True Light

John 8:12, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

The difference between real light and artificial light. I am going to start with the use of a flashlight at night. When it is dark outside we like to have a flashlight to help us find our way in the dark. If we are lost, we are very grateful for that flashlight in our hand, but what we are really longing for is the comfort of the sun. The sun takes away all of the dark, scary corners where the light of the flashlight will not reach. The sun is warm and brings new light and new hope to a dark and scary world. The truth is we are very thankful for our flashlight while it is dark, but there is a catch. Our flashlight is not very reliable. When we are getting very desperate, our flashlight may be getting worn too and its batteries will start to fail. It is only reliable for a short time, to help start us on our journey. We find comfort in using this light, for we have some control with this light. We can direct it where we want it to shine, and we can turn it on and off as we please. But, like I said, this light is not reliable, for one day it will fail.

In contrast to artificial light the light of God is not controllable. We do not have power over this light and at times this can be very scary and frustrating, especially when we see the sun going down and the darkness of night coming. But unlike our artificial light the light of Christ is very dependable and will never fail us. This light will give us strength and encouragement when we do not think there is any hope left for He is consistent. Ps 112:4, "Even in darkness light dawns for the upright..."

As believers in Christ we are called to be a light to the world. We are the artificial light of Christ. We can give hope and encouragement for a short time, but eventually our light will fail and our comfort will disappear for those who are just dependent on us. This is also true of false gods. These false gods can never give to you what you are looking for. Yes, you can direct them and have some sense of control over them, but this is a false sense of security. It is the light of the One true God that will never fail you nor forsake you. He is consistent. He is reliable. You have no control over Him. It is in this lack of control over Him, where you find that He has given you strength.

Psalm 139, "...If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, 'Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,' even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!"

Because we see things with our human eyes, we do not see them correctly. Especially, when it seems there is darkness surrounding them. We do not understand that He see everything perfectly, and if we will learn to follow the one who is the maker of true light, that is where our joy will be found. He is the light of the world and in Him there is no darkness. It is only in learning to follow the true light that we find real comfort in this world. It is in His true light that we can finally see the truth. We cannot direct this light and we have no control over this light, but in this lack of control, we can finally learn to let go of our bondage and live free. He has found you. You just have to learn to seek Him. For a time you may need to learn from those He has called to be a light to the world, but then you will need to learn to follow the true light on your own. It is in this following Him, that you will truly be able to see.

Light is beautiful

John 12:44-46, "Then Jesus cried out, 'When a man believes in Me, he does not believe in Me only, but in the One who sent Me. When he looks at Me, he sees the One who sent Me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in Me should stay in darkness.'"

If Jesus is the light of the world, then what are we loving when we are loving the darkness? There are constantly new movies coming out that have a theme of darkness. There are books that we let our young girls read that encourage them to give themselves over to darkness. Our culture is obsessed with the darkness. Our physical desires change when the darkness comes, for that is when we believe that our desire is hidden. We go out after dark and party, then we sleep all day. We have a tendency to think that there is beauty in darkness and we believe there is comfort in pain. If you think that you have never loved darkness, don't deceive yourself. Look back across the path of your life and see where the truth lays. Look back and see where you have loved the darkness and where you are still drawn to it today. If there is always drama in your life, then there may be a reason. If you are constantly fighting and there is constant strife in your life, then there is a good chance you are hanging on to the darkness, instead of the light. I am going to use insects here to demonstrate a point on how we are with light and life.

Have you ever wondered why some insects are drawn to the light on your front porch? There are some insects that use light as there guide at night. So, when they see your front porch light they become confused and start trying to follow that light in order to find their way in the darkness. Some insects are still attracted to the artificial light even after the natural light source is given. Some scientists believe that this attraction may not be for the light at all, but for the darker areas that surround that light. Other insects are instantly repelled by any light and will run as soon as a light is turned on.

The example of the insects can be a good illustration on the light that we are seeking, or that we are running away from. Are we allowing the natural light of Christ to guide us? Can we distinguish between true light and the imitation given by others. Are we like the cockroach and really repelled by the light? Do we fool ourselves into still believing a certain thing even after the truth has been revealed to us?

Proverbs 4:18-19, "The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble." Can you see the path with which you are following? Do you know how to love the light? Have you been fooled into believing that the darkness is beautiful?

Oswald Chambers, "To have a master and teacher is not the same thing as being mastered and taught. Having a master and teacher means that there is someone who knows me better than I know myself, who is closer than a friend, and who understands the remotest depths of my heart and is able to satisfy them fully. It means having someone who has made me secure in the knowledge that he has met and solved all the doubts, uncertainties, and problems in my mind... Our Lord never takes measures to make me do what He wants. Sometimes I wish God would master and control me to make me do what He wants, but He will not. And at other times I wish He would leave me alone, and He does not. 'You call Me Teacher and Lord...'— but is He? Teacher, Master, and Lord have little place in our vocabulary. We prefer the words Savior, Sanctifier, and Healer. The only word that truly describes the experience of being mastered is love, and we know little about love as God reveals it in His Word. The way we use the word obey is proof of this. In the Bible, obedience is based on a relationship between equals; for example, that of a son with his father. Our Lord was not simply God’s servant— He was His Son. '...though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience...' (Hebrews 5:8)."

Do we walk in the light as He is in the light? Do we love Him and serve Him because He is our Master, our Lord? Can we find Him when there are so many other distractions in this life lying to us, confusing us on what is really attractive?

My Love

1 John 5:14, "And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases Him. And since we know He hears us when we make our requests, we also know that He will give us what we ask for."

Do you know that my requests are being granted. It is not in the money you bring home. It is not the earthly pleasures that you are able to provide for me. My prayers and requests are granted because of the love that you show for our Lord. The more you fall in love with Him, the more you fall in love with me. The two go hand in hand. Eight years today! We have been married for eight years and every day our home gets more secure. It is not because financially we are better off. Christ never promised security in that way. In fact, He would promise security in the opposite direction. Luke 18:22, "The man replied, 'I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.' When Jesus heard his answer, he said, 'There is still one thing you haven’t done. Sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.'”

I am more proud of you today than I ever was when you drove your Z3. I know where the strength of a man is held. It is not held in his physical strength. No, that always fades. It is not held in how much money he makes. No, the government will make sure of that. It is not shown in his house that he builds, or in this world at all. The strength that I see is a strength that most miss with their eyes, for they are looking through the fog, but I see clearly. I see your strength when you do not panic and you trust in our God. For that is where your true strength is revealed.

I am so proud of you. I am proud of the man you are. I do not see the things of the world as others do. I see God. As long as you are focused on Him, I see your strength. He is what gives true strength to a true man. When I see your anger and discouragement, that is when I have the hardest time, for your focus is taken away from God and my security is shaken. Keep your focus my love. Stay strong. We are doing great.

You have work to do. I have been talking to you a lot about Nehemiah, I see his call in yours. He had a most impossible task before him. The only way he was able to do his job well and complete it, was his focus. He kept his focus on God through all of the trials. He was focused on God while he had a sword strapped to his waist ready to fight the opposition. You are rebuilding a business. Keep your focus on God, but also keep one hand on your sword. You have more strength than any man I have ever met. I know, for I have tested that strength. My love, the main thing a woman wants is security. It is not security that this world offers. All those things are temporal. My greatest need is for you to keep your focus, then I am secure.

Psalm 19, "The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world...The instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul. The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight for living. Reverence for the Lord is pure, lasting forever. The laws of the Lord are true; each one is fair. They are more desirable than gold, even the finest gold. They are sweeter than honey, even honey dripping from the comb."

I have written you many love notes in the past, but this time my job is different. I am called to be your help mate, and this time I am your being you boxing coach. I am here to cheer you on and help you win this fight. I am so proud of you. I am so proud to be your wife. I am so in love with you...

Remember

Nehemiah 9:5-6, "Stand up and praise the LORD your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be Your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship You."

Stand up and praise the Lord. Stand up and remember where you have come from. Many times you hear people say that you need to forget your past and live for Christ and the life and future that He has placed in you and before you. While I agree with this; I disagree with this. I love reading the Old Testament. I like to see the remembrance that brought about true worship. For it is in remembering that we can find life. It is in remembering that we can see how He raised us from the dead.

(9:16-20),"But they, our forefathers, became arrogant and stiff-necked, and did not obey Your commands. They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles You performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. But You are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore You did not desert them, even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, 'This is your god, who brought you up out of Egypt,' or when they committed awful blasphemies. Because of Your great compassion You did not abandon them in the desert... You gave your good Spirit to instruct them."

In the Old Testament we are always being called to remember. We are being called to remember the sins that have brought others pain, and our own personal sins, so that we can do better today and in the future. We must remember our time of slavery. For if we forget this time, we will not be able to truly praise our God and worship Him for what He does for us now.

Oswald Chambers, "Envy, jealousy, and strife don’t necessarily arise from your old nature of sin, but from the flesh which was used for these kinds of things in the past (see Romans 6:19 and 1 Peter 4:1-3). You must maintain continual watchfulness so that nothing arises in your life that would cause you shame... Many people have turned back because they are afraid to look at things from God’s perspective. The greatest spiritual crisis comes when a person has to move a little farther on in his faith than the beliefs he has already accepted."

We do not need to live in guilt of our sin, but we do need to look continually at the truth of who we are without Christ. If we do not remember who we were, then we run the risk of thinking we saved ourselves from death. If we forget who we were, then we run the risk of becoming that person again. Remember where you came from, so that you can focus on Him today. Do not live in the past, but do not try to forget the lessons from your past either.

Joy of the Lord

Nehemiah 8:9-12, "'This day is sacred to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep.' For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law. Nehemiah said, 'Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.' ...because they now understood the words that had been made known to them."

There was a time when someone laid their hands on me and spoke these words over me, "for the joy of the LORD is your strength." I did not really understand it, but now I do. Once we have been set free and we understand the true love of our God, His law and love is our joy. But, in order to have His joy we must first understand His love. So often we have done so wrong in our own life that we cannot see past our own sin in order to hear His voice of hope. There is a time for tears, but what is its role?

Nehemiah 9:1-3, "...the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and having dust on their heads. Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the wickedness of their fathers. They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the LORD their God."

There is a time of mourning for what we have done. There is this time and there must be, for in our time of sin, something very valuable has died. When we look at God's law there is no way that we can get away from the truth of our sin and this is a very daunting awareness. But, we cannot live in the sadness of our sin. There is hope that has been given and we are once again not living in God's will if we continue to mourn. There is a very needed time of mourning, but there is also a promise that God has given us. We need to learn to take hold of His promises.

God's promises, His hope, His reality, our strength:
Psalm 43:5, "Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God." 2 Thessalonians 2:16, "May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who loved us and by His grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope..." John 11:25-26, "Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?" Psalm 146:5, "Happy is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God..." Romans 15:13, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Have we faced our past and had our time of mourning? Have we learned to read and understand His law so that we can find true joy? Oswald Chambers, "'Come to Me... and I will give you rest' ( Matthew 11:28 ). It is only after we have begun to experience what salvation really means that we surrender our will to Jesus for rest. Whatever is causing us a sense of uncertainty is actually a call to our will— “Come to Me.” And it is a voluntary coming. ...And after you surrender— then what? Your entire life should be characterized by an eagerness to maintain unbroken fellowship and oneness with God." Do you know what the joy of the Lord is? After you have received the love of Christ, do you still weep with bitter tears before Him, or have your tears turned to tears of joy? "...for the joy of the LORD is your strength.' ...because they now understood the words that had been made known to them."

Prayer

Nehemiah, when you think of him, do you think of his prayers and how they affected his life? I usually don't. But, his prayers were how his life played out. His prayers were how he began his mission. His prayers were what gave him the strength to fight the opposition and the courage to finish his job.

Nehemiah 1:4-7, "When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. Then I said: 'O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant of love with those who love Him and obey His commands, let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer Your servant is praying before You day and night for Your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father's house, have committed against You. We have acted very wickedly toward You. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws You gave Your servant Moses.'"

Nehemiah starts his prayer with the awareness of God's sovereignty and His holy awesomeness. Then before he complains and tells God all that is gone wrong, he first looks at himself and sees the sins that have been committed against God. He starts by looking at God and after he looks at how wonderful God is, he can then see clearly how he has failed himself.

After Nehemiah had spent many days in prayer to God, he was ready for what was to come next. (2:4), "The king said to me, 'What is it you want?' Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king...." Nehemiah was ready and waiting for God to show him the right timing and when he was presented with his opportunity to visit with the king he did not jump right in and give the king his answer, but he took the problem to God before he answered the king with his own words.

While they were working hard to rebuild the wall, they were greeted with opposition. But instead of taking the insults personally, Nehemiah knew the one they were really insulting was God, and he asked God to deal with them. (4:4-5), "Hear us, O our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity. Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight, for they have thrown insults in the face of the builders. So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart."

(4:9), "But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat." They believed God. They knew God was in control. They relied on God, but this did not mean that they did not take the necessary precautions while they they were working out God's plan for their life.

(6:9), "They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, 'Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.' But I prayed, 'Now strengthen my hands.'" While they were working, he prayed that God would give them the strength to continue. Nehemiah knew where the strength came from. He knew that without God's help, they would not be able to complete the task.

While Nehemiah was working he kept his focus. (13:29), "Remember them, O my God, because they defiled the priestly office and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites." It would have been so easy for him to get bitter against the people and to take out his own revenge, but he knew whose right it was to keep justice. He kept his focus on God and his role with his relationship with God.

(5:19), "Remember me with favor, O my God..." (13:14), "Remember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out what I have so faithfully done for the house of my God and its services." (13:22), "Then I commanded the Levites to purify themselves and go and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember me for this also, O my God, and show mercy to me according to Your great love." (13:31), "Remember me with favor, O my God." In asking God to remember him, Nehemiah kept his mind clear and kept him focused on why he was doing all of this.

As we walk through life, do we take all of what we do before God? When we first see something that is broken, do we begin with asking God to forgive us of our own sins? We are often faced with a task. Can we keep our focus on God and allow Him to deal with the opposition in front of us? Do we think that we do not need to take action to protect ourselves, or do we think that it is showing more faith by being passive? Can we keep our focus on God, while we are working for Him? These are all lessons in prayer that we can learn from the life of Nehemiah. Have we begun our day in pray to God this day? Do we take every issue, everything to God throughout the day?

Hear the Applause?

What do we applaud in the sake of acceptance? What do we accept in the sake of being a people of grace and forgiveness? What do we not say to someone, in the sake of not judging others? Have we lost sight of what God has called us to? Have we lost our ability to stand alone, all because we are afraid of what others may say about us?

Ezra 9:1-2, "After these things had been done, the leaders came to me and said, 'The people of Israel, including the priests and the Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the neighboring peoples... They have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, and have mingled the holy race with the peoples around them. And the leaders and officials have led the way in this unfaithfulness.'"

From the beginning of God's word, He has called us to be separate from others around us. He never established a rule that said to rejoice in the things that others are doing, but to stand as a light against it. A light of love and truth, but in this light, celebration with them was never encouraged. We have taken the grace that we see in Christ and turned it against the word and law of God. We now say that we accept everyone no matter what they are seeking. We now say that everything is okay and that no matter how anyone is living or what they are worshiping, it is fine and they do not have to change.

Oswald Chambers, "Deliverance from sin is not the same as deliverance from human nature. There are things in human nature, such as prejudices, that the saint can only destroy through sheer neglect. But there are other things that have to be destroyed through violence, that is, through God’s divine strength imparted by His Spirit. There are some things over which we are not to fight, but only to 'stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord...' (see Exodus 14:13). But every theory or thought that raises itself up as a fortified barrier 'against the knowledge of God' is to be determinedly demolished by drawing on God’s power, not through human effort or by compromise (see 2 Corinthians 10:4).

It is only when God has transformed our nature and we have entered into the experience of sanctification that the fight begins. The warfare is not against sin; we can never fight against sin— Jesus Christ conquered that in His redemption of us. The conflict is waged over turning our natural life into a spiritual life. This is never done easily, nor does God intend that it be so. It is accomplished only through a series of moral choices. God does not make us holy in the sense that He makes our character holy. He makes us holy in the sense that He has made us innocent before Him. And then we have to turn that innocence into holy character through the moral choices we make. These choices are continually opposed and hostile to the things of our natural life which have become so deeply entrenched— the very things that raise themselves up as fortified barriers 'against the knowledge of God.' We can either turn back, making ourselves of no value to the kingdom of God, or we can determinedly demolish these things, allowing Jesus to bring another son to glory (see Hebrews 2:10)."

We must be careful what we are embracing today. We must always take what we are encouraging in our society and compare it with what God's law is saying. What religions are we embracing, so that we can say we walk in love? What are we allowing others to do, all so we will not be judged, by them saying we are judging them? What truth are we not seeing in others, so that we do not have to look at the truth in ourselves?

Luke 6:41, "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

In this passage Jesus never said to turn a blind eye, for look at what you are doing yourself. What He was doing was showing us how to help others. First, look at the sin in your own life. Look at the truth in that sin and remove it from your own heart. Then, you are to go and help the others around you, for now you can see clearly, and help them in removing their own sin. We are to stand against sin. We are not called to live rejoicing with others in our own sin and in theirs. What are you applauding today? What are we embracing?

Change of Heart

2 Chronicles 33:10-13, "The LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. So the LORD brought against them the army commanders of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh prisoner, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon. In his distress he sought the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. And when he prayed to him, the LORD was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so He brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God."

As I have been reading the stories of the great kings of old, I have learned many things. One of these things is that no matter how bad you have been in your past, if you will humble yourself, God will forgive you. Manasseh's story begins with with this statement; "He did what was evil in the LORD's sight." He worshiped other god's and even sacrificed his children on alters to them. But then, when all had failed and he was taken as a slave to another land, it was then that he was humble and called out to God. He did not just call out to God in his moment of distress, but he was humbled and had a change of heart. He changed and let go of all that had at one time been so precious to him. His change was real and his heart remained humble toward God.

This is often the part that we have the hardest time with. We see how we have done wrong. We have felt the sting of our sin. Yet, to permanently change; to let go of what we have become accustom with; to allow God to give us new friends; to let God give us a new chance at a new life, that is hard and scary. But, this is part of the test: to see if we have really repented and had a change of heart, or if we are just sorry because of the consequences of our choices. James 4:5-7, "'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.' Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." If we are humble we will do what we know God is calling us to do. We will not insist that we do things our way, but we will lay down our own desires for Him. If we will humble ourselves long enough and stay strong with God, the devil will flee from us and no longer tempt us in the old ways we lived.

Oswald Chambers, "We must continually remind ourselves of the purpose of life. We are not destined to happiness, nor to health, but to holiness. Today we have far too many desires and interests, and our lives are being consumed and wasted by them. Many of them may be right, noble, and good, and may later be fulfilled, but in the meantime God must cause their importance to us to decrease. The only thing that truly matters is whether a person will accept the God who will make him holy. At all costs, a person must have the right relationship with God. Do I believe I need to be holy? Do I believe that God can come into me and make me holy? ...Never tolerate, because of sympathy for yourself or for others, any practice that is not in keeping with a holy God. Holiness means absolute purity of your walk before God, the words coming from your mouth, and every thought in your mind— placing every detail of your life under the scrutiny of God Himself. Holiness is not simply what God gives me, but what God has given me that is being exhibited in my life."

Have I humbled myself enough and let go of my own desires, to allow God to change me? Christ came as the perfect example of how a humble person is to live. He did not come so that He could be comfortable. He came so that we would know what was truly important and that importance is to be one with God. He wants us to know what it is to live a life for Him. And after we have turned our life over to Him, then He will lift us up and give us true life.