Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images and lyrics from Joy Williams singing … Do They See Jesus In Me … poignantly singing of how we, as disciples of Christ, can become the center of God’s map of praise when we choose to reflect Jesus’ love/grace into the world.
16th Century World Map - Jerusalem at the Center
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Highlight Verse[s]: Psalm 48:10 [ESV] ... 10 As your name, O God, so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth.
… We can become the center of God’s focus on earth when we’re willing to sing His praises to others.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Psalm 48 [ESV] ... USE THIS LINK ...
… God’s people sing praises to God for placing them at the center of His glory.
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Reference Passage : … John 3:16-17 [ESV] … 16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.
… God showed His eternal love for His beloved by sending His Son to die and save the world.
Reference Passage : … John 14:21 [ESV] … 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
… Jesus showed His disciples how they (i.e., WE) can become the center of His manifest love for the world.
Reference Passage : … Acts 1:8 [ESV] … 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
… Jesus called and charged us to be His focus of witness and praise wherever we are.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Mike Wittmer, uses a map analogy to illustrate how we can be at the center of God’s will for us to share praise about His glory with others. … The ODB author wrote: You can generally tell where a map was drawn by what lies in its middle. We tend to think our home is the center of the world, so we put a dot in the middle and sketch out from there. Nearby towns might be fifty miles to the north or half a day’s drive to the south, but all are described in relation to where we are. The Psalms draw their “map” from God’s earthly home in the Old Testament, so the center of biblical geography is Jerusalem. [see photo]
These days when one goes to map on our cell phones [e.g., a weather map], a dot appears in the middle of the screen showing where we are located as the center of the GPS mapping. A satellite has located our phone and places us at the center of the mapping focus.
And in some respects that’s where God has us … right now … wherever we are. And for His focus on us, let us stop right here - wherever we are - and PRAISE THE LORD [!!!] … for His love/grace #1 … and for what we might do - even today - to honor and glorify Him. Let’s live today … trying to do what Joy Williams sings in the linked song; and in doing so, we’ll be the center of praise for His glory … right where He needs for us to be.
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My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Lord, … for giving us the opportunity to be in the center of Your will, witnessing to Your glory as you called us to be in Acts 1:8.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray, Lord, that all reading here will join me today, to be the center of God’s “GPS,” witnessing to His glory by the way we live our lives. 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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