Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a You Tube video of Kristyn & Keith Getty singing … Speak, O Lord, poignantly singing of God’s powerful word, speaking His truth into our lives as His disciples.
Highlight Passage: 1st John 4:1 [NKJV] …
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life—
… John’s proclamation of the reality and power of Jesus being the “Word of Life!”
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Highlight Passage: 1st John 4:1 [NLT] …
1 We proclaim to you the One who existed from the beginning, Whom we have heard and seen. We saw Him with our own eyes and touched Him with our own hands. He is the Word of life …
... The NLT version of the highlight passage
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Highlight Context … 1st John 1:1-5 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… John declares that Jesus was (and is) the “Word of Life,” … i.e., He is the living word, which was seen and heard on earth in the flesh.
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Reference Passage #1 … Isaiah 55:11 [NKJV] …
11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; … it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper the thing which I sent it.
… God, Himself, thru Isaiah, declares the power and importance of His word.
Reference Passage #2 … 2nd Timothy 3:16-17 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Paul declares the reality and power of God’s word for our lives as Christians.
My Journal for Today: … Our Daily Bread author, Tim Gustafson, told a personal experience illustrating the power of God’s word. He wrote: Early in my days of working as an editor for Our Daily Bread, I selected the cover verse for each month’s devotional. After a while, I began to wonder if it made a difference.
Not long after that, a reader wrote and described how she had prayed for her son for more than twenty years, yet he wanted nothing to do with Jesus. Then one day he stopped by to visit her, and he read the verse on the cover of the booklet that sat on her table. The Spirit used those words to convict him, and he gave his life to Jesus at that very moment.
And I have my own personal experience of how God can use His word to change a life. On 4-13-83, I was a self-proclaimed and cynical agnostic who had been rejecting Christians who witnessed to me. But I was still seeking for “spiritual” strength in my life, primarily thru pursuing far-eastern mysticism. Well, on that day, thru my secretary’s witness, she had put a brochure on my desk with a Bible verse on the cover: ”I can do all things thru Christ, Who gives me the strength.” - Phil. 4:13
And in that moment of my seeking for spiritual strength and the realization that the date was 4:13 and the Bible verse was 4:13, I broke down and received Christ as my Savior, and shortly thereafter surrendering all to Him as Lord. God had used one verse from His Holy Word to bring me to Himself. Therefore, … I fully recognize the power of God’s word to do what it says (see Is. 55:11 and 2Tim. 3:16-17).
That’s why you find me here in a place much like that one depicted in the attached photo, going daily and deeply into God’s word (as in the linked song for today) … to be reshaped into the image of my Lord/Savior. I pray that all who are reading with me today are into the same discipline of daily discipleship through God’s word.
Today’s Prayer: Lord, reshape us into Your image through Your living word. 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, 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.
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