We start week three of our Month of Mission: "It's still one-to-one and one-by-one."
Our devotion is by ANDRIES COMBRINK who serves the Centurion West Congregation in Centurion, Pretoria.
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He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God --- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth John1:10-14
The true Light of God, the eternal, one and only Son of God, came from his Father's heavenly home to bring the message of the grace and truth of God to those who were God's own. Sadly he was not recognized, he was not received by the leaders of Israel. They chose to rather reject his message and spread lies about his resurrection.
Those who continued to reject him and persecuted his followers would never find the Light, because their darkness remained undefeated.
But the Father sent his Spirit to us and we were, through the Spirit's gracious work, transformed and made into new creations as we were born of God. God's Spirit changed us from enemies into those touched by grace and changed into God's children. And as children of the Father our eyes were opened to recognize Jesus, to believe in his Name and receive the right to walk in the eternal light.
We are given this right when we are adopted by the Father in Christ and are given the privilege to call the almighty Creator "Abba" which means "my Daddy". We are given the power to claim our divine heritage to be children of God.
And we claim this right after we recognize Jesus and are shown his glory. We share in the wonder of childship even as Jesus claimed to be God's Son. One by one the Spirit grants us the faith to recognize Jesus as the Truth and receive the Light!
Celebrate the right to be a child of God today.
Celebrate the gracious life of Jesus that brought you truth and light.
Celebrate the calling to be the instrument used by the Sprit to open the eyes of the blind and call those who are dead, to live.
Celebrate that you have been changed to become the visible and audible word of God who shares this message with people who stumble in darkness:
You too have the right be a child of God.
You too can recognize Jesus and walk in the Light.
You too can see and share the glory of Jesus - now, and forevermore!
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
