Light

Our pastor is in India right now so one of the elders taught this morning and it was amazing. I love when people who have the gift of teaching teach!

The message was about how to let your light shine. He started in the passage Daniel 12:3--

"And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever."

It is a great verse, but of course I was thinking, but HOW?

HOW DO YOU LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE?
1. Spend more time with God (no matter how much time you are already spending with Him)
2. Go to the darkness (if you think you have no light if you are in the darkness your light will shine)
3. Walk in the light (Ephesians 5:8-16) "for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. For this reason it says,
"Awake, sleeper,
And arise from the dead,
And Christ will shine on you."
Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.
4. Confess your sins (1 John 1:5-9) "This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

He really focused on how we need to shine the light on our own sin and not other people's sin. When we are doing these four things we become a light and things are going to be attracted to you because you are radiating Jesus, joy and peace and people want that in their lives.

I really struggle with trying to run from darkness because I want to protect my children from the darkness, but that is not what I am called to do/be. The light is always going to separate the darkness--light always wins! I find that in my attempt to AVOID darkness I become self-righteous and critical and that is the last thing that I want to be.

God showed me that in a situation with a neighbor that I have been avoiding because I was upset with him that I need to be the bigger person even though I haven't done anything wrong and just love him in spite of him. When I prayed about that I just felt the judgement of this neighbor lift off of my heart.

He gave an example of a blind person that sees for the first time that they still act like a blind person. They still feel their way around things so we need to keep talking to them and shining our light. Don't give up on them. It is a process.

I also felt inspired to read the book of Isaiah so I am going to do that for my quiet times. Here is a passage from Isaiah that he shared that was really good:

Isaiah 60:1-2 "Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the LORD will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you."