The Power of Light

It seems that when God wants to do a new thing in us that He first seeks to remove the old.  By inviting us to discover a dimension of His nature, the unveiling comes as we let go of the veil (lies) that have kept us from seeing.  God has fully revealed Himself through Jesus Christ, He is hiding in plain view.  Scripture says it this way in Hebrews 12:14, "Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord."  Sanctification means the removing of the old being replaced by the new person "in Christ".  As I was recently ordained there were several people who spoke over me that there was an anointing for deliverance on my life.  Some think of deliverance as focused on demons but I believe true deliverance is to be delivered from the domain of darkness (Colossians 1:12).  Darkness is where lies, fears, bitterness, lust, selfishness, sin, unforgiveness, hopelessness, control, and many others rule over our thinking, our feeling, and our life.  Yes, the enemy of our souls does work in the domain of darkness.

The Lord began to invite me to experience and know Him as Light, yet Light exposes us.  I realized that I had learned how to walk in the darkness, simply by hiding my feelings, my thoughts, and the places in me that I felt ashamed of.  As a child I also was deceived to partner with hopeless thinking, self-pity, and isolation leading me away from openness, honesty, trust, and love.  As God, who is Light, was calling me out of the darkness I had to admit that I chose the darkness (men loved darkness) because it provided some protection (although deceptive).  The lying promise of the dark is we will be covered and no one can see the things we do in the dark.  I heard of a picture of this:  there was a cave a mile down underground where a river flowed through it.  You could drink from the river in the cave because it had nothing growing in it because there was no light.  Yet farther down river where the river flowed on the surface of the earth the river was teaming with life because the sun shone on the river.

The Word of God says in Proverbs 23:7, "For as he thinks within himself, so he is."  The thinking that comes out of the darkness that infects our mind and heart will come out as sin in our life.  As the Holy Spirit reveals the nature of God as Light, we are invited into a place of being transformed into that same image of Light.  When light comes into the place of darkness, darkness always is displaced.

Delivered from darkness,
Bret