Let It Shine, Let It Shine, Let It Shine!

Tags

evangelism, light, love, shine, witness

Matthew 5:14
“Ye are the light of the world.  A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.”

Jesus said we are the light of the world and in  John 8:1 2 He said,  “…I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”  Jesus said we are the light of the world because He is the light in us.

And Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, “but if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost; in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”

Now the same way that we must be open in order to receive light, we must be open to let light out.  When we think about it, all the things that the devil uses to blind the hearts and minds of people can be  the same things he uses to keep believers from letting their light shine. Condemnation, tradition, religion, fear, doubt, unbelief and so much more.

For instance, if we look at people and condemn them because they don’t do what we do or they do what we used to do our light is block by that condemnation.  The person on the other side can’t see our light.  If we are afraid to approach people and show them the love of God because they may look different or talk different our fears are blocking our light from shinning the person on the other side can’t see our light.

Light can only come in or get out through an openning.  Psalms 119:130, “the entrance of thy word giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.”  There must be opening for light to enter or exit.

Look and Jesus He came not condemning the world, He bypassed tradition and religion to heal the sick, He wasn’t afraid of what people would say about Him to sit and eat with publicans and sinners and He didn’t allow peoples doubt and unbelief stop Him from revealing Himself.  Matthew 4:16 says, “the people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.”

“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” ( 2 Cor. 4:6).  Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!

The Fire Of Evangelism

Tags

evangelism, gospel, love

Mark 16:15
“And He said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”

Jesus come to this world to fulfill the will of His Father which was to reconcile man back to God.  It was God’s love for man that caused Him to give up His Son to die and it was the love of His Father that caused the Son to give up his life.  John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but shall have everlasting life.”

When the Son of God looked at his Father He received His Father’s passion.  Hebrews 10:6-7 says, “In burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.  Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will , O God.”  What is His passion?  That all would be saved and none be lost.

When Jesus appeared to the disciples on the Emmaus road beginning at Moses and all the prophets He expounded unto them in all the scriptures  the things concerning Himself (Luke 24:27-35).  And as He brake bread with them their eyes were opened and they knew Him.  “And they said one to another, did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?  What happened?  As they saw Him in the Word they received His love and His passion.  It was his love that burned within them.  The scripture goes on to say that they got up that same hour and returned to Jerusalem, found the eleven and others gathered with them “saying, the Lord is risen indeed and hath appeared to Simon” (Luke 24:32-34).

It was seeing Jesus in the Word or seeing the love of God in the Word that ignited them with that same love and passion that they got up in the middle of the night to go and tell the good news that The Lord Is Risen Indeed.  This my friends is the fire of evangelism.

When we see Jesus, when we see the love of God it will ignite us to go into places unknown and confront people we don’t know,and move out of our comfort zone, to fulfill His commandment to “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.”

How Good, How Pleasant

Tags

brethren, love, peace, unity

Psalm 133:1
“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”

Every parent want their children to love one another and dwell in peace.  Our heavenly Father  wants the same thing for his family.  As a matter of fact Jesus said “this is my commandment that ye love one another, as I have loved you. When we love one another as he commands it releases a sweet aroma that lets the world know that we belong to him.

Jesus prays in John 17:21, “that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” To be one is to have no preference and no prejudice it’s to know that we have the same blood flowing through us, that’s the blood of Jesus, and that makes us family.

When we love one another as he loves us the world believes in Jesus.  Therefore,  love is the key to evangelism.  How simple, to evangelize the world all we have to do is love one another.

However, in order for us to love one another as he loves us we must first see and receive his love for us.  We must see how because of love he came into a world he created, suffered, bleed and died to paid a debt he didn’t owe and forgave us our sins all to bring peace back to his family.

For where there is peace there the blessing is released, even life for evermore (Psalm 133:3).

Eyes Of Mercy

Tags

love, loving-kindness, mercy

Psalms 123:1
“Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.”

What does it mean unto thee lift I up mine eyes? I know that it might seem obvious but sometimes the most obvious things are those that we miss.  First let’s look at  the word “unto.” The prefix un means to do the opposite or reverse and the word “to” indicates direction.  When you put them together it signifies to change direction.    To look away from what you where looking at before and look to Christ.

The Psalmist goes on to say “behold as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God until that he have mercy upon us.”  A servant is totally dependent upon that which his master can give.  He knows that his master knows he is a servant and unable to supply for himself.  Our Father knows that we are unable to do anything without him that why he had mercy upon us.

When we look away from the hand of man and lift up our eyes to Christ  we find  his eyes are always looking back at us with mercy and loving-kindness.  We have a promise that surely goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives. (Psalms 23:6)

Why did He Do It?

Tags

grace, Jesus, love

John 3:16

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Most of us have asked the question why did God do what he did for us. Why did it please God to crush his only begotten Son for us? There could be no other answer than the one he gave which is he loved us.

David said in Psalms 8:3-4 “when I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man that thou art mindful of him or the Son of man that thou visitest him?” In other words, what are we that you have made us a little lower than Yourself and given us the rule over the works of your hands? Is it not that we are the object of his love? Maybe if the children of Israel coming out of Egypt had considered this question they would not have been so rebellious. Because as we see God’s love and receive God’s love we are able to love him with that same love and obedience born out of love is worship.

When Jesus talked with the disciples on Emmaus road he open the scriptures to them and began to expound to them why it was necessary for him to come and die and suffer the things that he did. He was telling them all this was necessary to fulfill the Father’s love. The cross is the expression of God’s love for us. Therefore, whether God is blessing us or chastising us it’s Jesus and therefore it’s love.

From Genesis to Revelation all that God has done and all that he has said is because he has chosen to love us. 

Apprehended By Love

Tags

Apprehended, Jesus, love, power

Four of the things that God laid hold on us for are fellowship with Him, to be like Him, to do what He does and to have what He has. First to give us fellowship with Him He gave us His Son. John 3:16 “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Jesus Himself said “…I am the way the truth and the life, no man cometh to the Father but by me” (John 14:6 ). God gave us Jesus so that we could have fellowship with the Father. Jesus is the meditator between God and man. When you believe on Jesus you are born into the family of God and brought back into fellowship with the Father. 1 Cor. 5:18 says “And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ…” Because of Jesus we are able to come boldly to the throne of grace (Heb 4:16) and ask our Father in Jesus name for whatever we desire and it is done for us so that the Father may be glorified or manifested in the Son (John 14:13) and that the Son may be manifested in our lives.

The Second thing God laid hold on us for is to be like Him. John 1:12 says, “But as many as received Him to them gave He power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on His name.” In order for us to be like God we need His blood or his life flowing through us. Therefore, God gave us Jesus so that we could have His life in us. When you receive Jesus you are born of God and you possess his life. This means that you are like Him. His love is now your love, His peace is now your peace and His joy is now your joy. All that He is in all of his splendor, Majesty and power is yours “…because as He is so are we in this world” (John 4:12).

The third thing God laid hold on us for is to do what he does. You might be thinking don’t you mean do what He did? The answer is no. Often times the scripture in Acts 10:38 which says that Jesus “…went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil…” is viewed as something that Jesus did and but now He’s gone and we must do the same things on our own. But Jesus say to His disciples “verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also and greater works than these shall he do because I go unto my Father” (John 14:12). Notice Jesus said “the works that I do” not the works that I did. We don’t do what He did we do what he does because He is in us doing it. Jesus is the healer, Jesus is the deliverer, Jesus is the miracle worker. When you believe on Him and cease from your own works, He works through you to heal, deliver and work miracles.

Lastly, the forth thing that God laid hold on us for is to have what He has. Romans 8:17 says “and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ…” and Hebrews 1:2 “hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things by whom also He made the worlds.” So if Christ has been appointed heir to all things and we are joint-heirs with Him that means that we have through Christ inherited all things. God gave of Jesus so that we can have what He has.

God gave us Jesus to bring us back into fellowship with Him, so that we can be like Him and do what He does, and have all that He has. Thank God for Jesus today.