Matthew 6:23 But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
In the early 1700s, the western world including the United States, was being swept under the influence of a philosophical and cultural movement known as the Age of Enlightenment, also called the Age of Reason. At this critical time in history, the First Great Awakening was birthed by the Lord in the American colonies of the “New World”. Led by preachers such as Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield, a spiritual renewal took place which became a unifiying cultural foundation for the American Revolutionary War, which began in the late 1770s.
While the church had been stagnant, institutional, bound by tradition and formality, the First Great Awakening dramatically revivified the spiritual landscape with Holy Spirit inspired Biblical preaching, and it swept thousands of nominal churchgoers and atheists alike into vital and personal relationship with God. The preaching of the era ministered the light of the true Gospel of Christ, with deep conviction of human sinfulness, the need for repentance demonstrated by contrition and resolution to forsake sin, and the opportunity to receive God’s forgiveness and salvation by grace alone.
So just at a point in history, when the enemy was offering the false light of rationalism as his remedy for the Dark Ages, our God expressed His sovereignty over history and sent forth a revival, renewing the knowledge of His true Light to the world.
We are now at another critical point in history as it seems the enemy is launching a two-pronged attack, either to persecute and extinguish the true Light of Yeshua (Jesus), or to counterfeit it with his false light… we must recognize, expose, and oppose his evil work.
There is false light, a “light that is darkness”; [Matthew 6:23] and a ministry of “righteousness” that is not authentic; [2 Corinthians 11:14-15]. We must recognize them. This is not our Light or our Righteousness. We are awake to the true Light of the world who gives light to every man. Now, more than ever, don’t hide it under a bushel, sleeper….Awake! Perhaps, here and there, even before the Lord comes, you also, may inspire a great Awakening.
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]Every day roughly 150,000 around the world die. Death has a way of raising our spiritual temperature and quickening us to re-evaluate life…especially to ask, “Am I doing all that I can do?”
The first king of Israel, King Saul,was told by God to utterly slay Amalek and his descendants. In blatant disobedience Saul allowed Agag, the king of the Amalekites and the best of the cattle to remain alive. The following day, Saul tried to remedy his disobedience by attempting to sacrifice the best of the cattle to the Lord.
If you’ve ever been to Israel, you know that Shabbat—what we call the Sabbath—is a big deal. It starts Friday at sundown and goes until Saturday at sundown, and let me tell you, the whole country gets ready for it like clockwork. Friday mornings are busy—really busy. The outdoor markets are packed, folks are rushing around grabbing last-minute groceries, cleaning house, cooking meals, and getting everything wrapped up before things shut down. By the time the sun sets, the streets get quiet, the stores close, and life slows down. For the next 24 hours, it’s all about rest.
Watching Yeshua (Jesus) lay down His life to die on the cross was not what His disciples were expecting, but rather a shocking, perplexing, and apparently hopeless ending to what had seemed like a promising fulfillment of Messianic hope. The shattering ordeal of Yeshua’s trials, torture, and horrific death must have left them all feeling bereft, miserable, and uncertain of the future. What would they do now? What would their future hold?
According to ancient Jewish legend, one day Abraham was shown his father, Terah’s room of many idols. Young Abraham, thinking that perhaps he could discover intimacy with them, made some desirable delicacies and placed them before the idols. When nothing happened, he realized that these idols were nothing more than clay — they could do nothing for him or anyone else for that matter. So he proceeded to destroy all the idols, except for one.
Among those in the court of Alexander the Great was a philosopher of outstanding ability but little money. He asked Alexander for financial help and was told to draw whatever he needed from the imperial treasury.
Make no mistake—the spirit of antisemitism is very much alive today. Yet this isn’t a new struggle. It is an ancient spiritual war that has been ongoing for thousands of years. As people worldwide celebrate Purim, recalling the Jewish people’s deliverance from Haman’s evil schemes that took place in the ancient Kingdom of Persia (Iran), we are reminded of a deeper reality: a spiritual conflict between heavenly powers and demonic principalities.