Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images and lyrics from Laura Story singing her song … Death Was Arrested … poignantly singing of how we are brought from death to life and experience new life from the saving and sanctifying grace of God.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Revelation 21:5a [NKJV] … 5 Then He [the Lamb of God] Who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.”
… Jesus completed work on the cross comes to fruition when He returns to bring His Bride to Himself in glory.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Revelation 21:1-5 [NKJV]… USE THIS LINK …
… John’s vision of heaven reveals Jesus on His throne, coming back to make all things new.
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Reference Passage : … 2 Corinthians 5:17 [NKJV]… 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
… All things become new in all who receive His saving grace.
Reference Passage : … Philippians 1:6 [NKJV]… 6 … being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; …
… God has begun his transformation of us and will complete it in glory.
Reference Passage : … Colossians 1:12-13, 2:13-15 [NKJV]… USE THIS LINK …
… Having been dead in sin, we are raised to newness of life in Christ.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Poh Fang Chia, uses the insights of a little girl about what she desires of a “perfect world” to illustrate the reality of what we have in Christ. The ODB author wrote: Katie was given a school assignment to write an essay entitled “My Perfect World.” She wrote: “In my perfect world . . . ice cream is free, lollipops are everywhere, and the sky is blue all the time, with only a few clouds that have interesting shapes.” Then her essay took a more serious turn. In that world, she continued, “No one will come home to bad news.
And no one will have to be the one to deliver it.” No one will come home to bad news. Isn’t that wonderful? Those words point powerfully to the confident hope we have in Jesus. He is “making everything new”—healing and transforming our world (Revelation 21:5).
What little Katie wished for has become reality in the hearts and lives of anyone who has surrendered the old life of sin and has received the saving grace made available to all truly repentant sinners who believe in Christ as Lord. In Christ all things become new (see 2Cor. 5:17) as we live out the Kingdom promises envisioned by the Apostle John in the Revelation [see Rev. 21:5].
One day we will see the Lamb of God on His throne in glory; but for born-again Christians, the Kingdom of God is now; and it is found in the hearts of all who’ve surrendered our selves to the Savior and received His saving and sanctifying grace.
And I’m certainly a poster boy for that reality, just as Peter was, going from an impulsive and cowardly sinner to the leader of the early Church; … just as the Apostle Paul was, being transformed from Saul, the Christian killer, to Paul, the dynamic proclaimer of the gospel; … and once again, just as I was, going from an angry atheist to an Ordained Minister, who now proclaims the power of Christ to change lives and make all things new.
And I pray any/all who read with me here have come to know and experience that newness as we grow toward the completion promised by God’s word (see Phil. 1:6). So, take a few moments and hear Laura Story sing of that new life in Christ; and then join me in a loud ”HALLELUJAH!!!” praising God for the new life we have in Christ.
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Lord, Jesus, thank You for Your transforming grace.
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My Prayer Today: Abba Father, … King Jesus, … Precious Spirit … Make me even newer today than yesterday … and even more so tomorrow. … 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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