Thanksgiving.  What is the first thing that comes to mind when you read or hear that word?  Is it a day, a family meal, or perhaps a specific menu of foods?  Is it an attitude that comes and goes based on how you feel?  Or is it a way of life which flows from you regardless of your circumstances?  These devotions I will be sharing this month were originally written throughout November 2019 and then edited/updated during the summer of 2020 for a 31 day devotional journal, “The Heart of Thanksgiving:  Living a Life of Thankfulness”.  I will be re-sharing them here this month to encourage each of us to pursue a greater spirit of thankfulness in all we do.

Here is day fourteen with an important reminder that living with a heart of thanksgiving should cause us to be thankful for God illuminating our path.

Day Fourteen:
Thankful For Paths of Light

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”
1 John 1:7 (NIV)

As I sit down to write this next post in my Giving Thanks series, I am thankful for being called out of darkness and into the light of Jesus — and thankful that I accepted that call.  As I put the final finishing touches on the prayer ministry display this morning, I am thankful for the fellowship I will have over the next few days with thousands and thousands of believers who will join together as those who also walk in the light.  I am thankful that my choosing to walk in the light of Jesus is made possible by His blood cleansing me from all unrighteousness.

Last night as I was walking the “well-lit” underground walkways connecting the convention center to the hotel I am in, I realized that well-lit must mean different things to different people.  While I did not feel unsafe, my senses were always on high alert because of all the areas of darkness and shadows.  I suspect that is how my walk with Christ should be each day I live on this earth.  While His light does dispel the darkness and His Word is the lamp by which I ought to walk, there are still those around me who have chosen to live in the darkness and shadows of this world.  While the perfect love of Christ dispels all fear, the wise still walk with their senses on high alert as our enemy seeks to catch us off guard and draw us into his shadowy presence.

I am thankful that I have good people to walk this journey of life with.  As much as walking in the light created a sense of safety, walking with others who had chosen the light gave me an even greater confidence.  Whether walking the dark streets of a strange city with hundreds of others who are walking in fellowship with the Light, or walking through the valley of the shadow of death with one faithful friend, the fellowship we have with Christ builds and enhances our fellowship with one another.

As you pray, ask God to help you choose His path of light.  Pray that you would live in fellowship with others who are walking in the light as you help each other turn away from darkness.  Pray that you would be one who looks for ways to shine God’s light into the darkness others are walking in.  Pray for a submissive spirit that desires the light of God’s word over the world’s wisdom and the darkness which follows it.

I pray that you and I would daily choose to walk in the light of Christ in a way that enhances our fellowship with one another.  I pray that we would reject the arrogance of this world that continually insists that our way is a better light in the darkness than the Word of God.

In prayer,

Tom