Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images and lyrics from the group 4Him singing … Back To The Basics … poignantly singing of how we must do all we can to maintain the basics of our faith … grounded in Christlikeness. … And ON TO THIS LINK to hear Joy Williams singing of the desire to which we all should aspire to have others see Christlikeness in us.
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Highlight Verse[s]: 1st Timothy 4:16 [NLT] … 16 Keep a close watch on how you live and on your teaching. Stay true to what is right for the sake of your own salvation and the salvation of those who hear you.
… Paul instructing Timothy (and us) to watch over their (our) salvation, continuing to maintain the disciplines of the faith.
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Highlight Passage [context]: 1st Timothy 4 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Paul as Timothy’s mentor so wanted the young Pastor to succeed that he warned (exhorted) him to watch over and maintain the basics of the faith.
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Reference Passage [NLT] : … Joshua 1:7-8 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Moses passes the torch of leadership to Joshua, giving him God’s encouragement and exhortation to stay tuned to God thru the basics of the faith, primarily thru God’s word.
Reference Passage [NLT] : … 1st Chronicles 28:9-10 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… The charge from David to his son, Solomon, to stay grounded in the faith passed to them from God thru Moses.
Reference Passage [NLT] : … Matthew 5:14-16 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus exhorts His followers (that’s us!) to shine His own light brightly into a very dark world.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, C.P. Hia, teaches about what it takes to stay true to the basics of the faith to maintain our pursuit of Christlikeness. The ODB author wrote: When you travel by air, before the flight takes off an airline employee presents a safety briefing, which explains what to do if there is a loss of cabin pressure. Passengers are told that oxygen masks will drop from the compartment above and they are to put one on themselves before helping others. Why? Because before you can help anyone else, you need to be physically alert yourself.
Everyone who has flown has heard these instructions; but many may not know the “WHY” behind them. They are primarily for parents so that they will overcome their natural desire to take care of their child first; and to recognize that they will not be able to give life-giving oxygen to their child if they don’t take care of their own needs first. [SEE PHOTO]
And this is an apt word picture of what we, as CHRISTIANS, need to do as well. We need to maintain and stay in the basics of the faith, primarily thru God’s word, to be able to hold onto our Christlikeness and to radiate His light to a very dark world [see Scriptures].
Really, … if any reader with me here today has taken the time to hear the two linked songs above, God will speak to you, as He did to me today, … exhorting us to get back to and stay in the basics of the faith so that others can see Jesus in us.
That’s why you find me here EVERYDAY, doing all I can to glean enough of God’s Spirit from prayer and His word … to be able to exhibit a small amount of Jesus’ light into the ever-darkening world around me.
And I do so, praying that we ALL are doing all we can to stay in His word and glean His life-giving power to share with others.
My Prayer Today: Abba Father, … King Jesus, … Precious Spirit … Dear Lord, … shine thru what I write here that others may get a breath of You. … 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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