Matthew 5:14-16 You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
In the sermon on the mount, Yeshua said, “You are the light of the world,” and commanded us to let our lights shine that we may give glory to our Heavenly Father. This world is becoming more ungodly and dark, and by deep contrast, the saints of the Lord will shine brighter! A candle in a bright room isn’t particularly significant or easy to notice. A candle in the darkness shines like a lighthouse and offers the only source of guidance for movement.
When Yeshua (Jesus) warned that the love of many will wax cold [Matthew 24:12], He implied that those who remain loving will really stand out. The resistance increases; the contrast deepens!
Bodybuilders are familiar with resistance training. They work each muscle group to the point of exhaustion…take a few days off…and the muscle mass increases. The next time they exercise with even more resistance…the result, more bulk! So it is with us in these treacherous times. The darkness and resistance of these evil days requires and will produce greater faith and greater love…if we let them.
This world is testing our love and and quenching our light. How will we respond? Will we wimp out, be extinguished, and grow cold? [Matthew 24:12] Or will we recognize that the resistance we face is God’s way of building faith and love in His disciples?
Are you exhausted, spiritually spent and on the verge of quitting? Take some serious time out this Shabbat (Sabbath). Rest and reflect on how your love, joy and faith were tested this week. Give thanks for the “resistance” training the Lord has orchestrated just for you, and allow Him to rebuild your spiritual muscles while you rest. You will return on Monday … more spiritually ripped in His love, and wrapped in His light!
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]As Joshua led the children of Israel into the promised land it seemed that God had given them an impossible assignment -- to conquer a foreign and hostile land with fortified cities and armies greater than their own. They had to go forth only on the basis of God's promise. They had to walk by faith and not by sight!
Over the weekend, the ministry lost a dear brother who suddenly died of a heart attack. In times of mourning, the realization dawned (once again) that this life is utterly fleeting ... a vapor in the wind ... and these frail human bodies in which we dwell are mortal dust. We are living in the land of the dead and dying, and only those of us who truly know and are known by the Messiah, upon our death, will enter the land of the truly living!
An ancient story in Church history tells of the apostle John. He would constantly repeat the words, "Little children, love one another." And his disciples became weary of the phrase. Finally, in his old age, as John was being carried to their assembly, the disciples asked him, "Why do you always repeat these same words?" "Because friends," John replied, "it is the Lord's commandment -- and if only this one were fulfilled, it would be enough."
The apostle John quotes Isaiah 53:1, saying to whom has the z’roah [arm] of the Lord been revealed? It’s a question that God answers throughout the rest of Isaiah 53, describing in detail the life of Yeshua (Jesus) and the ultimate price He would pay for the sins of the world.
During World War II, a US marine was separated from his unit on a Pacific Island. The fighting had been intense, and in the smoke and the crossfire he had lost touch with his comrades. Alone in the jungle, he could hear enemy soldiers coming in his direction. Scrambling for cover, he found his way up a high ridge to several small caves in the rock. Quickly he crawled inside one of the caves.
The great evangelist and teacher Charles Spurgeon had a plaque on his bedroom with the words written on it, "I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction."
The word for builder in Hebrew is “bo-neh”. It is also translated repairer. When our Messiah came 2000 years ago, He came to repair lives -- to do a complete restoration of all that is broken in this world.