred and set apart nation, a distinctive people. The saints in heaven sing praises to the Lamb because he has “made us unto our God kings and priests” (Revelation 5:10).
But this wonderful gift of salvation is not, ultimately, man-centered. It is not primarily about us at all. Salvation was planned before creation, executed at the cross, and delivered to you by the Holy Spirit that ye should show forth the praises of the God who saved you.
God saved you for your good and for his glory. He brought you out of sin, and drew you to himself, and delivered you from hell so that his power and grace and justice and purity would be displayed in your salvation and in your life.
This, then, is the great work of evangelism. Not some artificial salesmanship, but an authentic display of the joy that you have found in Jesus, that others might see and know him through you.
Food for the Soul 