Devotional Song: Go to this link – Please take your time to see a video of a powerful truth in song performed by the group, Avalon, singing Testify To Love, reminding us that we must, as the unified Body of Christ, testify to His love and saving grace.
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Highlight Passage #1 - NLT: John 17: 23
23 I am in them and you are in Me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent Me and that you love them as much as You love Me.
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Highlight Passage #2 - NLT: John, Chapter 17… GO TO THIS LINK …
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Reference Passage #1: John 13: 34-35 … … [NLT]
34 “ … So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
Reference Passage #2: Acts 1: 8 … … [NLT]
8 “… But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be My witnesses, telling people about Me everywhere — in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Reference Passage #3: Matthew 5: 14-16 … … [NLT]
14 “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. ..."
My Journal for Today: This morning in his devotional blog, Os Hillman relates a story of the great Christian teacher/preacher, F.B. Meyer, whose church was losing a number of people from his congregation who were flocking to hear another young preacher down the road who had formed a new church. Several leaders in Meyer’s church expressed dismay at the loss of membership to this new church, which BTW was being led by one, Charles Spurgeon. However, Meyer, discouraged his flock from worrying about this loss of numbers in his own flock, declaring, "If this be happening, then God must be at work."
Now that’s a spirit of unity in the Body of Christ, rather than one of competition; and that’s the spirit of the song to which I’ve linked any reader here. We, as a unified Body of Christ, are to be bound together by the love of God [see the attached photo]; and in this unity of Spirit, we are to be, as Christ prayed Himself in today’s highlight passage from John 17: 23, a force of witness to His love. In fact all of my Scriptural references, quoted above today, are the words of our Lord, Himself, proclaiming that the testimony/witness of God’s love through His unified body of believers is the strongest witness there is to God’s love and grace in this ever darkening world. It shines His light, as declared in Matthew 5: 14-16, brighter than any other witness, to God’s unfailing love. In truth, it is God’s own witness, through His body, of His saving love for a sinful world.
So, my friend, let’s shine His light today and be a witness to his love as Avalon sings. Let’s not let a spirit of competition prevail in the church. No, let’s join hands in the body of Christ and go out shining His light of love into this dark, dark world.
My Prayer for Today … Lord, let me a torch of witness for Your love in all I think, say, and do today. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online blog entitled Today God Is First [TGIF], authored by Os Hillman. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read Hillman’s TGIF blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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