Page 26 - Livin Light Issue 81

PRAYER FOR TODAY
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Friday June 30 - Back to the future
“He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.”
John 1:15
What would we do if Jesus made himself physically visible to us, right now? I think we would be overwhelmed with a heady mix of joy, adoration, amazement, worship, thankfulness, and humility... just for starters! What a work of God’s grace it is that ‘in Christ’ we can look forward to meeting him face to face one day, in all his glory!
Many believers in Old Testament times lived longing to see God’s promised Messiah with their earthly eyes, but didn’t. In John the Baptist’s time people needed to prepare their hearts to receive him with godly humility... because he was about to ‘go viral’ and his message wasn’t going to match some of their human expectations!
John the Baptist was a big celebrity, and people flocked to hear him... but he was only ever interested in one greater than himself; and when he saw Jesus in the flesh, he happily downgraded himself and proclaimed, with godly humility, Jesus’ all-surpassing greatness. Are we pointing others to Jesus, or to our own ‘works’?
As day by day Jesus works in us by his Spirit, transforming us, preparing our hearts for his second coming... we can play our part by sitting humbly ‘under’ his word each day, eager to hear what he is saying to us through it, and asking him to help us put it into practice.
Lord Jesus, I long to meet you when my earthly life has passed. Please help me to love and know you better, and may my life point others to you. Amen.
Saturday July 1 - The blessings in Jesus
From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. John 1:16
Do you talk aloud to yourself when alone? The Bible encourages this sometimes! In Psalm 103 we tell ourselves how God has blessed us: ‘Praise the Lord, O my soul; let all my inmost being praise his holy name... forget not all his benefits... (he) forgives all your sins...’(vv 1-3).
Perhaps you don’t feel ‘blessed’, and need God’s gentle reminder that, ‘we have all received one blessing after another’. We don’t always recognise God’s blessings until reflecting back on life, and we need to remember that God also allows hardships, which he uses to grow us into Christ’s likeness.
God’s blessings come ‘from the fullness of his grace...’ but what does this mean? The first disciples saw God’s grace in action – Jesus fully embodied it, Jesus is God’s grace! He secured God’s forgiveness, for you and me, by his sacrificial death on the cross. Grace is cross-shaped – a billion blessings stream from the cross of Christ. Jesus lists many blessings in his ‘sermon on the mount’ (see today’s ‘further reading’: Matthew 5).
No matter what we have done, when we repent ‘in Christ’ we are forgiven – assured of his loving care on earth and in eternity. No wonder John Newton, one-time slave- trader turned hymn-writer, called it ‘Amazing Grace’! *
Dear Father, in Jesus, I have received your richest blessings – my salvation, and your everlasting presence and love every day. I praise and thank you! Amen.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
(*If you are yet to know Jesus, ask a trusted Christian friend or church minister for advice.)