Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images from the UK about our participating in God’s fruitfulness today … AND THEN ON TO THIS LINK to hear Jason Gray singing his song, Glow In The Dark, declaring how fruitful Christians shine Christ’s light into a dark world.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Galatians 5:24-25 [NLT] …
24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. 25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.
… The Apostle Paul exhorts Christians (you and me too!) to be fruitful in the Spirit.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Galatians 5:16-25 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God, thru his later Apostle, Paul, lays out what fruitfulness in Christ is all about.
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Reference Passage #1 [NLT] : … John 15:16 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus on being fruitful in the Spirit for God’s glory.
Reference Passage #2 [NLT] : … 2nd Corinthians 5:16-17 [NLT] …
16 So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know Him now! 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
… In Christ, we need not choose to be as we were in our own humanity. We can choose to be the newness of Spirit in our new nature.
Reference Passage #3 [NLT] : … 2nd Peter 1:3 [NLT] …
3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know Him, the One who called us to Himself by means of His marvelous glory and excellence.
… We’ve got all it takes to glow Christlikeness in this dark world.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Xochitl Dixon used a personal word picture to illustrate how we Christians can choose to share the fruitfulness of Christ; and when we do, we become like Jason Gray sings in today’s linked song … to glow in the dark. The ODB author wrote: During the spring and summer, I admire the fruit growing in our neighbor’s yard. Their cultivated vines climb a shared fence to produce large bunches of grapes. Branches dotted with purple plums and plump oranges dangle just within our reach.
Although we don’t till the soil, plant the seeds, or water and weed the garden, the couple next door shares their bounty with us. They take responsibility for nurturing their crops and allow us to delight in a portion of their harvest.
The produce from the trees and vines on the other side of our fence reminds me of another harvest that benefits me and the people God places in my life. That harvest is the fruit of the Spirit.
If any reader has taken in the YouTube videos and meditated deeply on the Scriptures above, I really need not write much more, do I?
In the newness of Christ, God’s Spirit has given us all we need to be fruitful for His glory [see 2Peter 1:3]. And to choose to do what Jason Gray sings, … i.e., to glow Christlikeness in a very dark world, … we need not yield to our base, human nature (see Gal. 5:19-21). But rather, we are new creatures in Christ [see 2Cor. 5:17], and we can choose to be fruitful in/for Christ (see Gal. 5:22-23).
In Christ we get to choose today … to live with the fruit of the flesh or the fruit of the Spirt.
What will we choose?!!
My Prayer Today: Abba Father, … King Jesus, … Personally, Lord, today I choose to do all I can to glow, like You, in the dark, so that others can taste Your sweet fruit by the way I live. … 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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