Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video with images and lyrics from Jason Gray singing his song … Glow In The Dark …Joyfully singing of how we can come out of the darkness of self and into the light of our Savior.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Ezekiel 8:12 [NLT] … 12 Then the Lord said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the leaders of Israel are doing with their idols in dark rooms? They are saying, ‘The Lord doesn’t see us; he has deserted our land!’”
… God reveals how His people were thinking that they could hide their dark sins from an all-knowing, all-seeing God.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Ezekiel, Chapter 8 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God shows the Prophet just how much the people were sinning against our Holy God and thinking that He would not see their sins.
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Reference Passage [NLT] : … Lamentations 3:22-23 [NLT] … 22 The faithful love of the Lord never ends. His mercies never cease. 23 Great is his faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning.
… God’s mercy is new and available to anyone willing to receive it from God’s Spirit.
Reference Passage [NLT] : … Ezekiel 36:26 [NLT] … 26 And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.
… God’s mercy and grace have led Him to put a new heart into any of the remnant of believers who repent and come to receive that heart from The Messiah.
Reference Passage [NLT] : … Romans 5:8 [NLT] … 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
… God, our Heavenly Father, in His great mercy, sent His Son, to die for our sinfulness and to save us from our selves.
Reference Passage [NLT] : … 2nd Corinthians 5:17 [NLT] … 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
... And because I have surrendered my self to my Savior as my Lord, He is making me into a new man in His image.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, James Banks, used a word picture of children playing hide-n-seek to illustrate how we often think God doesn’t see our sin, which, of course, is absolute foolishness. The ODB author wrote: “You can’t see me!”
When small children play “hide and seek,” they sometimes believe they’re hiding just by covering their eyes. If they can’t see you, they assume you can’t see them.
Naïve as that may seem to adults, we sometimes do something similar with God. When we find ourselves desiring to do something we know is wrong, our tendency may be to shut God out as we willfully go our own way.
Aw common! … Admit it, … along with me. We’ve all tried to play hide-n-seek with God, haven’t we, … trying to hide some kind of sin and somehow thinking that an all-knowing and all-seeing God doesn’t see our transgression? And is that not about as foolish as one can be?
Well, God’s people in the times of the Prophet Ezekiel were trying to keep their sin hidden in the darkness from God (see link to highlight passage); and most certainly God’s wrath would uncover their sin, just as our sin will ultimately ALWAYS show itself if we try to hide it.
But God, in His mercy [see Lam. 3:22-23] was willing to give mankind a “do-over!” And He has done so in the ultimate way by sending His Son to die on a cross and, with His blood, give us a chance to come out of the darkness. We no longer need try to hide our sins. No, … we can be touched with His saving grace [see Rom. 5:8 ], giving us a new heart and a new lease on life (see Ezek. 36:26 and 2Cor. 5:17).
The question becomes … are we willing to come out of hiding into THE LIGHT!
My Prayer Today: Abba Father, … King Jesus, … Precious Spirit … Shine Your light on me Lord that I cannot withhold any darkness from You, and so that You can let me walk in Your light always. … 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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