August 20th, 25: God Is Light: Bringing Our Darkness Into His Loving Presence

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• TODAY'S SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 48-49; Psalm 67; 1 John 1
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One Year Bible Podcast: Join Hunter and Heather Barnes on 'The Daily Radio Bible' for a daily 20-minute spiritual journey. Engage with scripture readings, heartfelt devotionals, and collective prayers that draw you into the heart of God's love. Embark on this year-long voyage through the Bible, and let each day's passage uplift and inspire you.

TODAY'S EPISODE:

Welcome to the Daily Radio Bible, and thank you for joining us on August 20th, 2025, for day 232 in our journey through the Scriptures. I'm your host, Hunter, your Bible reading coach and companion as we explore God's Word together. In today’s episode, we’ll be diving into some powerful passages from Jeremiah 48 and 49, where we hear God’s prophetic messages to the nations of Moab, Ammon, Edom, and more—emphasizing both judgment and ultimate restoration. We’ll then lift our hearts in praise with Psalm 67 and finish with the life-giving words of First John chapter 1, where we are reminded that “God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.”

Join me as we reflect on what it means to live in the light and love of God, leaving behind shadowed understandings of who He is, and embracing a faith that is anchored in His compassion and grace. As always, we’ll close with prayers together, seeking God’s blessing and strength for the day ahead. Whether this is your first episode or you’ve journeyed with us all year, I pray today’s reading will refresh and encourage your soul. Let’s get started!

TODAY'S DEVOTION:

God is light, and there is no darkness in Him at all. That’s the clear testimony of John in his first letter, and it’s one he insists on with careful simplicity. There’s no shadow in God, no hidden intentions, no darkness lurking behind His actions, not in some corner of His heart. God is light, and only light. And, John says, he and the other witnesses saw Him with their own eyes, touched Him with their own hands. In Jesus, the fullness of that light shone.

Yet, many of us grow up with an uneasy sense that there’s a second side to God—light and love on one hand, but wrath, anger, and darkness always close at hand. We might hear it in phrases like, “God is love, but He’s also just,” or “God is love, but He’s also holy.” We’re left wondering if there is a line we might cross, a dividing point between God’s kindness and God’s judgment, and so we live in a sort of anxious balancing act, trying to stay in His favor and avoid the hidden, darker side of His character.

But John sets the record straight: God is light, and God is love. Everything that flows from Him—His holiness, His righteousness, and yes, even His judgments—comes out of that light and love. There’s nothing hiding behind Jesus’ back; He’s not the good cop while the Father is the bad cop. The nature of God is fully revealed in the face of Jesus, and that revelation is pure goodness. The very light of God has invited us, every one of us, into fellowship with Himself.

We don’t need to fear bringing our brokenness, our sin, and our shadows into the presence of His light. In fact, that is the invitation—bring it all to Him, let His love do what only love can do: expose, forgive, transform, heal, and invite us into real fellowship. Even as there remains darkness in us, it does not change who God is. We are to learn, like John, to see Jesus as He is, to experience Him with our own eyes and hands—to step out of the shadows and walk in the light.

That’s the prayer for today: to learn the ways of shadow-free living and shadow-free believing; to see God as He truly is, and to let that truth change the way we see ourselves and others, to let it dissolve our fear and shame. May we all come to know—deep in our hearts—that God is only and always light and love.

That’s my prayer for my own soul, for my family, for my wife and daughters and son, and that’s my prayer for you. May it be so.

TODAY'S PRAYERS:

Lord God Almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day. Preserve us with your mighty power that we might not fall into sin or be overcome by adversity. And in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

Dear Lord, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth and sent your blessed son to preach peace to those who are far and those who are near. Grant that people everywhere may seek after you and find you. Bring the nations into your fold, pour out your spirit on all flesh and hasten the coming of your kingdom through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

And now, Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. And where there is sadness, joy. O Lord, grant that I might not seek so much to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.

For it is in the giving that we receive, in the pardoning that we are pardoned. It is in the dying that we are born unto eternal life.

Amen.

Almighty God, father of all mercies, we, your grateful children, give you humble thanks for all your goodness and loving kindness to us and all you have made. We bless you for your creation, preservation and all the blessings of this life. And above all, for your immeasurable love and your redemption of the world through our Lord Jesus Christ. For the means of grace and the hope of glory, Lord, we pray, give us such awareness of your mercies that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but with our lives, by the giving up of ourselves for your service in holiness and righteousness all our days, through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with you and the Holy Spirit be all honor and glory through all ages.

Amen.

And now, as our Lord has taught us, we are bold to pray:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.

Amen.

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