Devotion
You Are The Light of the World
Frances Taylor
How can we be salt and light in today's world? Jesus tells us in the last part of this passage; let people see your good works. Of course this presumes that we are doing good works and that we are not doing them to look good, but to glorify God. Everyone can recognize a hypocrite. We can tell when someone is showing off. We also can recognize people who do the right thing because it is the right thing to do. Not only are we supposed to be the light of the world but to point out to others the lights in our world. So often the people we hear about are those doing the wrong thing. How often do we hear about the true heroes in the news, the people who go about their business quietly volunteering in soup kitchens, homeless shelters, after-school programs, and in so many small ways that make a big difference in people's lives. These are the ones who are lighting up our communities, salting our world, making a difference. This is supposed to be us. It is our job to go into our neighborhoods, our communities and make a difference by bringing our Christian values into the workplace, our families and in whatever situations we find ourselves in. These values determine the way we do our jobs, the way we raise our children and love our spouses, the way we vote and every other aspect of our lives. We are called to make a difference.
Prayer
Lord, you have given us a challenge. Help us to be the salt and light you expect us to be. Amen.
Morning Prayer
See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
Inspiration
To reject the truths taught in God's Word, spoken by his prophets and apostles and by Jesus Christ his Son, is a grave offense. In the days when Hebrews was written, there were still true prophets in the Church, speaking from God. Today, we have his written Word as our "prophet. " If a preacher preaches truly according to the Book, we are in a grave sin if we reject it.
Prayer
Help me, O Lord, to discern when your Word is being taught correctly and when it is not. Teach me to embrace your truths and love them. Help me to walk in them and meditate on them. Let me not sin in rejecting the plain teachings of the Bible. Amen.
Night Prayer
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Inspiration
Sin rules our lives until we accept Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. When we invite Him into our lives, our old sinful heart dies, and God creates within us a new one, where sin no longer rules our life; God does! Our thoughts and actions begin to change because we no longer desire a sinful lifestyle. We joyfully devote our lives to serving Him and inviting others to understand His promise of salvation.
Prayer
Dear Lord, we are sinners born again and recreated to live according to Your will. We are grateful for Your love and the peace we experience by abolishing our old sinful self. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Devotion
Satan Has Been Defeated
Frances Taylor
Salvation and power have come with Christ and Satan has been defeated. Sin and death have been conquered by the actions of one man, Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, both human and divine who came into the world to bring the Good News of salvation by living, dying and rising for us. As Christians we claim to believe this but our actions sometimes deny it. Unfortunately, people seem to resurrect Satan all the time. We allow him to lead us away from God, forgetting the way to the Father that is love, and giving in to Satan's path of hatred, anger, pride, lust, chaos and destruction.
Satan, of course, doesn't present these as bad things, he makes them seem attractive. He presents sin as goods to be desired, as things to make us happy or give us pleasure. It can be hard to stay on the path that leads to God when the world seems to be crowding us and pushing us off of it. How easy it is to forget the sacrifice that bought our freedom! Which of us ...