Last Day of Christmas

“This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.”

1 John 1:5-7 NLT

With the taking down of lights and the highlight of Christmas fading, I'm content and enthralled even to know that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is Light. Truth. Living in us, He Shines!

Let Him.

1 Corinthians 2:9,

Camelot

Shine Your Light!

So God set another day. That day is today. Many years after ⌊your ancestors failed to enter that place of rest⌋ God spoke about it through David in the passage already quoted: “If you hear God speak today, don’t be stubborn.”

God’s word is living and active. It is sharper than any two-edged sword and cuts as deep as the place where soul and spirit meet, the place where joints and marrow meet. God’s word judges a person’s thoughts and intentions. No creature can hide from God. Everything is uncovered and exposed for him to see. We must answer to him. (Hebrews 4:7, 12-13 GW)

I remember in church in 1995, the Pastor Carlton Duck (Duckman) was trying to make a point. He asked the congregation to raise their hand if you accepted Jesus as your Savior the first time you heard about Him. I misunderstood him and raised my hand...

I attended Christ Church Episcopal School in Greenville, SC, so I had heard about Jesus most of my life, but at the age of 20 sitting in Thomas Road Baptist Church, I finally had ears...I heard and understood for the first time. The Word of God became personal. Like Hebrews talked about, "I heard God speak"

The lights came on and God began to speak to me about other things. My language, my habits, my attitude, my money, my active participation in His Body.

When the lights are on God speaks and shows me new glorious paths to walk and run. The adventure is real, hard at times, but real. But when I start to rely on my memory of what God has shown me...(you know like walking through your house in the dark, you can do it because you remember where things are for the most part with the occasional toe jam), when that happens, the adventure subsides and the fear creeps in.

Jesus, shine the Light of Your Word on me, into every nook and cranny, let nothing and no one be off limits to you. sanctify me, set me apart for Your work. All that I am is Yours, as it should be. Thanks for the rest this truth imparts to me. Amen.

(P.S. I saw how yesterday I set out to talk about Your Spirit, I looked back today and realized that You, Jesus, were glorified in spite of my initial intentions. Lord, you make me smile.)

James 3:18

Camelot

Salt and Light

“You are salt for the earth. But if salt loses its taste, how will it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled on by people. “You are light for the world. A city cannot be hidden when it is located on a hill. (Matthew 5:13, 14 GW)

I love the way God's Word Translation puts this verse. Not salt of the earth, but salt for the earth;not light of the world, but light for the world. So this does not so much highlight the stark difference between the children of light and the children of darkness, even though there is a difference, but this highlight how we respond in midst do that difference. We are for the, to serve, to testify, to preach, to love, to show forth the praises of Our Father by doing good in His Name... OC makes the distinction this way.

"Even the natural heart of the unsaved will serve if called upon to do so, but it takes a heart broken by conviction of sin, baptized by the Holy Spirit, and crushed into submission to God's purpose to make a person's life a holy example of God's message." Oswald Chambers

James 3:18,

Camelot