Heartlight by Email

▼ See a Sample of Today's Verse

For [the Father] has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.

—Colossians 1:13

Thoughts on Today's Verse...

People from all over the world and many different nationalities read Verse of the Day. While our national origins and ethnic heritages differ, we are members of one Kingdom. Our allegiance transcends ethnicity, race, culture, language, and nation. Why? Because we've been rescued from the dominion that holds sway over race, culture, language, and country. That dominion, the dominion of darkness, divides us and makes us suspicious of each other, leading to hatred and warfare. We've been given a more glorious and lasting Kingdom! We've been made into a more glorious and colorful people — one not based on race, ethnicity, language, social status, nation, or skin color! We are God's children and part of the Kingdom of the Son he loves.

My Prayer...

Use us, O Father, to break down the barriers that separate peoples based on temporary externals. Make us into a Kingdom of character, hope, and love. Cast all darkness out of our hearts. Shine the light of your grace through us to our world so people can see the healing for what divides us. I pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Savior of all peoples. Amen.

▼ See a Sample of God's Holy Fire

We follow this sequence in Scripture: The First Adam received life, the Last Adam is a life-giving Spirit.

—1 Corinthians 15:45 MESSAGE

Key Thought

Adam needed for God to breathe the breath of life into him. Jesus, "the Last Adam", triumphed over death and poured out life through the Spirit both at Pentecost (Acts 2) and also subsequently when people committed themselves to him, including at our own conversion (Titus 3:3-7). Jesus breathed this new life into us! Jesus became our source of life, our freedom to find life, and our goal in life when he filled us with the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:17-18).

Today's Prayer

Loving Father, thank you. Thank you for becoming present in our world in Jesus of Nazareth. Thank you for becoming present in my life through the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, please conform me to be more and more like Jesus each day, to the praise of God the Father. In the name of the Son of God, I pray. Amen.

▼ See a Sample of What Jesus Did!

One day Jesus said to his disciples, "There will always be temptations to sin, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting! It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin."

—Luke 17:1-2 NLT

Key Thought

Jesus wants us to be aware that temptation is real, dangerous, and personal. However, it is far worse for us to be the source of someone else's temptation and sin than to have to face just our own. Our sin matters in every way; it matters more, however, when we bring others down with us.

Today's Prayer

Father, thank you for strengthening me and helping me to withstand the onslaught of temptation. Father, I never want to be a stumbling block to someone else. Guide my steps, please dear Lord, so that I will not stumble or fall. Guide my influence, dear Father, so that it does only good and never harm. In Jesus' name. Amen.

▼ See a Sample of Unstoppable!

After saying farewell to the Ephesian elders, [Paul and his companions] sailed straight to the island of Cos. The next day we reached Rhodes and then went to Patara. There we boarded a ship sailing for Phoenicia. We sighted the island of Cyprus, passed it on our left, and landed at the harbor of Tyre, in Syria, where the ship was to unload its cargo.

We went ashore, found the local believers, and stayed with them a week.

—Acts 21:1-4 NLT

Key Thought

Luke is careful to record the travels of Paul. Most people skip over these kinds of sections unless they are geography-lovers or historians. Sometimes, however, God reveals some of his essential principles in conjunction with these sorts of lists. After mentioning the obvious — the traveling party went ashore after having sailed for quite some time — Luke reminds us of the importance of fellowship with other believers. Paul's team searched till they found other followers of Jesus. Then, they stayed with them for a week. All too often when modern believers travel, we "take a vacation from church." I am thankful for people like Mac and Gerry McCauley, who traveled a great deal in retirement. On Sundays, they made a point to visit a congregation wherever they were. They took people out for lunch who were church leaders and blessed them. On one occasion, they stopped in Bangkok, Thailand, and found a young man named Robert at the church there. They encouraged him. They then went back to his home church and convinced their mission committee to sponsor him. Now, thirty years later, Robert and his wife Jan have led hundreds to Christ and mentored hundreds more to be ministers all over Asia. Don't overlook the power and principle of this last sentence in today's verses: "We went ashore, found the local believers, and stayed with them a week." What difference can a visit with other believers make? Just ask hundreds who know Christ and lead churches in Asia!

Today's Prayer

O Father, forgive me for the times I have not taken advantage of the opportunity to share fellowship with other believers and encourage them. I confess that I am sometimes selfish with my time and not focused on using that time to be a blessing. Thank you for Paul's example of seeking out other believers and encouraging them. Holy Spirit, help me also to use my travel as a time of spiritual encouragement. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.

▼ See a Sample of Passion for Praise

Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight! Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty!

—Psalm 32:1-2

▼ See a Sample of Quotemeal

"Pride is the utter poverty of soul disguised as riches, imaginary light where in fact there is darkness."

—John Climacus

▼ See a Sample of Morning and Evening

"Pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved."

—Song of Solomon 7:13

Morning Thought

The spouse desires to give to Jesus all that she produces. Our heart has "all manner of pleasant fruits," both "old and new," and they are laid up for our Beloved. At this rich autumnal season of fruit, let us survey our stores. We have new fruits. We desire to feel new life, new joy, new gratitude; we wish to make new resolves and carry them out by new labours; our heart blossoms with new prayers, and our soul is pledging herself to new efforts. But we have some old fruits too. There is our first love: a choice fruit that! and Jesus delights in it. There is our first faith: that simple faith by which, having nothing, we became possessors of all things. There is our joy when first we knew the Lord: let us revive it. We have our old remembrances of the promises. How faithful has God been! In sickness, how softly did he make our bed! In deep waters, how placidly did he buoy us up! In the flaming furnace, how graciously did he deliver us. Old fruits, indeed! We have many of them, for his mercies have been more than the hairs of our head. Old sins we must regret, but then we have had repentances which he has given us, by which we have wept our way to the cross, and learned the merit of his blood. We have fruits, this morning, both new and old; but here is the point-they are all laid up for Jesus. Truly, those are the best and most acceptable services in which Jesus is the solitary aim of the soul, and his glory, without any admixture whatever, the end of all our efforts. Let our many fruits be laid up only for our Beloved; let us display them when he is with us, and not hold them up before the gaze of men. Jesus, we will turn the key in our garden door, and none shall enter to rob thee of one good fruit from the soil which thou hast watered with thy bloody sweat. Our all shall be thine, thine only, O Jesus, our Beloved!

▼ See a Sample of Daily Wisdom

When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.

—James 1:13-14

▼ See a Sample of Praying with Paul

Hebrews 12:29

Dear Father, who dwells in indescribable light,

I want to love the Light. Your verdict is: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.

They hate the light because they are afraid they will be exposed. As for me, Lord God, I come into your Light, to your Son, that my sinfulness can be exposed and expunged through him.

Because I want to live by the truth, I come into your light, so that it may be clearly seen that my conversion, my conviction, and my conformity to Jesus have been wrought in you.

In Jesus' name. Amen.

▼ See a Sample of A Year with Jesus

Note from Jesus

Dear Precious One,

Each of My disciples is precious to Me. I hate for any of them to have to go through unfair trials and difficulties. Unfortunately, the world in which My disciples live is filled with all sorts of twisted people. These people abuse politics and laws to suit themselves. They try to extort money from the innocent. They make decisions to curry favor rather than to deliver justice.

I remind you that My trial was an awful miscarriage of justice. My execution was government-sponsored murder. The whole situation was politically motivated and not based on truth.

My few believers in influential Jewish circles feared reprisal for their faith, so they remained silent in the face of all the abuses of the law and justice. Notice this fear of rejection among the Jews during the last week before My crucifixion:

Despite all the signs He [Jesus the Anointed] performed, they [the people in the crowd] still did not believe in Him. ... Yet many leaders secretly believed in Him but would not declare their faith because the Pharisees continued their threats to expel all His followers from the synagogue; here's why: they loved to please men more than they desired to glorify God.
(John 12:37; John 12:42-43)

Without anyone to insist on a fair trial, the Jewish leaders tried me illegally. They seized Me at night having paid Judas to betray Me. The trial was held at night away from the people. The testimony used against Me was untrue and provided by false witnesses. When the Sanhedrin pronounced Me guilty, they sent Me to Pilate (Matthew 26:47-67; Matthew 27:1-2).

Pilate recognized almost immediately that I was innocent, yet tried to gain political leverage by having Me go before Herod. I was pronounced innocent by Pilate, but he appeased the crowd by releasing a hardened criminal named Barabbas rather than releasing Me. Pilate then had Me scourged trying to calm the crowd. When this appeasement didn't work, Pilate handed Me over to be crucified (Matthew 27:11-26).

So yes, precious disciple, I experienced injustice — a total miscarriage of justice. When under trial, I do want you to remain a person of holy character. I also want you to look for an opportunity to share My good news with influential people even when being treated unjustly. However, I don't want you to suffer unjustly if you can legally prevent this unfairness from happening.

One of the many reasons that Paul was effective as My apostle to the Gentiles was that he was a Roman citizen. This citizenship gave Paul specific rights that protected him many times during his life of ministry. I want you to notice in the verses below that Paul exercised his legal rights as a Roman citizen to protect himself and his ministry. Another example was Paul using his citizenship to obtain an acknowledgement that he and his associates had been treated unlawfully in Philippi (Acts 16:35-40).

Verses to Live

Today's verses share some of the intrigue, political maneuvering, and treachery that led Paul to use his legal rights to protect himself and his ministry. Please know that I want you to do the same. Be a person of holy character and faith. Trust in the Holy Spirit to give you words to say but use every legal right to protect yourself and your ministry. I will be at work to redeem your situation (Romans 8:28).

Felix was quite knowledgeable about the Way. He adjourned the preliminary hearing.

Felix:

When Lysias the commandant comes to Caesarea, I will decide your case.

He then ordered the officer to keep Paul in custody, but to permit him some freedom and to allow any of his friends to take care of his needs.

A few days later, Felix sent for Paul and gave him an opportunity to speak about faith in the Anointed One. Felix was accompanied by his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish. As Paul spoke of justice, self-control, and the coming judgment, Felix became fearful.

Felix:

That's enough for now. When I have time, I will send for you again.

They had a number of conversations of this sort; but Felix actually was hoping that, by having frequent contact with him, Paul might offer him a bribe. As a favor to the Jews, he did nothing to resolve the case and left Paul in prison for two years. Then Felix completed his assignment as governor, and Porcius Festus succeeded him.

Three days after arriving in the province, Festus traveled south from Caesarea to Jerusalem. The chief priests and Jewish leaders still had a plan to kill Paul and gave a report to Festus about their unresolved grievances against Paul. They suggested that as a favor to them, Festus should move Paul to Jerusalem. Of course, this was part of the plan to set an ambush for Paul and kill him en route. Festus instead offered to reopen the case. He would be going back to Caesarea soon.

Festus:

So let your leaders accompany me, and bring your accusations against the man.

Eight or ten days later, Festus returned to Caesarea, and the next day he took his seat in court. He ordered Paul to be brought before him. The Jewish opponents from Jerusalem immediately surrounded Paul and from all directions bombarded him with all sorts of serious charges, none of which could be proven.

Paul (quietly and simply):

In no way have I committed any offense against Jewish law, against the Jewish temple and all it represents, or against the emperor.

Here Festus saw an opportunity to do just the favor Paul's Jewish opponents had requested.

Festus:

Would you like to have your trial in Jerusalem? I'd be willing to try your case there.

Paul:

If I had committed a capital offense, I would accept my punishment. But I'm sure it's clear to you that I have done no wrong to the Jews. Since their charges against me are completely empty, it would be wrong to turn me over to them. No, I do not wish to go to Jerusalem. I am appealing to the court of the emperor in Rome.

Festus conferred privately with his council and returned with this decision:

Festus:

You have appealed to the emperor, so to the emperor you will go.

(Acts 24:22-27; Acts 25:1-12)

Response in Prayer

O Father in heaven, You are the God of all nations. You hold the power of leaders in Your hands. So please bring an end to the violence, duplicity, injustice, and treachery of those who are leaders. Bring Your justice to our world. Please, O God, have Your kingdom come and have Your will be done in our world today. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.

▼ See a Sample of Spiritual Warfare

This is to be a permanent statute for you: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month you are to practice self-denial and do no work, both the native and the foreigner who resides among you. Atonement will be made for you on this day to cleanse you, and you will be clean from all your sins before the Lord. It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you must practice self-denial; it is a permanent statute.

—Leviticus 16:29-31 HCSB

Today's Prayer

Lord, thank You for making a day of worship designed for rest and respite from the ebb and flow of our busy lives. Forgive me for seeing a day of worship and rest as an interruption. Forgive me for devaluing it by forgetting to read Your Word and meditating on Your commands and statues. Help me to see resting as a blessing, even if that rest involves times of self-denial and regeneration. Help me to honor You with how I view the day of worship — whether the Sabbath, the Lord's Day, or a personal day of rest. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.