Tag Archives: faith

Let your light shine

Leave a reply

 

 

 

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

– Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

 

As a boy scout we would have skits at camp. Most all the skits were guaranteed ‘groaners.’ For example, the skit where one boy was desperately searching an area of ground in the lighted area. Another boy comes along and asks what’s going on. The first boy replies that he lost a quarter and is looking for it. The second boy asks where the quarter was lost. “Over there,’ answers the first boy, pointing to an area in the darkness. Confused, the second boy asked, “Then why are you looking over here?” The first boy responded, “The light is better over here!” (Permission to groan now.)

 

Jesus says, “I am the light of the world; he who follows me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life.” (John 8:12) That light shines on because the darkness has never overpowered it. (John 1:5) Whoever asks Jesus to be Savior AND Lord of their life, always has light available to them wherever they go. If they go into the darkness of cancer or other life threatening condition, the light will shine into that darkness. If they go into perilous financial situations, the light goes with them. If they go into the dark abyss of depression, they will not remain without light. Whether we decide to live in that light is our decision to make.

 

Light dispels darkness. No matter how much darkness there is, “this little light” of ours cannot be quenched without our permission. As Sarah Young puts it, “His light shines on and in you, allowing you to shine your light boldly in the darkness.”  With light comes hope. And with hope comes endurance, the ability to persevere and find comfort even in the midst of the roughest season of your life.

 

Jesus says to those who follow Him, “YOU are the light of the world.” (Matthew 5:14) Don’t hide it, let it shine, His light in us is the mark of a believer.   Our job is to love God and love others, to let our light shine in dark places, where others are hurting and without hope.

 

Is this light of hope shining in your own life and in your response to disappointments and sorrows? Of course we doubt and grieve. That is part of our human existence. But we don’t have to live there. Does your light regularly shine into other’s lives through encouraging words, financial help, or an encouraging embrace to those around you facing tough times? Does your light shine across the world? For about a dollar a day you can sponsor a child through Compassion International (www.compassion.com), write to them, pray for them, encourage them, and shine hope into their lives. You can also visit our giving page here at Go Light Our World and learn how 100% of designated donations go directly to ministry, often in the poorest and darkest areas of the world.

 

Take your light and let it shine! Go light our world!

 

 

Talking to God about grief

Leave a reply

 

C.S. Lewis speaks of his experience of grief. I appreciate his sincerity and honesty. His wife’s suffering and death affected him deeply, taking him through a journey where, to his experience, God *seems* to change. What a frightening experience when we see only through a veil. What comfort is offered when we are able to see more clearly.
Lewis, grieving the death of his wife, Joy:

 

“Meanwhile, where is God? This is one of the most disquieting symptoms. When you are happy, so happy that you have no sense of needing Him, so happy that you are tempted to feel His claims upon you as an interruption, if you remember yourself and turn to Him with gratitude and praise, you will be—or so it feels—welcomed with open arms. But go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside. After that, silence. You may as well turn away. The longer you wait, the more emphatic the silence will become. There are no lights in the windows. It might be an empty house. Was it ever inhabited? It seemed so once. And that seeming was as strong as this. What can this mean? Why is He so present a commander in our time of prosperity and so very absent a help in time of trouble?

 

I tried to put some of these thoughts to C. this afternoon. He reminded me that the same thing seems to have happened to Christ: ‘Why hast thou forsaken me?’ I know. Does that make it easier to understand?

 

Not that I am (I think) in much danger of ceasing to believe in God. The real danger is of coming to believe such dreadful things about Him. The conclusion I dread is not ‘So there’s no God after all,’ but ‘So this is what God’s really like. Deceive yourself no longer.’”

From A Grief Observed
Compiled in A Year with C.S. Lewis

 

Lewis didn’t lose his faith in God, but he faced many honest and difficult questions. How about you? What is your God really like? Is He a gracious and loving God even when you don’t feel it? Is He sufficient for your needs only when you feel they are all met? Or can you find satisfaction in His perfect plan even when it doesn’t seem to make any sense? He is waiting to talk with you about your questions.

Mr. Fix-it

Leave a reply

 

The bible never says, “Figure it out.” But it always says, “Trust God.” He is the one who has already figured it out.

 

It’s been often noted that men are not usually as quickly inclined to empathy and understanding as women generally are. We men tend to like to (try to) solve problems.  We take pride in being “Mr. Fix-It.” No doubt that if we were to seek to improve our sensitivity to understanding, that our problem solving would improve! There’s nothing wrong with seeking solutions to problems. But, as author Sarah Young observes, it can be so addicting! It’s as if we are so inclined to try to solve problems in our own thinking first (“Let ME do it”), and then when we’ve messed up, to ask God to rescue us. And besides, some problems do not lend themselves to a “Mr. Fix-it” approach. Whether it is our own pride or that we forget about God’s presence that keeps us inclined to do things on our own, we are better of course to go to God FIRST and seek His counsel and help.

 

One of His names, Immanuel, means “God with you.” Jesus promises, “Surely, I am with you til the end of the age.” (Mt. 28:20) It is one of the great mysteries that Paul writes about, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col. 1:27) When I meditate on God’s many wondrous attributes, I am blown away by His grace in allowing us to approach Him at any time. (Try insisting on a spontaneous audience at 1600 Pennsylvania and see how that works! Or phoning the president…just because you want to chat.) But Almighty God, Creator of the universe, the one who knows the names of all the stars and yet designed and knows you personally – HE is always with you, and eager to invite you into His presence. No wonder the prophet says, “Though (EVERYthing goes wrong), YET I will rejoice in the Lord; I will be joyful in God, My Savior.” (Hab. 3:17-18)

 

What problems are you wrestling with? In what areas is it seem hard to trust God? Why not turn them ALL over to God’s provident care? Trusting in Him fully means rejoicing in Him and His perfect plan…and time line. Is this easy? No way. Is our way any better? Absolutely no way. Let’s trust the one who knows the way.

God will heal your heart

Leave a reply

 

 

The size of your wounds doesn’t matter… God can restore your soul.

 

We had driven a thousand miles to visit with her. Over the course of a number of days we helped her unpack a lifetime of sorrows, wounds that had festered for most of a lifetime. We read together scripture affirming who she was as a new creation, of forgiveness that was freely offered. But she said wounds – and her sins – were too great…that there was no way God could love someone like her. In the end, she chose to keep her pain. Have you ever known someone like that? Or maybe there was a time you felt that way yourself?

The weight of life sometimes wears so heavily on us that we can’t see anything but our own pain and sorrow. Though we see a helping hand outstretched to us, we somehow can’t believe that hope is possible. When you are well and in a right thinking frame of mind it is ludicrous to remain in a dark place of torture when freedom is a step away. But sometimes the choice to cling to the familiar – even though it hurts – seems easier than stepping out into the sunshine and experiencing peace.

Surgeons know that before they close a wound, they have to make sure it is clear of any debris that might cause an infection. It has to be clean before it can be healed. And yet some people cling to their wounds insisting that it not be touched or cared for. Fearing further pain of having it probed, they prefer to tend to it themselves. And tend to it they do indeed, even as it festers and damages the surrounding tissue. Not properly cared for, the infection will spread until all of life is eaten up. Time will not heal all wounds, especially wounds of the heart.

Regardless of what we have convinced ourselves, no wound is too big for God. Every broken heart can be mended, if you turn it over to His healing hand.

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
Psalm 147:3

I believe

Leave a reply

 

I Believe

I believe in promises … the ones we make to God… and the ones we make to each other; … that “I do” means to keep on doing.

 

I believe in the promises God makes to us – and always keeps.

 

I believe that making a life is more important than making a living. That making a home is more important than making a house. That it is always the right time to do the right thing and to be the person you were created to be. That a whisper sometimes speaks louder than a shouted word.

 

I believe the smallest light will dispel darkness. That the smallest prayer will still be heard. That there is always a second chance where there is a willing heart.

 

I believe a life of faith in God is the most reasonable way to live and that living by reason alone requires a bigger leap of faith than faith itself.

 

I believe that three things will always remain: faith, hope and love… And the greatest of these is love, the answer to our most enduring questions.

 

I believe. What do you believe that will guide you today and forever?

 

 

 

Blessing through difficulties

Leave a reply

 

There is a blessing hidden in every trial in life but you have to be willing to open your heart to see them. – Unknown

 

This devotional from Life Action Ministries offers a simple and good reminder about looking for the blessings found in difficult times.

 

Can God Bless with Trials?

 

Interpreting life’s events can be a tricky undertaking. Our instinct is to assume that if something bad happens, it’s because God is displeased with us. We then go on what I call a wild hunt for sin—that desperate search for whatever we’ve done to bring on our calamity.

 

To be sure, sin will bring with it trials (Proverbs 13:15). The problem is, trials don’t necessarily indicate that sin is present.

 

James refers to “the testing of your faith” in James 1:3. Think about those very words: faith (a good thing) being tested by the events of life. In other words, God responds to something good He sees in our life by sending trials to grow it.

 

One of the greatest challenges of the Christian life is learning to embrace the trials God sends our way as gifts from Him. We use so much energy trying to escape or fight the tough situations we face, that we fail to see they have actually been given to us by God.

 

Are you going through a trial? Ask God for wisdom as to its source. According to James 1:5, God will liberally and graciously answer.

 

What is the greatest trial you are facing right now? Whether it is caused by sin or testing, the Spirit will specifically show you if you sincerely ask for wisdom. If it is testing, take time to thank God for His commitment to your life in giving you this trial.

 

BT: Of course, we know all this. I think the real question is not, Can God bless us with trials? The real question for me is, “Will I LET God bless me through trials?” Or will we let our frustrations get in the way? Isn’t it time to let God have His way in us…for our own good?

 

 

Doubt and fear in the presence of faith

Leave a reply

Do you sometimes struggle with fear and doubt? Even when you hold on to your faith, do you find questions keep rising to confront you?  John Stumbo shares some insights into the aspect of doubt in the presence of faith as he reflects on the story in John 20 when Jesus appears to Thomas:

 

“I’m intrigued by this because of what I find just eight days later. John 20, verse 26. “Eight days later his disciples were in the house again. Thomas was with them.” And you know the story. Thomas hadn’t been with them the first time and had doubted the whole story. “Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’”

 

Here is my simple point. Why if they had understood that the Spirit who had raised Christ from the dead was now, had now been given to them, why were they still huddling behind locked doors? I don’t think they yet had fully understood what Christ was doing and bringing to them. If they understood the presence and power of the Spirit, the breath of God that had been breathed upon them, they would have not still been huddling in fear.

 

Maybe you will disagree with my understanding of this historical account, or maybe you think I am being too hard on the early apostles. Let’s leave them for a moment, and let me ask us: are we still huddling in some locked place of fear, not fully understanding or experiencing that which the Spirit of God wants to grant to us and do in us?

 

You have not been given a spirit of timidity or fear, my son, Timothy. You have been given a spirit of power to do that which you would otherwise not be able to do, a spirit of love to care about other people, to care about people you would not otherwise care about, the spirit of self-discipline to say no to things that would otherwise control you.”

 

I’m aware that I have led too much of my life in those locked, seemingly safe kind of places with the disciples, but increasingly in my life, I’m desiring to be open to all that the Spirit has for me—to send me where He would send me, to do in me what He wants to do in me, to reveal Christ through me in an increasing measure.” (Stumbo)

 

As you reflect on John’s words, ask the Spirit of God to reveal to you areas of your life that have been hidden behind locked doors and surrounded by fear and doubt. Read Acts 1:8 and ask God to open those doors and to be empowered by His Spirit and commissioned to His purpose in reaching and encouraging others in His name.

 

Cheating ourselves – cheating others

Leave a reply

What really happens when we believe lies? We allow ourselves to temporarily ‘forget’ the truth we know. We suspend the reality of truth in order to believe a make-believe lie. In the end, we betray and cheat ourselves and others, even God.

I don’t think most of us purposely betray ourselves or those we love. Do you think anyone would so brashly cuddle the love of their life while holding hands with another lover? After all, the nature of love is to be patient, kind, self-less, humble, serving, honoring of others. It is not easily angered and rejoices with the truth. Love always protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres. Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)

But what happens when we suspend or forget love? We say we love this person, but our love for self-indulgence, our hobbies, “my time”, work, or good works says, “I love this more.”

God points this out repeatedly. Throughout history He commands us to have no idols. He hates idolatry, in fact so much so that He often equates it with adultery. He compares putting other things before Him to sleeping with a harlot. He says, “I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols.” (Isaiah 42:8) We may justify ourselves by claiming we have no idols, no little statues that we bow down to. Yet we are quick to share Him with so much else.

We are called to be Holy as He is Holy, but if we are honest with ourselves, don’t we believe lies that our love of the world will satisfy us more than God Himself? I don’t think we often consciously choose to disobey and betray God. It seems when we are too comfortable, we live in a state of semi-slumber, half awake but also half asleep. God says, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” Isaiah 60:1

Just like someone who nudges you during a lecture or sermon to get you to wake up, let’s invite the Holy Spirit to nudge us throughout the day if we are found falling asleep. Let us wake up and remember our true love.

Keys to enduring the journey

Leave a reply

Sometimes, life is tough. Real struggles make our journey difficult and painful. Imaginary ones confound our life experience. The old hymn, “Trust and Obey,” sums up our hope but how do we bear up in practical ways day by day, moment by moment? One way is to remind ourselves that we have ONE life to live, and it is a life that goes on forever. Living a forever Kingdom Life instead of one just focused on circumstances elevates us beyond our fears and anxieties. 1 Peter 5:6-10 offers practical guidance.

V. 6-7. “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

There is a fight under way to remove the phrase “under God” from the pledge of allegiance. But key to enduring our journey amidst pain and sorrow, fear and anxiety, is to humble ourselves under God. Submission to His will frees us from the imprisonment of our own efforts and our own fears. Our faith promises He cares for us and will lift us up, so shouldn’t we live today as if we believe it?

V. 8-9. “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”

Wake up. There is a real enemy. We cannot fight him in our own strength, but only through humbling ourselves before God and standing in our faith, protected with spiritual armor of faith, truth, peace, the Holy Spirit, and the assurance of salvation. You are not alone in your suffering. God sees you where you are and gives you other believers to share your load.

V. 10.  “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”

Steadfast means to remain resolute, committed,loyal, true to the faith God has given you, fully persuaded, trusting Him.

Life is tough. But this life on earth isn’t forever. As Francis Chan illustrates: Imagine a long rope that goes on forever. Now imagine the end of the rope that you hold, that last couple inches, representing your entire life on earth, 70,80, maybe 90 years. Most of our worries and fears and efforts are focused on this tiny piece of the rope’s beginning. But how much of our thought and ambition is focused on the part of the rope (our life) that goes on forever? Chan says, “I can endure anything for a mere 90 years!”

90 years of MY pain and suffering? Humble yourself before your God, receive His sufficient grace and power, and experience His persevering Spirit alive in you. Even as you take each sip of cool water to refresh your body, invite God’s Spirit to refresh your soul and experience the power to endure the difficult journey.