The following e-devotion was first shared in August of 2009. I ran across it again, and this really is part of my heart. Oh that we would be caught being kind, being like Jesus!
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We are never more alive than when we are connected to God. Let me take it a step further. We are never more alive than when we are serving God by serving others. I get excited when I read that someone or some church is going off the deep end serving outside of their comfort zone and doing things that are not the status quo.
Why does that stuff get to me the way it does? It is because God has worked in my heart. Yep, I've known God all my life and been his child since May of 1986, and I haven't gotten over it. My prayer is that I will be more excited about God and serving others today than I ever have been before. My objective is to lead others to be more excited than ever about God and serving others. What do you think?
Staying connected to God isn't easy. It is a choice each of us has to make. The song Marvelous Light has lasting truth that I want to share with you. It hit me once again with the reality of who God is and what God is doing. Let me share:
lyrics: Your kindness wakened me, Awakened me, from my sleep
Ephesians 1:7 NLT
He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.
Coming to know the kindness of God is an awesome thing. It is almost like waking up and realizing you are in a special place or that something has happened that is awesome. God's kindness changes us big time.
lyrics: Your love it beckons deeply, a call to come and die.
Romans 5:8 NLT
But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
Galatians 2:20 NLT
My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
The love of God is something we will never fully understand, but the longer I know Him and allow His love to fill me, the more I see how good God is. That leads me to be more like Jesus. Literally, less of me and more of Him every day. He truly is greater than I am (as our 2022 theme states HE>i). That is living to serve Him and serve others.
lyrics: My dead heart now is beating, My deepest stains now clean. Your breath fills up my lungs. Now I'm free. now I'm free! See the light that i have found. Oh the marvelous light...
Luke 11:36 NLT
If you are filled with light, with no dark corners, then your whole life will be radiant, as though a floodlight were filling you with light."
Known anyone who has ever come back to life? That is what happens when Jesus comes into our lives. We were dead. Now we are alive. Living for Jesus is real, free living.
We have got to stop letting ourselves or letting other people put blinders on us or putting us bondage that keeps us from really living. To let that marvelous light fill us is to let Christ live through us. For me, that is not described as a quiet existence and being somber. It is best described as emotions you can't keep inside and stuff you can't keep from doing. In other words, I love Jesus so much that I want to serve others. What do you say to that?
God's kindness awakens me every time that I give God time. Join me and lets let God's love, God's light and God's kindness awaken us!
NOTE: Help our team with CUBA missions. I will be making a trip to Cuba to support the FCA leaders. Donations of medicines and hygiene products as well as money are needed with the trip. Let me know if you would like to help.
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