The Light Shines Through

#wherethelightshinesthrough

As I sat there listening to the song “Where the light shines through” by Switchfoot, God gave me a view I had never expected…

There he was in my minds eye. A man. His head was bowed and his shoulders slumped, as if the weight of the entire world was sitting on him. As I watched this man, I saw him raise his arms and cry out. With the cry, the man lifted his hands as if in surrender and release of everything he was carrying.

It didn’t take a second. I saw the Holy Spirit jump like being released from a tight hold. The battle was epic, immediate and heavy. It was over almost as soon as it had begun. The damage left behind should have been more then crippling.

Yet…

I saw the man breath deeply and lift his arms. As he lifted his arm a strange mysterious light was shining out of him. In surprise he looked down at his body.  There was light shining out of him in several different places.  It was as if every area in his life that had been attacked by the evil lies was now shining with a strange, but declarative truth.

The battle had done it’s job and done it well.  The lies, the fears, the anger, the bitter pain, all of this gone as the Holy Spirit beamed truth, life, joy, faith, freedom out of this man.

No longer was he a slave to anything of this world, he knew beyond anything else that he had a freedom living inside him. 

His wounds is where the light shines though!

Where does my help come from?

Psalm 121

¹ I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
    where does my help come from?
² My help comes from the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.

³ He will not let your foot slip—
    he who watches over you will not slumber;
⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The Lord watches over you—
    the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,
    nor the moon by night.

⁷ The Lord will keep you from all harm—
    he will watch over your life;
⁸ the Lord will watch over your coming and going
    both now and forevermore.

Walking through the daily questions I look around with confusion aired on my face.

My heart was questioning everything, every decision, every action, every word that came out of my mouth as well as every word that came back to my ears.

What was going on? 

Something was happening here. Something outside my realm of earthly perspective. 

Things where lining up in a strange, yet obvious course of events that I was struggling to make any sense of.

The battle was over the top and my strength was on the edge of gone.

With an anxious, exhausted breath. I gave it up. I let it all slid from my own hands to the hands that where reaching out to me. 

I felt the weight of everything lift off of me, and I felt myself starting to slid. I was sliding downward, but not in a freaky, murky bleakness. I was sliding deep into solid peace. I was sliding into a quiet peaceful rest, so full of glory. 

Strength started to return to my heart and soul. A strength so far outside of me that I knew without a doubt that it was the strength of my Lord. 

He was reaching out taking everything that was holding me back and baring down on me. He was lifting me up out of the crazy and setting me in a place of rest. 

He removed all fear and replaced confusion with confidence. He settled my mind and filled it with His plans and glory. He changed the doubt to laughter. 

He is the author of my life. No other. He has plans for my life that might not make sense in the view of this world. But His glory goes beyond this world. 

I am faithful no matter how small your faith is.

The size of your faith doesn’t change my faithfulness. All the times you doubt or wonder and step backward only to move forward again, I see it, I’ve watched you grow through each step, forward and backward. I have loved you through each moment.  You are not alone in your walk. You are not alone in your thoughts and wanderings. You are not alone in this journey. 

I have brought you through one thing after another. I have traveled up mountains and walked down mountains with you.  I have brought you through streams that have rushed over your head with fury. I have kept you afloat and carried you though moment after moment.  

I have gently stroked your hair and kissed your head as you slept with exhaustion in my arms.  

I have dreamed with you and laughed with you. I have handed you tool after tool when you needed them. I have stretched you and ministered to your weary worn out heart. I have seen you at your worst and risen you to new heights. 

I have watched your faith grow and then shrink and then grow again. I have held you in every season of life.  

I believe in you. I believe in the girl I’ve created you to be. You will stand in a place of honor and you will sit with the warriors and step forward as a general in my army. 

You know well your greatest weapon is the power of my love. You understand the wisdom of using the sward of the spirit on yourself to remove the darts of the enemy. You know the importance of stepping forward even when you don’t know where you are going. You understand my faithfulness even when you feel like your faith is failing you, or you are failing your faith.

You know my faithfulness even when your faith is weak.  You know and understand that I and only I WILL MAKE YOU STRONG, and that I HAVE YOU!  

The Sword and the Fruit...

On the day we join forces with Jesus, we are marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit. Eph. 1:13-14

We step into battle.

We are handed the SWARD of the spirit…Which is the word of God.

Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Eph. 6:17

The same sword the Holy Spirit uses in battle against the enemy. We are given this weapon as a gift, and told to make it our own.  To do this we must learn how to use it, practice and gain knowledge of the power we hold in our hands.

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

As we use learn to use the sword of the spirit and wage war within our own lives, killing off our selfishness, anger, bitterness, etc.  we are slowly released from living under the authority of the law and start to operate in the fruit that comes from the Holy Spirit.

For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death.

But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. Romans 7:5-6

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23

The fruit of our lives as warriors of God using the powerful weapons of war He has given us should produce some amazing results!

What is the result of our actions today?

Where do we need to re-examine and re-focus the use of our spiritual armor?