Skip to main content

 ISAIAH 50:10 "Who among you fears the Lord and obeys His servant? If you are walking in darkness, without a ray of light, trust in the Lord and rely on your God."

JOHN 8:12 "Again, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”

These two texts might seem contradictory at first glance, but they are not. Think! Does a sheep have utter clarity about where they are going, or do they simply follow the Shepherd because He is trustworthy and good?

Jesus made it clear that those who believe Him and surrender their lives to Him by repentance and faith will be given a new heart and a new spirit. God's Life will replace the condition of spiritual death that once ruled in them. That old life was one of profound darkness and deception. Jesus stated in the Gospel of John (John 14:23) that those who believe Him will find that He and the Father will come and make their home IN them. The Holy Spirit is the very Life of God being lived in the follower of Jesus Christ. The old nature of sin has been cut away. Spiritual darkness has been replaced with the Light of Life.

COLOSSIANS 2:11-12 "When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with Him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead."

Every follower of Jesus Christ experiences "desert times" when their conscious awareness of the Lord's Presence in their life seems absent. Someone has called this experience "a dark night of the soul" and it surely feels that way. The truth is, though, that there is nothing in ALL creation that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus; nothing!

It is not my perception of the presence of the Holy Spirit living out the Life of God in me that is ever to be the thing that verifies the fact. Even if I cannot see where I am going or what is happening around me...listen...I am STILL walking in the Light of Life because He is the Light of Life within me that nothing can extinguish. I am actually never in the "dark" because He is not just with me but is IN me. The Holy Spirit is Life within me and in Him there is no darkness at all.

So, these two revelations from the Lord God are simultaneously true! ISAIAH 50:10 "Who among you fears the Lord and obeys His servant? If you are walking in darkness, without a ray of light, trust in the Lord and rely on your God." JOHN 8:12 "Again, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”

Our ancient enemy will try his damnedest to get us to focus on present difficulties, present feelings and troubles as the things that "verify" whether God is with us or not. It is in that place of not knowing in the "now" what is transpiring that we rest in His promises. For no matter how many promises God has made, they find their "YES" in Jesus Christ, so we can, with confidence say, "AMEN" to God's glory.

The Light of Life being lived out in the follower of Jesus Christ never fails, never dims, never leaves us. God is not just "with" us but is actually "Life within us". The Lord is your Life. He is transforming us, guiding us, correcting us, encouraging us, comforting us, providing for us and protecting us. In all circumstances and in all things, trust in the Lord and rely on your God.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

 HIS POWER...HIS PROMISE Helping people walk in the Spirit the devotional below is seminal! The devotion below is today from Oswald Chambers. I makes me think of some I have known that have assumed that the Lord doesn’t want them empowered by the Holy Spirit or that He won’t manifest Himself in them because they have reasoned otherwise. Given ministry opportunities to have the Holy Spirit confirm the Word of God with demonstration of the Holy Spirit and power, they rely on how they feel, their experience thus far and not on the reality that the will of God in mission and ministry is either done in the Holy Spirit’s Power or not at all. Our capacity to do what Jesus does has nothing to do with our imagined capacity, but upon the indwelling power of God through is. Now to Him who is able to do far above and beyond what we could ever imagine or think, by His power at work in us now, to Him be glory…   Matthew 25:14-30 Jesus told the parable of the bags of gold as a warning ...
Post a Comment
Read more
  PRAYER Jesus Christ NEVER taught on what we call "unanswered prayer." James wrote that a divided loyalty between trusting the Lord God for life and at the same time relying on the world's systems to get what you want will result in you not getting anything from God you may have prayed about. God will never reinforce the unbelief that flows from divided loyalty. THAT is not unanswered prayer. That is God saying, "No." to your request. God saying, "No." to your requests is not unanswered prayer. It is His grace. His "No" is just what I would want if I knew what He knows. The Lord also answers with, "Not now; not yet." because we are not yet prepared to receive what we think we need. God works in us both to will and to do His good pleasure. If I am praying for something God wants to do in me and the Holy Spirit is working in me preparing me to receive what God has in store, His "Not yet." is NOT unanswered prayer. As we see...
Post a Comment
Read more
 HE IS RISEN! IT IS FINISHED! After the Israelites had passed through the Red Sea by God opening the way for them to be saved, the whole of Pharoah's army, his horsemen and chariots pursued God's people into the opened way. Once they were all in, the waters flowed back into their place with suddenness and fury. Not one of the enemies survived. All perished in those waters. When Jesus Christ hung on the cross, all that sin contained, the full measure of the rebellion of mankind for all time, all the wickedness that was ever in human hearts were absorbed into the Lamb of God as He died our death, received our just judgement from God for all time, taking all that sin and death contained. In Him, sin and death died once and for all. They were overwhelmed, covered and drowned in the sea of His precious blood, poured out for the sin of the whole world. Not one enemy remained alive, all were stripped of their power to hold us in slavery to sin any longer. All their weapons were confis...
Post a Comment
Read more