Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video with images and lyrics from Chris Tomlin singing … Light of the World … poignantly singing of Jesus becoming the light of our world.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Matthew 4:23 [NLT] … 23 Jesus traveled throughout the region of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness.
… Jesus moved out to shine His light into the darkness of Galilee.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Matthew 4:12-25 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus moved out from Nazareth into Galilee, preaching the Gospel and bringing the Light of the World to those in darkness.
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Reference Passage : … Psalm 119:105 [NLT] … 105 Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.
… Now we have God’s light, shining on our path in life, thru His word.
Reference Passage : … Isaiah 9:2 [NLT] … 2 The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine.
… The promise and prophesy of the Light of Messiah who would come to God’s people, shrouded in the darkness of sin.
Reference Passage : … Matthew 5:14-16 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus commanded His disciples to shine His light in the world for others to see the glory of God’s love/grace in the way we live our lives.
Reference Passage : … John 8:12 [NLT] … 12 Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”
… Jesus declares Himself to be the “Light of the World” to bring them out of their darkness.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Arthur Jackson, used a story about a musician to illustrate how we can shine the light of Christ thru the way we live. The ODB author wrote … On the streets of Los Angeles, a homeless man struggling with addictions stepped into The Midnight Mission and asked for help. Thus began Brian’s long road to recovery.
In the process Brian rediscovered his love for music. Eventually he joined Street Symphony — a group of music professionals with a heart for the homeless. They asked Brian to perform a solo from Handel’s Messiah known as “The People That Walked in Darkness.” In words written by the prophet Isaiah during a dark period of Israel’s history, he sang, “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined” (Isaiah 9:2). A music critic for The New Yorker magazine wrote that Brian “made the text sound as though it had been taken from his own life.”
As the ODB author writes today following this story, Jesus was the fulfillment of those prophesies from Isaiah 9 about His light coming into the world to lead His people out of the darkness of their own sin. And when Jesus moved out from his home town into the countryside in Galilee and began sharing the Gospel of His kingdom with those who flocked to see Him, He became God’s Light, … His living word, … shining the light of truth and leading those who would surrender to Him out of their darkness and into His light.
And that’s what any of us can find in following Him. It’s certainly what led me out of the darkness of my selfishness and sin over 3 decades ago; and now I can seek and share His light of truth (see Ps. 119:105) with others here everyday and praying that we all will simply follow His light and reflect it into the world (see Matt. 5:14-16) so that others will follow the Lord’s light out of their own darkness.
I pray that all reading here are seeking His light of truth daily and sharing that light with others.
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for the light of truth shining from Your word.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, … King Jesus, … I pray, Lord, that all reading here can, and will, join me, to come out of the darkness of our selves into the light of the Savior. 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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