Advent Daily Devotional - Believe and Receive: Unveiling the Power of God’s Love

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” — John 3:16, New Living Translation

Today’s Reading:John 3

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Born into idol worship in rural Ghana, Daavi was distraught. A mysterious illness had come over her.

“The gods have struck me! I’ll never recover from this! I may have offended the gods, and this illness is my punishment.” All these thoughts kept running through her mind.

She searched the entire village seeking help. Daavi went from one fetish priest (a person who seeks to mediate between spirits and people) to the other, asking them to intervene between her and the angry gods. She roamed from one hospital to another. And yet none could cure her illness. She had faithfully served these idols and worshiped them, pouring liquid offerings on the ground as a ceremonial sacrifice to the gods and following in the footsteps of her forefathers, who handed down these gods to her and her siblings.

But not even their gods could aid her.

So much darkness surrounded her. She could find no relief from the torment in her mind and body.

What she really needed, just like Nicodemus in John 3, was the only One who could truly intervene — the savior, Jesus. She needed light from the darkness into which she was born.

John illuminates the Savior’s redemption plan and love for humanity through the conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus Christ. Nicodemus, a religious leader, longed to be saved and yet didn’t know how, even though he taught the law.

Nicodemus asks Jesus a personal question: “How can someone be born when they are old? Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” (John 3:4, NIV).

How desperate and helpless Nicodemus must have felt knowing the need to be saved and yet not knowing how.

Jesus answers, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again’” (John 3:5-7, NIV).

He then connects being born again to having eternal life, bought by Jesus. “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life,” Jesus says to Nicodemus (John 3:16, NLT). Jesus comes through for Nicodemus in his need.

Jesus did the same for Daavi.

Daavi’s neighbor suggested she try going to church with her. Desperate to find a solution, Daavi agreed, even though the church was an unfamiliar place to her. She was carried to the local church, where she stayed for six months.

There, Daavi met Jesus.

She not only trusted Jesus for the forgiveness of her sins, but God healed her body too. The darkness that followed her, the sickness, pain and agony — all became things of the past! She has seen the light and freedom only Jesus can give. She has turned from idol worship and has since served Christ for the past 40 years. Forty dedicated years of loving Jesus. She shares to this day that Jesus Christ is all that we need in this life.

My grandmother, Daavi, is a proud recipient of the same unconditional love that Jesus talks about with Nicodemus. Jesus became the light in her darkness and has shown her love, which has shined to all the people in her life.

Where in your life do you desire His light to shine for you?

Are you willing to embrace His love?

Dear God, I trust in Your love for me. Thank You for coming to this world and sacrificing Yourself so that I can have a restored relationship with You. Help me to always see Your light and love in every difficulty I find myself.

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