Devotional Journaling #6

I am reading two devotionals this year. One is Living Hope for the End of Days: 365 Days of Devotions from the Book of the Revelation by John Samuel Barnett. The other is Joni Eareckson Tada's Diamonds in the Dust.

Living Hope for the End of Days. This week's theme was Remember Christ's Blood. It was a great week of devotions. 

• The blood of Christ has loosed us from our sins. Why do we need that power? From the dark hour of the Fall in the splendors of the Garden of Eden, every man, woman, and child has since been chained by the bondage of sin—stained by an indelible mark that grips our very souls. All pain, decay, fear, sorrow, death, and evil in our world traces its origins back to that very moment.
• All we will ever need was accomplished by the inestimable, infinite, power of the blood of Christ.
• His blood, which is our forgiveness, powerfully paid the penalty of our past sin;
• His blood, which is our victory, absolutely defeats the power of our present sin;
• His blood, which is our security, totally secures us from the presence of our future sin.
• There is power in the blood of Christ: power to cleanse, change, and keep us—power to redeem, restore, and renew us.
• Jesus is the refuge for the unclean. There is no sin He cannot forgive; there is no stain He cannot remove; there is no failure He cannot forget.

Diamonds in the Dust. One entry really stood out for me this week; the entry is for February 7th.

What one of us hasn't faced fright and fear head-on softly quoting the twenty-third Psalm. We repeat those old familiar verses time and again to soothe our souls and break the suffocating grip of fear. I'm particularly fond of the fourth verse. Even though I walk through the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. The psalmist doesn't focus his attention on the dark valley, and he's not distracted by the shadows. He sees through the valley, past the darkness, and looks with confidence toward the other side. The dark valley is a place to go through, not a place to stay in. 

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible