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]Some of you know the miraculous story of our daughter Elianna. She was born blind, with a rare eye condition called bilateral vitreous hemorrhage. We didn't even realize it until she was three months old. When we went to the doctors in Israel, they advised an immediate risky surgery. We quickly went to the Lord in prayer and fasting for her healing. Low and behold, the Lord began to heal our little one!! Today, three years later, we're overjoyed to say that despite the fact that her vision is not yet perfect, she is a thriving and beautifully developing child!
Ever since the Garden of Eden where the story began and our first parents sinned, fear has permeated humankind. The fracturing of relationships, God to man, man to man, man to woman, engendered a universal pandemic of fear and alienation. Fear supplied the Adversary, Satan ("satan" means adversary in Hebrew) with a powerful means for control, manipulation, and deception of fallen humanity, with nearly infinite varieties of expression.
Numerous acronyms can be made from the four letters which spell “F-E-A-R”. Here’s one: False Evidence Appearing Real.” Deceptive fear is spreading everywhere. False evidence, questionable claims, disputable statistics, endless narratives, hyped-up threats, and massive complexity defying interpretation are producing a threatening atmosphere (or “atmosFEAR”). Uncertainty and danger, real and imagined, pervade, the air spreading rampant anxiety. This FEAR is being used as a weapon to attack our mind and emotions, and quench our spirits. How to master it?
Matthew 13:45-46 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it. Recently, a jeweler friend ...
As believers, we are all called to transform the little world around us. C.S. Lewis offered a thoughtful perspective on remaining heavenly minded while continuing to make an impact in this present world.
“Teacher”, said a young boy, “why is it that so many prayers are unanswered? I do not understand. The Bible says, ‘Ask, and you shall receive; seek, and you shall find; knock and the door shall be opened unto you.’ But it seems to me a great many knock and are not admitted.
As I write this devotional about planting seed, it's interesting since my name (George) means "farmer" or "worker of the earth".