The Church of Jesus - The Lampstand (Daily Devotional)

Hello everyone and welcome to Living Supernaturally, the daily devotions of All Peoples church, where we spend a few minutes in God's word to remind us to encourage us in our faith and to live a life that is fruitful in God's kingdom. This week, we've been talking about the church of Jesus and today, I just want to emphasize that the church of Jesus is the lampstand. Revelation chapter 1 verse 20, ‘The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.’ In John's vision in Revelation chapter 1, John is seeing that the seven churches are the seven lampstands. Now in the Old Testament tabernacle, the golden lampstand which was the menorah was the only source of light in the holy place. It burned continuously and it never went out. Its light made it possible for the priests to do their work, to make the bread in His presence and to minister at the altar of incense which represents the word and prayer. So, every church on this earth is a lampstand and a lampstand is being a source of light. Matthew chapter 5 verses 14 to 16, Jesus says, ‘you are the light of the world.’ So, each church, all of us as members of the church are being called the lampstand. We are the light of the world, a city on a hill that cannot be hidden. And then Jesus says, "Let your light so shines as a lampstand." Our light needs to shine in a dark world. However, as the church is the lampstand, as the church needs to shine its light to be the influence of Jesus, Jesus gives us a warning in the book of Revelation. In Revelation chapter 2, He writes to the church in Ephesus, if they did not repent and go back to their first love, He would remove the lampstand. So, it really reminds us that while each one of us, and as the church is the lampstand to shine Jesus' light, if we do not have the right posture, if you're not in relationship with Jesus, Jesus will remove our influence and will remove the lampstand. And so, this is a reminder that although a church can physically run, if our posture is not right, and we can hold services, collect offerings, run programs, and yet if Jesus has taken the lampstand because of our heart posture, there is no real influence and no real authority. And so, we need to remind ourselves that yes, while the church of Jesus is the lampstand where we need to be a light, be an influence for Jesus, we also need to have the right posture to remain connected to Him, to be in relationship with Him. So, the church of Jesus is the lampstand of God on the earth, where we shine our light in this dark world. Let's pray, Father, we just thank you once again for this reminder that each church is a lampstand, that shines its light, that is like the church that is on the city on the hill. We just pray that every church will shine its light in its region of influence. Let many people see the light of Jesus through the church and Lord, I pray that we will guard our hearts, that we will be in right relationship, in right posture with you that we will always go back to you and we will stay in that place and it is from that place we can truly be the lampstand of God in this dark world. So, use us God, thank you for this reminder and thank you for this truth, in Jesus’ mighty name we pray, Amen.
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