Morning Devotional 041125 Be the Light

Liz’s Morning Devotional: Scripture selected from Upper Room

  April 11, 2025

Psalm 104:14-23

14 You make grass grow for cattle; you make plants for human farming in order to get food from the ground, 15 and wine, which cheers people’s hearts, along with oil, which makes the face shine, and bread, which sustains the human heart. 16 The LORD’s trees are well watered the cedars of Lebanon, which God planted, 17 where the birds make their nests, where the stork has a home in the cypresses. 18 The high mountains belong to the mountain goats; the ridges are the refuge of badgers. 19 God made the moon for the seasons, and the sun too, which knows when to set. 20 You bring on the darkness and it is night, when every forest animal prowls. 21 The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God. 22 When the sun rises, they gather together and lie down in their dens. 23 Then people go off to their work, to do their work until evening.

Good Morning. God makes our faces shine like the sun!

Our lives begin with God, who breathes life into us. We journey through our earthly life with the Holy Spirit as our guide. Through Christ, we converse with God each day. When Christ calls us home, we return to God our creator to celebrate for eternity. 

Today’s Psalm reminds us of the creation story in Genesis and that God is the maker of all things. As God completed each day, he looked over his efforts and proclaimed them good. God created humans and declared them good. God gave us dominion over all living things. 

We are living in a time of new challenges, and there are many who are working to unveil all that is bad, and all that is wrong in our world. Those who focus on what is not working become mired in clutches of evil. Evil tempts us to lose our way and join with those fighting against the love of God.

The only power greater than evil is the love of God. Evil has been present since the beginning when Eve succumbed to disobeying God. Jesus came to show us a new way: God’s way, which is founded on love and focusing on what is good. 

When you feel yourself fretting over the evil ways that fill our newscasts, step away and pray to God for deliverance. Open your heart and mind to Jesus' message of love, grace, peace, and joy. Let the Holy Spirit reignite your fire for Christ so that you may go into the world and shine the light of Jesus, who resides within you. 

Loving Lord, Maker of all things! We are bothered by the evil that seems to be taking over. Help us be the light in the darkness so that we may reveal the path to you. Thank you. We love you, Lord! In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen

Thought for the day: God is at work in our lives.

Be the light in the prevailing darkness! Pastor Liz