Tag: gospel

Light In The Night

1 John 1
5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

  • God is LIGHT and there is no darkness at all IN HIM! Jesus calls us to abide in HIM, to abide in His light and to walk with Him in that Light. We have that invitation and we have that opportunity. Whether we walk in light or darkness is entirely up to us!
  • God’s children will never walk in the darkness of ignorance, fear or confusion. God’s children walk in His Light as He is in the Light! They walk WITH HIM! They walk on the water during the storms of life, looking unto Jesus, rejoicing evermore, giving thanks in all things and enduring all things by faith in His love. Those who walk in darkness walk in unbelief, lust, fear, pride and rebellion.
  • God’s Word tells us that seasons of difficulty are ordained, tribulations are promised and we should count it all joy to be counted worthy to suffer for Christ’s name. In this world we will be surrounded by darkness… But God’s children will walk in HIS Light! Hallelujah!

Psalm 108
1 O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.
2 Awake, lute and harp! I will awaken the dawn.

  • The psalmist here is singing of being in the night. Though darkness surrounds him on all sides, it is not dark in his spirit. He has chosen, by faith, to walk in the light! He will choose to look to The Lord, He will choose to praise!
  • I love this line “I will awaken the dawn” as it is a powerful truth that should greatly encourage us! The writer of the psalm knows that as he praises The Lord the daylight will begin to come! Just as Paul and Silas praised in the prison cell (Acts 16:25), they had no thought of an earthquake and loosed chains but they knew that Salvation was ahead of them! They awoke the dawn! Hallelujah! May we have such faith to rejoice, praise and trust so that we shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance. As we abide in His Light and praise Him by faith the Light will become all the brighter around us! Abide in the Light of The Lord and praise Him for His Salvation! Don’t allow your heart to be troubled, don’t be discouraged by the worldly, fleshly things that surround you but determine with grateful rejoicing that you shall yet praise Him for the help of His presence!

Isaiah 60
1 Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you.
2 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.
3 The Gentiles shall come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.
…
19 “The sun shall no longer be your light by day, Nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you; But the LORD will be to you an everlasting light, And your God your glory.
20 Your sun shall no longer go down, Nor shall your moon withdraw itself; For the LORD will be your everlasting light, And the days of your mourning shall be ended.

  • This is a beautiful picture of The Gospel message. Isaiah is telling God’s people that their light has come! Jesus Christ, The everlasting, eternal Light of the world, has come but it is we His people that are to arise and shine! Our light has come and we are commanded to let His Light shine out through us! We are to be moons reflecting outward the glorious Light of the Son!
  • Born Again believers, redeemed citizens of heaven, joint heirs with Christ… Arise and let your light shine!! Abide in The Light and let HIS Light shine through you! Let HIS Life live through you! Oh may we truly be lower lights in this dark world pointing people to the rejoicing joy, the songs of thankful praise and the abundant Life and Light of Jesus Christ!

Sow In Hope

Psalm 126
5 They who sow in tears shall reap in joy and singing.
6 He who goes out weeping, bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

  • The writer doesn’t give us a specific reason for the weeping. In context of the psalm we could presume they are weeping in grief because of loved ones still in captivity; or maybe they might feel that their seed is so insignificant; perhaps they weep in loneliness for none will stand and sow with them; maybe the labourers are few and no one else is willing; maybe they weep in pain because they are neglected by those who should help them, unappreciated by their brothers, sisters and equals, despised and rejected by friends; it could be that they weep in fear and doubt, weak in faith that the harvest will come…
  • Weeping and tears are real, not discouraged, not rebuked, but lovingly and tenderly comforted (Psalm 56:8, Revelation 21:3-4). So with this promise, and The Lord’s testimonies, we need not continue in tears. Be careful of trying to create or get to some emotional experience. The promise is not to the weeper but to the sower! This psalm is written to exhort and encourage us to sow with hope and expectancy in faith! We are encouraged to sow looking joyfully to the harvest, comforted and resting in the promise. 
  • There are many valid reasons for tears but those who continue to faithfully sow will, from a Faithful God, reap the promise!! Whatever our circumstance, may we be faithful in sowing the seed of HIS Gospel! May we continue to sow HIS word by HIS Spirit… For WE SHALL REAP in joy and singing and rejoicing! Bringing sheaves of countless seed to glorify The Lord of the harvest! Sometimes we may sow in tears, but always sow in faith and hope. 

From Broken To Burning

Luke 24
32 And they said to one another, Were not our hearts greatly moved and burning within us while He was talking with us on the road and as He opened and explained to us the Scriptures?

  • These two disciples had been walking along sad and broken hearted. Their hopes were dashed, life hadn’t worked out as they had expected or hoped. With their faith crushed to pieces, they talked in the past tense trying to figure out where it all went wrong.
  • ⁠They did not recognise Jesus! The very one they had hoped in! The one they had followed for so long. He was walking and talking with them but they were ignorant of His presence. Their gaze so inward and their sight so blinded by self pity, disappointment and defeat that they did not recognise their risen, victorious Lord and Saviour was with them.
  • But Jesus, after a straight but gentle rebuke, corrects their understanding and lays firmly the foundations of the gospel message. Slowly they came to realise how their expectations had been wrong! Their focus and understanding had been on the wrong thing, it had been fleshly, without Spiritual understanding. Slowly, by knowledge of The Word, their faith began to stir again… Of course Jesus had to die! It was prophesied, it was necessary, it was God’s plan for Salvation all along! They gradually became certain and assured of the scriptures, they started to believe again, truly Jesus was risen, they didn’t know where He was but it didn’t matter any more! They were reassured in the scriptures, took God at His word and trusted in Him! Their hearts burned with excitement, expectancy, hope, joy and rejoicing in all that God was doing.
  • When their hearts burned in the Spiritual, Jesus revealed himself in the physical! Only after their hearts burned with faith did He open their eyes to see He had been there all along!
  • May our faith be so stirred and may our hearts burn with such joy, expectancy and trust! Hallelujah! HE IS RISEN! PRAISE THE LORD!!

Absolutely Everything!

2 Peter 1
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the [true, intimate] knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
3 For His divine power has bestowed on us absolutely everything related to life and godliness, through true and personal knowledge of Him who called us by and to His own glory and excellence.
4 For by these He has bestowed on us His precious and magnificent promises [of inexpressible value], so that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the moral decay and corruption that is in the world through lust.

  • THERE IS NO LACK IN GOD! There is NOTHING lacking in the Life and Spirit of Jesus Christ in a believer! If we find that we are lacking, dry or without His Joy then very simply but very sincerely we need to acknowledge that we’ve been in unbelief! We need to repent, confess and turn again to the promises and testimonies of The Word of God and take by faith the victory and provision given us in the resurrection life of Jesus Christ! Hallelujah!! Praise His precious name!! Sing again His songs of victory and declare HIS Salvation!
  • HE HAS ALREADY GIVEN!! He is not holding back until we are ready! He has ALREADY bestowed on us EVERYTHING that pertains to HIS LIFE and GODLINESS! We already have access to all that we need! Jesus has given us HIS LIFE, HIS VICTORY, HIS ACCESS to The Father, HIS POWER, HIS TESTIMONY!! It is for us to simply have the faith to believe!! Do we live by faith? Do we truly believe that Jesus Christ is all that He says He is… IN US!!
  • WE HAVE NO EXCUSE! The ONLY reason we lack is through our failure to believe! We doubt His provision, we doubt His promises, we forget all that He has done and all that is ours in Him! Have we forgotten to grow in a “true and personal knowledge of Him who called us by and to His own glory and excellence”? We have forgotten to praise and magnify The Lord!

John 16
33 I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have perfect peace and confidence. In the world you will have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]

Romans 8
37 Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us.

1 Corinthians 15
57 But thanks be to God, Who gives us the victory [making us conquerors] through our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 2
14 Now thanks be to God, Who always causes us to triumph in Christ, and by us makes manifest the fragrance of his knowledge in every place.

1 John 5
4 For whatever is born of God is victorious over the world; and this is the victory that conquers the world, even our faith.

•⁠ ⁠Oh brothers and sisters in Christ, may we be stirred up in our faith! May we arise and leave the place of despondency and self. May we exalt The Lord Jesus and not magnify our problems! Let us rise up in faith believing that Jesus has won every victory, that He has already gone before us, that He is casting out the enemy… Let us be found ever rejoicing and giving thanks in all things, knowing that we are more than conquerors because the battle is already won! Let us fix our eyes on The Giver, not the gifts. Let is offer our sacrifice of praise, for when we offer to Jesus the little praise we have, we will always leave full of Him!!