Be a Light in the Darkness, Be Exuberant – Purity 1903
Purity 1903 03/05/2026 Purity 1903 Audio Podcast
Purity 1903 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of Rockwell Kent’s (1882-1971), oil on canvas, “Mountain Road” (1960) comes to us from your truly as I captured this work of art while visiting the Adirondack Experience, The Museum on Blue Mountain Lake, on August 9th, 2023.
Well, it’s Thursday, and I share today’s Mountain Road pathway photo as a visual reminder, or encouragement, to stay on or to get on the pathway of Christian Discipleship, and to encourage us all to use our talents to shine a light in the darkness. Although there are doubts as to whether Rockwell Kent was a Christian or not, he at least used his artistic talents to help us to appreciate the beauty of God’s creation. Although born into a Christian family, Kent’s socialist political leanings, pro soviet associations, and lack of a Christian witness make me wonder if he had saving faith. He leaves behind a lifetime of artistic works and seemingly noble efforts for civil rights and nuclear disarmament that indicate he was probably a nice guy but when I don’t see any mention of the name of Jesus in the summation of someone’s life, I fear that their talents and life’s work were probably in vain.
After being saved and set free through my faith in Jesus, I can’t help but to use my limited talents to try to shine a light for the gospel and to tell everyone I can about the goodness of God and the new life that can be found through faith in Christ alone. After coming to a saving knowledge of the truth about God and existence itself, I understand that our purpose in life is to worship the Lord and to share His love with others.
Speaking of worshiping the Lord, the Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah devotion for today addresses that topic, and I am sharing it on the blog today to encourage us all to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. Dr. David Jeremiah writes:
“BE EXUBERANT
Give to the Lord the glory due His name; bring an offering, and come before Him. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! – 1 Chronicles 16:29
After David became king of Israel, he made Jerusalem the spiritual center of the nation. The ark of the covenant was in the house of Obed-Edom, outside of Jerusalem. With great joy, unending music, and colorful worship, the ark entered Jerusalem. David gave his musicians a song to sing—the one recorded in 1 Chronicles 16. It’s full of exuberance, with sentences like, “Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; and let them say among the nations, ‘The Lord reigns’” (verse 31).
The Lord does reign, and one day He will return, and His return will be far more praiseworthy than the moving of the ark. But we don’t have to wait until then to worship the Lord in the beauty of His holiness. We can worship Him now. When we praise the Lord, it keeps us focused on eternal realities amid the chaosaround us.
Why don’t you say among the nations (or the neighbors) today: “The Lord reigns!”- David Jeremiah
We are saved to worship God. All that Christ has done in the past and all that He is doing now leads to this one end. – A. W. Tozer
Amen. After we come to faith in Jesus and receive our salvation, we may be at a loss and wonder, “What do I do now?” Jeremiah’s message and Tozer’s quote tell us that the purpose of our being saved is to worship and magnify the Lord and His goodness.
Our decision to worship God isn’t just an appropriate response to the great gift we have received ( we should give the Lord thanks and praise) but it is also the means by which the Lord will draw us into the His will for our lives (causing us to grow in holiness, righteousness, and peace) and to be a light in the darkness (showing others the way to eternal life and freedom).
So worship the Lord by:
- Going to church,
- Learning from His word (every day),
- Speaking to God in prayer,
- Sharing the good news with others,
- Practicing gratitude and thanksgiving,
- Singing to the Lord with joy,
- And by seeking to do good rather than evil, to help ourselves by helping others.
This is a lifestyle of worship – a full embodied experience – that goes beyond the four walls of a church building and the 60 minutes or so of a Sunday religious gathering.
God calls us to life so we can live with Him and walk away from the darkness of our pasts. God calls us to light for the world and to experience the peace and joy that come from following His way and spending time in His presence.
So, worship the Lord every day and let His peace find you.
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For those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple encouragements provide, I offer apologist Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/.
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Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling” By John G. Kruis.
(While Bible verses on various topics of Counseling can be found with a quick Google search, we encourage you to purchase this resource to support the late author’s work. (The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling By John G. Kruis on Amazon )
This morning’s meditation verse comes from the section on the Providence of God.
Ezra 7:1–10 (God moved King Artaxerxes to give Ezra what he asked for, because “the hand of the LORD his God was on him.”)
Ezra 7:10 (NLT) This was because Ezra had determined to study and obey the Law of the LORD and to teach those decrees and regulations to the people of Israel.
Today’s verse is the third of three passages of scripture that fall under the eighth point of our counseling reference guide resource section on the Providence of God.
8. God uses wicked rulers to fulfill his purposes for his children.
Today’s Bible verses tell us of Ezra’s purpose, and our text causes us to wonder in awe over the fact that a pagan king would bankroll the building of an opposing religion’s temple and encourage its scribes to teach what their proponents would consider blasphemy.
Isn’t that crazy? The Jews were not in power. Ezra is merely a humble servant, and the Lord blesses him to lead the rebuilding of the temple of Jerusalem, and as a scribe, he will teach others to worship the one true God, and the Lord uses a pagan to set these things into motion.
Ezra’s example should give us hope that, even in today’s increasingly post Christian society, God will bless our efforts to represent Him and to do His work.
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As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.com, where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today, we continue sharing from “Pause for Power” By Warren Wiersbe.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage you all to purchase Wiersbe’s books for your own private study and to support the late author’s work. This resource is available online for less than $20 at many sites.
Day 37 – Everybody In! – Read Colossians 1:24–27
To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. – Colossians 1:27
God has initiated a new program—His mystery—that was not explained by the Old Testament prophets. The mystery is that today God is uniting Jews and Gentiles in the church (Eph. 3:2–6). Imagine what this message meant to the Gentiles. They were no longer excluded from the glory and riches of God’s grace!
We who have grown up in Christian surroundings have a tendency to take this for granted. But think of the excitement this message must have generated in a church composed of new believers who had no background in the church.
I was privileged to minister in Africa for three weeks, and there I was introduced to some of the finest Christians I have ever met. I taught the Word to more than five hundred national pastors in Kenya for almost a week, and each service was a challenge and blessing to me. Many of the pastors still had the marks of paganism and idolatry on their bodies, yet their faces were aglow with the joy of the Lord. I went to Africa to minister to them, but they ministered to me!
Something to Ponder – What are some ways you can minister to people who usually minister to you?[1]
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[1] Warren W. Wiersbe, Pause for Power: A 365-Day Journey through the Scriptures, 2nd Ed., Year in the Word Series (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2010).
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