Abide in the Light

New Guest: Like this one, most posts are devotional; those related to CAR BIZ can be found by searching for that title. You might start with 'Welcome,' the first post in the archives, dated November 12, 2008, where I introduce myself and the blog. I invite to you add in any reflections or comments you may have.

Blessings and best wishes,
Dr. Will

Saturday, January 9, 2010
Devotions: Ps 121-23; 131, 132; Isa 45:14-19; Col 1:24-2:7; Jn 8:12-19

I raise my eyes to the heights; my help comes from YHWH, Maker of heaven and earth. He never sleeps, and He takes care of His own. He protects me, day and night; He keeps evil away from me. My life is in His hands. I was glad when they told me to go to the house of the Lord. I love Jerusalem; I call for peace to rest there and on all God’s people. Lord, I look up to You; have mercy on me, Lord; I have taken a lot of contempt and the scorn of the proud. But I quiet my soul like a child at its mother’s breast; I am content to be sheltered by my God. Let us worship at God’s footstool! Let us join in the covenant and benefit from God’s favor. The Lord has set His Son as King over all creation.

God will provide the wealth of the nations to His people; He confounds our enemies. He alone is God; there is no other; His Word is Truth!

Paul rejoiced in what he suffered for the sake of the church; God had made him a minister to the Gentiles, to make God’s word fully known to them—a mystery hidden for ages and generations, but suddenly manifest to God’s chosen people. God’s glory is very great, even among the Gentiles, and the mystery is ‘The Messiah in you, the hope of glory.’ It is Jesus the Messiah that Paul preached, teaching everyone in all wisdom, in order to present every one mature in Christ. This is the objective to which Paul strained with all the energy which the Lord mightily inspired within him. Paul worked very hard, even for those whom he had not yet met, so that their hearts might be encouraged as they were knit together in love, to have all the riches of assured understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, of the Anointed One, in Whom ‘are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.’ Paul wrote to keep the churches from error, that no one might delude them with beguiling words. He was with them in spirit, rejoicing to see their good order and the firmness of their faith in the Messiah.

Jesus spoke to His followers: ‘I Am the Light of the world; whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’ The Pharisees objected to Jesus witnessing concerning himself, but He responded, ‘Even if I do bear witness to Myself, My testimony is true—for I know whence I have come and whither I Am going. You judge according to the flesh, but I judge no one. Yet, if I were to judge, My judgment is true, for I do not judge alone, but with Him Who sent Me. Your law declares that the testimony of two men is true; I bear witness to Myself, and the Father Who sent Me also bears witness to me.’ The Pharisees scoffed: ‘Where is your father?’ Jesus answered, ‘You know neither of us—Me or My Father; if you knew Me, you would also know my Father!’