Monday, February 19, 2007

Devotional

Heartlight Daily Verse by Phil Ware
January 17
Philippians 2:14-16Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life.
Thoughts on today’s verse
Stars. They’ve always been a source of constant hope for God’s people. “Your descendants will be like the stars,” God told Abraham. “When I see the stars, what is man that you are mindful of him?” the Psalms ask. The Wisemen from the East followed a star to Jesus. Luke reminds us that Jesus was a bright star come to us from heaven to shine God’s light to those in darkness. And now, we’re stars. God’s points of light in the dark sky of the universe. So let’s make today a day where our light shines God’s glory to a dark world around us.
Prayer: Almighty God, the incredible expanse of your universe, with its billions of stars, exceeds my limited comprehension. But I thank you for calling me to be a light in the dark world around me and I pledge to shine your light today in the lives of all those I can. Through the name of the Bright and Morning Star I pray. Amen.

After receiving his shiny new Bible, my son headed back to the pews. For the next thirty minutes, he admired his Bible; he held it close to him; he caressed it; he flipped through all the pages looking for pictures of the Bible stories he knew about; and he even kissed his Bible over and over. Later that day, he picked up his Bible and said, “Mom, did you know that I have God’s holy word right here in my hands?”
My son reminded me just how precious God’s word should be to us, and I was almost envious of his genuine love for the most holy book of all. Although he is too young to understand all of the lessons that the Bible teaches us or what that book will eventually mean to his spiritual growth, he knew in his innocent little heart just how precious God’s word really is.
One method I use to discover the treasure in my personal trials is to write on a piece of paper a list of my past trials and what possible benefits have come from each of them.

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