Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube of images and lyrics from Daniel O’Donnell singing … Here I Am Lord … poignantly singing of how Christians should be shining lights of service in a very selfish and darkened world.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Isaiah 58:10 [NKJV] … 10 If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your [d]darkness shall be as the noonday.
… When we do what we can to serve others, we become God’s light in the darkness.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Isaiah 58:6-12 [NKJV]… USE THIS LINK …
… God, thru Isaiah, spells out how we can shine the light of our Lord by serving others.
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Reference Passage : … Isaiah 6:8 [NKJV] … 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”
… Isaiah was willing to go forth and serve God as a light for God’s glory.
Reference Passage : … Matthew 5:14-16 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus teaches that our “good works” can become a light in this dark world glorifying our God.
Reference Passage : … Matthew 25:40 [NKJV] … 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’
… Jesus declares that service to others is service to Him.
Reference Passage : … Philippians 2:3-5 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… When we serve others we are humbly showing Christlikeness to the world.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Randy Kilgore, observed and reported an a act of service which illustrates how we can glorify God thru serving others. The ODB author wrote: A small collection of people stood together, dwarfed by the size of the huge tree lying on the lawn [see photo]. An elderly woman leaned on her cane and described watching the previous night’s windstorm as it blew down “our majestic old elm tree. Worst of all,” she continued, voice cracking with emotion, “it destroyed our lovely stone wall too. My husband built that wall when we were first married. He loved that wall. I loved that wall! Now it’s gone; just like him.”
Next morning, as she peeked out at the tree company workers cleaning up the downed tree; a big smile spread across her face. In between the branches she could just make out two adults and the boy who mowed her lawn carefully measuring and rebuilding her beloved stone wall!
I think we’d all agree that day-by-day the world is becoming a darker, more selfish, place in which we, as Christians, are called to walk on our way to our eternal home. And today’s ODB entry points us to the calling we have as disciples of Christ, … i.e., … to shine His light in the world … by reaching out to serve others. And that’s what the Scriptures above point us toward, don’t they?
But the question is really illustrated by the linked song, which asks, … when God calls us to serve others in His Name, will we respond as did Isaiah [?] …
“Here I am, Lord, … send me!”
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Lord, Jesus, thank You for giving me the empowering grace with the Spirit-imparted gifts You’ve given me to serve others.
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My Prayer Today: Abba Father, … King Jesus, … Precious Spirit … Give me an opportunity - even today - to shine Your light of service to others. … 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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