Posted:
Based on “Shine for God” by Pastor Mark Balmer; 7/4-5/09,
Message #2486, Daily Devotional #5 - “Go Light the World”
Preparing the Soil (Introduction):
Authors can truly excel when writing about things they have experienced. Why? Because the events have “life” to them. The reader gets a sense of having been there and experienced what the writer is sharing. How many times have you picked up a book and lost interest before you had finished the first paragraph? Yet at other times, the words pull you in and grab your interest just as if an arm reached through the pages, grabbed your hand and pulled you into the written scene. Reading takes us on amazing adventures and opens up a before unseen world to the curious soul. When we have completed the reading of a good book we put it down, sorry that the adventure is over. Reading is time consuming, so most of the time we don’t re-read a book. Having said that, let me introduce you to the one Book that takes more than a day, a week, a month, or even a year to read. It is alive and therefore takes a lifetime of reading to understand, for it is the Book that introduces us to, and helps us get to know, our God. It is the only Book you cannot finish. It is called the Bible, penned by the saints, and inspired by God. It takes us from the creation of this world to the time that Jesus comes back for His people and beyond. It is a book no Christ follower would ever want to put aside. Only this one Book can shine God’s light on this world and give eternal hope.
Planting and Watering the Seed (Growth): I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Praise be to you, O LORD; teach me your decrees. With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth. I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word. (Psalm 119:11-16) Every time I hear a teaching at Calvary Chapel Melbourne, something comes alive in my spirit. This week it was when Pastor Mark reminded us that our Bibles are not to be used in church and then set aside until we enter the sanctuary again, a week later. How can we know our God, how can His glow shine in our lives and lead others to Him, and how can we truly live for Christ, if we never spend time with Him where He most often speaks to us, in His Word? Why, it would be like parents with a newborn taking that child and setting in down and saying, “OK, now grow up and live a good life. See ya…….and don’t mess up.” God didn’t do that. He has given us, first, His only begotten Son to show us what He is like, and then He sent His Holy Spirit to teach, comfort, guide, and correct us. And how do we know how to live? By His living Word – the Bible! When I read the account of how Moses’ faced glowed because He had been in the presence of God (Exodus 34:29), I understand that even though Moses’ face could not keep that original glow (it faded), God was showing us that our lives can have a permanent glow because the Holy Spirit has come to dwell in us (1 John 4:13). He enlightens us to know God and His Word. Time spent with God is literally life-changing. But if we ignore His Word, we will be like the parents who set their newborn child aside and just commanded him to grow and do well. How crazy that sounds. God didn’t do that either. He saved us through His Son, and then gave us His Spirit and His Word to help us grow and succeed as Christ followers.
Harvesting the Crop (Action/Response): I recently heard author and speaker, Beth Moore, recount a time when she so needed to hear from God that she literally slept with an open Bible on her forehead. I laughed when I heard her say that because I have laid my head on my Bible wanting the words to be absorbed into my head. Over and over again, the Spirit of the Lord is pulling me closer. I used to carry my Bible around all day and even read it at every red traffic light, and it still goes everywhere with me to this day. Every time I have to make a decision, I open the Bible and see what applies to that circumstance. Well, I have done that for over 40 years, though now I don’t read it at every traffic light for I have hidden much of the Word in my heart. Still, I need God’s fresh Word each day. Because now God is speaking to me about other things just as important to my life as the basics once were. I have seen evidence of the glow of being in God’s presence, and it has only made me more humble, for I can do nothing without Him, but with Him all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). Today, take time to journal with God’s open Word beside you. Read it in humility and allow the Lord to guide you. Your life will begin to glow a little brighter, and the greatest glory will be the Lord’s! Christ followers are to light the world with the hope that lives in them (Ephesians 1:18-19). Go light the world!
Cultivating (Additional Reading): Philippians 2:14-16
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Calvary Chapel of Melbourne; 2955 Minton Road; W. Melbourne, FL 32904; 321-952-9673
All Bible references are from the New International Version (NIV) unless otherwise noted.
