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!

perfectly imperfect

I spend hours staring at my artwork. Flipping it over and over and over. I critic it with a critical eye and study every flaw and misplaced line.  I get frustrated and throw it on the floor.

Three or four days later I pick up that piece of paper and look with fresh eyes at the lines I had scribbled on the paper.

I take a step back and I stare at it with new perspective. The mistakes have not changed, it hasn’t improved over time.

But My HEART has.

For me, everything I start to draw or sketch starts in my heart. It starts with a idea placed inside me by the Holy Spirit. A vision that I cannot see with my eyes, but can feel inside my soul.  

 

As this idea works its way to my brain, things start to take shape and I start to put my own personal human twist into the vision.

I start to sketch things out and nothing seems quite perfect or quite right. Nothing ever seems quite like I wanted it to in my mind. By the time I’m done with the first sketch things are sometimes quite out of perspective of the “idea” I had.  Thus the throwing it all on the floor and walking away.

Little do I ever understand with God is doing inside me. The healing, the growing, the deepening, the searching, the surrender, the molding, the shaping, the strengthening.  Rarely do I recognize the deep knife surgery that is happening inside my soul as my fingers fly over the surface of the paper.

When I pick up that piece of paper a few days later and study it, it is not with my eyes that I see it, but with the heart that God was changing as I worked. It is a piece of who I am. A struggle of my soul, and Sharpening of my heart. 

It is my heart that beats in time to the Holy Spirit. It is me pouring out the love the Father has given me. It’s me seeing with the eyes the of my Father. It’s seeing the flaws and knowing their part in the whole picture. It’s surrendering the messed up parts of me to be seen through the eyes that make all things beautiful.

My artwork isn’t perfect or without flaw. It’s not meant to be. It’s meant to reflect with unfinished work of the Holy Spirit in my life. If I were perfect, my art would probably be perfect too. But there are days when all I can achieve is a beautiful disaster.  That’s ok. Jesus love’s the disaster. He loves the broken pieces. He loves us, His messed up, dirt covered, bloodied kneed, tear stained, giggling, crazy little children.

Thank you Jesus, for loving the imperfect messed up me.

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?