Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from Matt Redman singing Light of the World … poignantly singing of how God shines His light thru us into a very, very dark world.
Cape Hatteras Lighthouse
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Highlight Verse[s]: 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 that anyone who follows Him will not walk in darkness.
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Highlight Passage [context]: John 8:12-16 [NLT] ... USE THIS LINK ...
… Jesus declares that He IS the “Light of the world.”
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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.
… God’s Spirit has given us His word to light our way in life.
Reference Passage : …Matthew 5:14-16 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus commands His disciples (that’s us!) to be His light shining for others to find their way out of the darkness of this world and our own sin nature.
Reference Passage : … Ephesians 5:8 [NLT] … 8 For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light!
… Paul recognized that he, and fellow Christians, were once walking in darkness; but now, in Christ, we have the light His Spirit to follow Him.
Reference Passage : … 1 John 1:5 [NLT] … 5 This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in Him at all.
… John reminds fellow Christians that following Jesus is following The Light of the World.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, James Banks, uses a word picture of lighthouse keepers to show how we, as Christians, must be keepers of God’s light shining in the darkness of this world. … The ODB author wrote: They call them “Keepers of the Light.”
At the lighthouse on the cape of Hatteras Island [see photo] … just off the North Carolina coast of the United States, there’s a memorial to those who’ve tended the light stations there since 1803. Shortly after the existing structure was moved inland because of shoreline erosion, the names of the keepers were etched on the old foundation stones and arranged into an amphitheater shape facing the new site. That way—as a placard explains—today’s visitors can follow in the historical keepers’ footsteps and “watch over” the lighthouse as well.
I think a lighthouse is a good word picture to illustrate whom we must be as Christ’s disciples in this dark,… and ever darkening …, world. Jesus called Himself “The Light of the World;”; and He has given us His light to follow Him thru His word (see Psalm 119:105). And even more importantly, He has planted His own light in our hearts, thru His Spirit, and charged us to become His lighthouses (see Matt. 5:14-16 and John 8:12).
So, … I come here every morning to turn on and focus THE LIGHT my Lord has given me thru His word so that I can - as I pray you do too - go out and shine His light to help others see their way to come to Him out of the darkness. And I pray we all do today what Matt Redman sings in the linked song … to go out and reflect the “Light of the World” from our hearts into a very dark world.
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My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Lord, … for giving me Your light to shine forth into the darkness of this world.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray, Lord, that all reading here will join me, to shine His Spirit-light from our hearts as lighthouses in the darkness. 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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