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 The Basics of Life ... powerfully singing of how we as Christians can easily let sin back into our lives and how we must get back to the basics of following Jesus obediently.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Ephesians 5:8-10 [NKJV] ... 8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), 10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.
… To be able to walk in the Spirit, avoiding sin, we must walk out of the darkness of self and sin and into God’s light, following the Spirit’s guidance.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Ephesians 5:1-16 [NKJV] ... USE THIS LINK ...
… God, thru, Paul, exhorts us to walk in the light provided by God’s Spirit thru His word so as to avoid patterns of sin from invading our character.
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Reference Passage : … Song of Songs 2:15 [NKJV] ... 15 Catch us the foxes, The little foxes that spoil the vines, For our vines have tender grapes.
… Solomon exhorts us to rid the vineyard of the foxes (i.e., sin patterns) which eat away and spoil the fruitfulness of the vine.
Reference Passage : … John 15:1-8 [NKJV] ... USE THIS LINK ...
… Jesus shows His disciples that they must do all the (we) can to keep the vineyard fruitful by staying connected and purging the vineyard of rotten elements.
Reference Passage : … Romans 8:1-11 [NKJV] ... USE THIS LINK ...
… Paul exhorts fellow Christians to walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh.
Reference Passage : … Galatians 5:16-25 [NKJV] ... USE THIS LINK ...
… Paul exhorts more Christians, … like you and me, … to walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Dave Branon, uses a personal story to illustrate how we, as Christians, must be vigilant and proactive in ridding our lives of patterns of sin. … The ODB author wrote: The first time a bat invaded our home [see photo] we dismissed it as a fluke. But after a second nighttime visit, I read up on the little critters and discovered they don’t need much of an opening to pay humans a visit. In fact, if they find a gap as small as the side of a coin they’ll let themselves in. So I loaded up my caulk gun and went on a mission. I went around the house and closed up every tiny opening I could find.
I think most of us would go very proactive and do whatever it took to keep bats from taking up residence in our home, wouldn’t we? And I had a mentor, who taught me an old truth: “If you’re not proactive, you’re going to have to be reactive!” And most certainly, as in the ODB entry today, if one doesn’t take action to prevent the bats from getting in, they will get in if they have a way in. Just as Solomon also wrote about the foxes getting into the vineyard in Song of songs 2:15.
So, … I think we get the analogy to the way we live, don’t we? If we don’t take pro-action to avoid sin our lives, it will creep in and spoil our Spirit-directed fruitfulness (see Scriptures above). And just as the group 4Him sings in the linked song, we need to get back to the basics of the faith to keep the bats and foxes of sin out of our lives.
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My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Lord, ... for providing us with Your empowering grace to walk in the light, … Your Light …, rather than live in the darkness of our own sin.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray, Lord, that all reading here will join me to take action today - following Christ’s light - to walk out of the darkness of selfishness and sin. … 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.</ span>
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