Even within my lifetime I’ve seen this huge shift of what we consider right and wrong. And with the advent of mass media, the Internet, Snap-Chat, YouTube, and Hollywood…we see our societal mores slowly morphing into something our Great-grandparents would be appalled at. But this blurring of ethical principles and practices didn’t happen overnight…for it relied on man’s pride, rebellion and apathy to flourish. So now we sit, so desensitized, we don’t even react anymore to what we know is wrong…but if we do, we’ll likely find ourselves being chastised for being intolerant and narrow-minded. Job 24:13 warns of this Spiritual blindness…of evildoers who rebel against the light, who don’t know its ways or stay in its path. I ask Heavenly Father, that we would be enlightened by Your Word, and that You would illuminate our minds with Your truth, that we may be able to discern right and wrong correctly. Amen.
Tag: spiritual illumination
II Corinthians 3:18 ” And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, Who is the Spirit.”
Jesus spoke of this glory in John 17:22, when He said, “I have given them the glory that You gave Me that they may be one as we are one.” When we become Christians, we undergo a spiritual transformation…a invisible process, a metamorphosis if you will, where our very character is changed. And by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit we become a mirror, reflecting Jesus to others. But you’ll also notice that this Scripture says we are “being” transformed with “ever-increasing” glory…which means His work in us will never be completely done until that day we meet Him face to face.
II Corinthians 10:5 ” We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
When we’re going through a time of spiritual confusion…there are only two ways we can go. We can argue or chose to obey. We can spend our time trying to reason and debate our way out of the disconcertment in our life…or we can yield and submit ourselves to the authority and supremacy of God. You can’t think your way out of spiritual confusion…the only thing you can do is to obey what God places in front of you…step by step, day by day. For Christ demands unquestioning obedience from us, even when the way is shadowed.
II Corinthians 4:6 ” For God, Who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”
As I John 1:5 states, “God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.” When we walk from darkness into the light of Christ, we are transformed…and we become enlightened. Gone is our old self, for now we can understand the light and truth of the Gospel. No longer to be trapped in the darkness, this new knowledge of God now resides in our heart…and the glory of God shines forth as there becomes less of us and more of Jesus in our life.
Luke 15:24 ” For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found…”
If you think about it…we’re all like the prodigal son. We were all spiritually dead – separated from God the Father, with no hope of eternal life…when we were made live again, by the blood of Jesus Christ. For we all had wandered away from our Heavenly Father, just like the prodigal son…and just like the prodigal son, when we had come to our senses in the middle of that pig pen – we realized we couldn’t make it on our own. That’s when we returned. We returned to a loving Father with outstretched arms, rushing to meet us and draw us to Him.
Isaiah 9:2 ” The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”
Here Isaiah is foretelling God’s promise of sending His Son, Jesus, as a great light to all mankind. As the darkness – the spiritual blindness increases…we as Believers must let the inner light of Jesus shine forth from us… And in doing so, allow His truth to dispel the dark around us.
I Corinthians 12:12-13 ” The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body – whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free – and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.”
Here Paul is comparing the human body with the body of Christ…the Church. Just as the many parts of the human body work together in complete harmony…each with its own unique purpose, the body of Christ – the Church and its many parts need to come together in like-mindedness also. And just like the human body, one part cannot work in isolation from the rest. That would be like one Sunday morning your heart getting up and deciding not to be part of your body that day! You may think that your presence at Church doesn’t matter…but it does…the whole body suffers when one part is absent.
Psalm 19:8 ” The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.”
God’s principles are right and just…for the Believer, they are not a burden, but rather a joy to follow. There is a sense of security and comfort found there…for within them, we find spiritual illumination and enlightenment.
Safetypinlove 