In the Light

“God is light and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth.” -1 John 1:5-6

I was watching the Toby Mac “Alive and Transported” DVD the other day and Toby Mac said that verse. When he said that he was on the stage and he was under a spotlight and he was the only thing that you could see on the stage. He was in the light and everyone else around him was in darkness.

When I thought about that I think that God is like that spotlight. Spotlights only have one focused beam of light and if you move out of that beam you are in darkness. God is like that spotlight because he is the light. When you are in the light you are good but it doesn’t take much to wander out of that focused beam and into darkness. Everyone sins at times and we will wander into the darkness but what we must do after we wander into the darkness is get back into the light and ask for forgiveness and try our hardest to stay under that light.

Jesus died for us so that we can come back into the light, so that we can be forgiven. Everyone wanders into the darkness at times and because of Jesus we can come back into the light. God will forgive us and still accept us because Jesus died for us. He doesn’t put up a wall around the light after we wander out, he lets us back in as long as we ask to be let back in and admit our sins and then ask to be forgiven.

God loves everyone of us no matter what we have done before and he wants every single one of us to be in the light. When we wander out of the light he will welcome us back with open arms and if you have never been in the light then he will welcome you as well. God wants us to live in the light and have a relationship with him. In the words of DC Talk from their song In the Light, “I want to be in the light as you are in the light, I want to shine like the stars in the heavens. O Lord be my light and be my salvation, ’cause all I want is to be in the light” God is the light and I want to live for him so I want to be in the light.

Takes Guts

The other day I was reading my bible and I read 2 Kings 1:6-9. In those few verses it tells about a prophecy that Elijah made about the King of Israel. Elijah told the king that because he worshiped other gods he would become sick and then die and he would never leave the bed that he was lying in again. When I was reading that I thought to myself Elijah had some guts to say that to the king of Israel. Even though God was with Elijah, he still had to be courageous to actually go and say those things to the king. If you read on in chapter one you will learn that the king sent people to arrest Elijah but God was with Elijah and he didn’t allow the soldiers to capture him.

God protected Elijah because Elijah did what he was told to do. When God calls us to do things he will be with us and protect us because we listened to him. God will provide what we need when we listen to him. Sometimes it takes a lot of guts to do what God is calling us to do but just like he did to Elijah by protecting him from being arrested God will help us when we listen to him and step out of the boat when he calls us to.

Prayer

I was reading Matthew 6 yesterday and almost the whole chapter is about worry. It is about how you don’t have to worry if you trust in God because he will provide for you. “Look at the birds. They don’ t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?” (Matt. 6:26-27) For the last week or so I have been worrying about things that may or may not happen during or after our move to Cincinnati and when I read this chapter I realized that all the worrying won’t help anything. I need to just trust that God will provide for everything to go well and instead of worrying I must pray. Worrying helps nothing but prayer helps everything.

Listening (Part II)

I received a comment on my post Listening today asking what happens if we are not willing to listen to and do what God wants us to do. I can’t find any scripture in the Bible telling specifically what happens if we are not willing to listen to what God has planned. There is nothing that says, if you don’t listen to God then he will find someone else to do it or it won’t happen or anything like that but what I do know is that there is a lot of scripture in the Bible saying that if you have faith and listen to God then you will gain a lot in return and people will be helped because of it. Jonah disobeyed God and he tried to run from what God was calling him to do. He got on a ship to sail away from where he was suppose to be going and and big storm came. Jonah told the sailors that the storm was because of him and he got thrown overboard where he got eaten by a whale and lived in the whale’s stomach. Then he got spit out on to shore where he finally listened to God and went to the place where he was suppose to go and great things happened there and it was because Jonah listened and did what God told him to do. He ran at first but then he turned around and corrected himself and got forgiveness.

I think that when you don’t do what God wants you to do he keeps putting it on your heart to do that thing. Jonah kept feeling that pull to turn around and obey God. In his case it took a more than a little tug on his heart but in other cases it only takes a whisper instead of a big event like that to get it done. Jonah did do what God asked him to do and he was better off because of it. In Genesis, Abraham listened to God when he left his home and went to an unknown nation for God. Abraham was rewarded for doing that and God was pleased. I have read many books and heard many sermons about people that have obeyed God and have been happy that they have. Jeremiah 29:11 says,” For I know the plans that I have for you says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope” (NLT).

God’s plans for you are for good and they should be followed. If you don’t listen at first he will keep trying to get you to do what he has planned for you. If you don’t ever listen to what he wants you to do and never ask for forgiveness for not doing that then you will have eternity to think about the reasons why you didn’t obey him. If you didn’t want anything to do with him while you were on earth God won’t want anything to do with you in heaven. It may seem like a harsh punishment for not listening but he gave us everything that we have and he also gives us forgiveness and the chance to make things right like in Jonah’s case where God gave Jonah the chance to go back and do what God wanted him to do.

“God’s light came into the world but people loved the darkness more than the light” (John 3:19 NLT) Not only did God give us everything that we have but he also gave us his only son to die for everyone’s sins. He gave light to the world but many people like the dark and reject God and the light. By not doing what God asks us to do we are rejecting the light and embracing the darkness. Don’t embrace the darkness be the light in dark places and let the glory of God shine through you.

Listening

The other day I was reading my bible in 1 Kings. It was talking about the temple that Solomon was going to build for God. His father David wanted to build the temple before but God told him that one of his descendants would build it. In 1 Kings 8:17-19 it says, “Then Solomon said, My father David wanted to build this Temple to honor the name of the lord, the God of Israel. But the Lord told him, You wanted to build this Temple to honor my name, your intentions are good but you are not the one to do it.”

Just like God said David had good intentions but it wasn’t in God’s plan for David to build that temple. David wanted to build the temple but he listened to what God wanted him to do. The temple would have made David’s name even more greater because when it was built people came from all parts of the world to see it but it wasn’t built by David. Solomon built the temple after David had died.

I think that we can learn a lot from David in this circumstance. There are many times when I have wanted to do things that would honor God that I haven’t got to do because I don’t believe that it was in God’s plan for me to do it. If I had done some of these things it could have possibly made myself look better but if God says that it is not for me to do then I should listen. On the other side of things sometimes there are things that God wants us to do that maybe we don’t want to do or maybe it will be hard to do but we should still listen to him and do it.

God has plans for everyone and we should listen to him to know what those plans are. If there are things that God wants us to do we should do them and if there are things that we want to do but God doesn’t want us to do we still should listen. God will let you know what he wants you to do and all you need to do is pray and listen. If he wants you to do something and you do it he will be on your side and he will help you to do it and make sure that you are okay.

Hide and Seek

I was reading in 1 Samuel last night and I came to chapter 10 when Saul was appointed the king of Israel. When he was selected to be the king he disappeared and no one knew where he was. Finally they found him hiding among the baggage. He was hidding  because he was afraid of the job that God had selected him to do. He would rather run and hide than face the challenges of ruling a land.

I know that I have done that many times and it is my guess that you have as well. I want to avoid things because they will be hard to do. I should just work hard and do those things but it is easier to hide from my responsibilities than it is to put effort into them and actually do them.

Unlocked: Connection

Another important key to bringing people to Christ is connection. You need to connect with people and make them feel comfortable. One way to do this is to find something common between you and the person that you’re talking to. You may think that you don’t have anything in common with a certain person but you can find something to talk about no matter who you’re talking to.

When Jesus was put into a situation with someone that he appeared to have nothing in common he found something that would help him and this person connect. The person that he was talking to was a Samaritan woman. In John 4 we read that the woman was going to get water from a well when Jesus asked her for a drink. This woman was a Samaritan that Jews usually avoid. Jesus appeared to have nothing in common with her but he found something to talk to her about. He talked to her about water. He wanted water and she was getting water so he found the common link and talked about water. After Jesus’ conversation with this woman she brought several other people out to hear what Jesus had to say and many more people came to Christ through that one conversation that Jesus had about water.

When you’re trying to bring someone to Christ you need to a common link between you and the other person. There is always something that you can talk about but you need to find that one thing. Just being friendly and introducing yourself to the other person may spur a great conversation. Connection is a big key to reaching people and it can happen just by starting a regular conversation with someone.

What Are You Doing?

I was reading my bible last night and I was reading in the book of Judges. In chapter ten the first five verses are about two people that judged Israel for a total of 45 years yet all we know about them is their names and that one of them had 30 sons who rode 30 donkeys and they owned 30 towns. That is all that is written about those two people. They only got five verses about their 45 years of judging Israel. Those two people only got five verses for a reason and it was probably because they didn’t do much for God. They probably just did their jobs of judging and that was it.

Are you just getting by or are doing everything that you can to glorify him? I want to do all that I can for God to help everyone that I can. When I’m gone I don’t people to say he lived, he died and he had 30 donkeys. I want people to say he did everything that he could to bring the most amount of people to God. What will people say about you when you’re gone? What are you doing that is worth recognizing?

Everyone Needs Prayers

If you haven’t heard yet the Governor of New York, Elliot Spitzer was found to be involved in a prostitution ring. This morning on the radio I was listening to people’s reactions to the scandal. One person brought up a comment said by Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown on the scandal. Brown said,”My thoughts and prayers are with Governor Spitzer and his family.” The person that brought up the quote had a problem with it. They thought that with what Spitzer did no one should be praying for him.

I have a problem with what that person on the radio said. I believe that no matter what a person has done we should always pray for them and forgive them. We should pray that Spitzer will find Christ and ask for forgiveness so that some day he will be able to experience the joys of heaven. The story of the prodigal son shows that Jesus forgives everyone. In the story a son asked his father for his share of the estate essentially telling his father that he wanted him dead. The son wasted all of the money on wild living and when he ran out of money he decided to go back to his father to ask for forgiveness. When his father saw him he was full of joy. After all that the son had done to him he still was happy to see him. We are told to be more like Jesus and Jesus will forgive Spitzer as long as he asks for it. We should forgive him as well and also pray that he will seek forgiveness.

I think that what Spitzer did was very wrong and he will have to live with the consequences of his actions as he should have to. You may think that he should be removed from office or you may think that he should stay. No matter what you think his consequence should be we still should pray that he will find forgiveness.

“Everyone needs forgiveness, a kindness of a Savior, the hope of nations.” -Hillsong in their song “Mighty to Save“

Day 3

Joseph, Caught in the Middle

Joseph was a carpenter from Nazareth. Why did God pick him to be the earthly father of Jesus? It seems like there were so many more better options to pick from. God has picked the ordinary people throughout all of history and made them into great people for him. Moses is a great example of that. When God asked him to go and tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go Moses replied, “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?”(Ex. 11-12 NLT) God takes regular people and makes them great. He made Joseph the earthly father because he wanted a regular person that would trust in him and he would make them great. But God didn’t just pick any regular person. He selected Joseph carefully. He needed someone that would trust him.

When Mary announced that she was pregnant, the law of that day said the she was to be stoned to death but Joseph was a man of honor. He was going to put her away quietly. Then an angel appeared to him and told him that Mary was carrying the Messiah. Joseph had to decide what to do. Should he have her stoned or stay with her and trust that she really was carrying the Messiah? What will people say about him if he stays with her? He had to make the decision to trust God and not worry about what all of the other people will say or go against God and protect his reputation.