Devotional Song: Go to this link – Please take your time to see a video of a poignant song, written in 1873 by a blind woman, Fanny Crosby, which has become classic hymn of the faith and sung by the contemporary group, 3rd Day … Blessed Assurance, showing us that even this sightless can see things from heaven’s perspective, reminding believers that when we see life from Heaven’s perspective we have all the vision we need to live in this life and for eternity.
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Highlight Passage #1 – NKJV: 2nd Corinthians 4: 16-18 …
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
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Highlight Context - NKJV: 2nd Corinthians, Chapter 4 … GO TO THIS LINK for Chapter 4 …
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Reference Passage #1: Proverbs 3: 5-6 … [NKJV] … [See it His way and then do it His way.] …
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.
Reference Passage #2: Luke 9: 23 … [NKJV] … [Seeing the path from Jesus’ perspective; and then following His path. ] …
23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. … "
Reference Passage #3: 2nd Peter 1: 3-4 … [NKJV] … [God has given us His way of seeing life – His heavenly perspective. ] …
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Reference Passage #4: Psalm 119: 105 … [NKJV] … [Finding His will and His way from His word. ] …
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
My Journal for Today: Today from Our Daily Bread, I was led to the wonderful 19th Century Hymn, Blessed Assurance, written by Fanny Crosby and linked for your hearing above. And Fanny Crosby is a devotional character study from whom we can all glean a heavenly perspective on life from a woman who was born blind.
In her life time, Fanny Crosby, wrote over 9000 hymns. And once asked if she could have been more productive as a song-writer for God if she had been given the gift of sight, Crosby was reported to have answered, “Do you know that if at birth I had been able to make one petition, it would have been that I was born blind? . . . Because when I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior.”
And that, my fellow Christian, is a heavenly perspective! BUT, how do we, who’re “handicapped” by normal vision, get that perspective on living? Do we have to give up our normal human vision to be able to see life from God’s perspective? No, … according to the transformed Apostle, Peter, [see the 2nd Peter 1 passage copied above] God has given us all we’ll need to see and do life from His heavenly perspective. And the key to seeing things His way and following it, as Jesus commanded in Luke 9: 23, is to get our way out of the way of His way.
Proverbs 3: 5-6 also states it clearly, … i.e., when we can seek and find God’s wisdom, not leaning on doing life from our own selfish understanding, God will show is the way – HIS WAY. And the great Psalmist who wrote Psalm 119, give us God’s way of finding His Heavenly perspective; and that is to open our way to His by finding His will and His way through His word.
So, here I am again today, putting on His sight-giving aid, God’s word, and seeking to find my way – yes, even today – by viewing my life through the perspective of His word. And I’ll pray again that we all see life with the clear aid of the bright light He shines on our path from His word.
My Prayer for Today … Lord, again I pray that You show us clearly Your will and Your way from Your word, giving us Your Heavenly perspective on this life ahead. … Amen
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 [TGIF], distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read the Our Daily Bread blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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