Pure Light
Its amazing to see what God does in our lives to get us to notice Him. For Elijah He came in flames and birds to feed him in the desert, for Paul He came through an angel and a talking donkey, those are some pretty extraordinary occurrences there. Christ came to those people in magnificent and awesome ways. For most of us He comes to us through a word, through His Word, through a friend with an extraordinary experience, through a message delivered in church or through one of His many witnesses. Of course the most awesome and magnificent way He came to us was when He was born of a virgin and came and died on a cross for us, no questions asked, no 'OK, I've done my deed, you've got to pay up'. No, for many of us (some people Christ calls them to lay down their physical lives through some way that would be an example--not saints or whatnot, through some kind of witnessing, Stephen was stoned in the Bible for being a witness, that was Christs purpose, that he, Stephen would lay down his life to show and spread the gospel of Christ), for most of us Christ asks that we 'lay down our lives to Him' through the act of dying to the world, and the birth into the Spirit.
Its an act that so many of us have a hard time with, we get the being born again through Christ thing, we get saved, ya, we believe, check, we go to church, check check, we tithe, check check check, we get that part. But we don't complete the transfer. We say 'OK. I've gotten saved, I have faith, I go to church, now I've got that eternal assurance and yes I love God but I'm going to do my thing, I've got the believing part, that's all Hes asking for'. Eh, no, wrong. Christ physically died to the world. Physically, He hung on a cross, bled actual blood, ALOT of it, and He died when He gave up His spirit to God, He said 'Father, to Thee I commend my spirit' and He died. Doubt it? The Bible tells us the Romans did too, what the custom was (kick in the Anthropology major stuff) the custom was to go through and break the knees of those hanging on the crosses. The actual being crucified, that was just the torture part, you bled profusely, but what you actually died from was suffocation. They nailed your hands and feet down to the wood, underneath the feet that are nailed down is a little platform, so what your doing is hanging by your wrists and the weight of your body is pulling down on your chest. So to breathe what you have to do is to push up on that little platform, your feet are either nailed to it, or just above it and your pushing with your toes, and your pushing yourself up so you can actually breathe. Therein lies the torture. Your in excruciating pain trying to push yourself up to breathe. So what the Romans did was when they'd had enough fun watching you in that excruciating pain, was they went through with a huge mallet and broke your knees, which means you cant push up anymore and you actually died because you couldn't inflate your lungs to breathe. Sounds painful right? That was the point. So what Christ did was He took on the added burden of ALL of the sin of ALL of the world for ALL time, past and present, it was a weight that pressed down on Him, and He actually died from that weight, not from the broken knees and no pushing up, He actually died because of the weight of His physical body added with the weight of the sins of ALL mankind for eternity and before. The Romans went around to break the legs of the other two thieves hanging with Him and when they came to Christ He was already dead. So what did they do then? They took a spear and pierced His heart, when water flowed and not blood (because none was pumping) they knew that Christ was dead, and there was no need to break His knees. He had already commended His spirit to the Hands of the Father. He ACTUALLY died by the burden of sin for you and I.
What the Scripture calls for is that we, the body of Christ on Earth, die to the world. That means giving up everything that is fleshly. Becoming a complete new creature. Not of the world, but in it, you cant be out of the world, but you can be not of it. You are called to be light. To be a light to the world, your called to be the manifestation of Christ on Earth. To be set aside and different. People are supposed to see Christ in you. That old phrase your mom used to toss out at you when you were doing something wrong 'Your the only Jesus someones going to see' that's absolutely true. Shes not just giving your a guilt trip, shes stating what the Holy Word of God says, that you are supposed to be a light unhidden. Not under a basket, being like, 'Oh I've got the light of Christ in me and I'm a Christian, I'm going to the club now' No, God is saying your to be a Light for HIM. Your to show the world the Love and Beauty and SALVATION that is Christ. Does that mean you cant have any fun? No way, its meaning that you must simply show Holiness in everything you do. Show Gods work through your hands.
As I said before. God comes to people in some pretty surprising ways. I say this because I've been dealt a blow today. One that shot straight to my spirit and its been rocking me all day. Its 8:04pm right now and I've been crying about it for awhile before. So to cheer myself up I came to the feet of Jesus, I'm trusting Him to fix this because I know, I KNOW I cant fix this alone. I've done my part, I've put this thing out there and am just waiting now for the bite. I'm doing what I've needed to do for some time, I'm coming straight to the source, and that's Christ. I've been home all weekend so I've missed spending my quiet time with God and Louie Giglio, since its what I've been doing through recorded messages and his books, I feel a real connection to his ministry and what hes saying, so I've been really excited to be hearing what hes got to say. So I came back, I have high speed Internet here at the apartment (lightning fried out computer at home...again) so now that I've got a hookup I cried out to God in prayer and then visited the 268 Generation site and choose one of Louie's messages. I choose 'Pure Light' which is the next in the 'Tattoo' series my last post highlighted. Basically Louie talks about what I talked about above. Being a light to a generation in darkness, showing that we are pure light in Christ, the light which should shine into the world to show the way to Him. I was floored. One of the things that Louie talks about is how we look for happiness in things other than God. We say, oh, this guy will make me happy, or this girl will make me happy, or that new car, its going to change my life. No, those things are great, they're gifts from God, what we need to focus on, what our eternal happiness should be, is Christ, and Christ alone.
Its hard. What happened today is probably me just freaking out for nothing. Its me hearing something or thinking to much on something that is insignificant and making it into something that's bigger than it should be. All the same. I'm devastated at what it could mean. I've spent my entire summer praying out something (and please continue to pray for me about this, its truly something important in my life) and today I just got this blow, this feeling that Its not going to turn out the way that I want it. God is a God of blessings and happiness and I've resigned myself (after many sleepless nights and many times of crying out to God broken about this) to the fact that If this is not something that God wants in my life then that's OK, I choose to let God guide my path and if its not in the cards then so be it, It wasn't meant to be so anyway. Its SO hard. Its something that I so badly don't want to let go of. Its something that I've given to God to say, 'Take this, If I keep it then it wont be what you want it to be, and all I want is what You want', its something that I've consciously kept in my prayers and spirit as something that I desire God to be inundated in. This thing, I want Gods name ALL over it. And I'm to the point now where If it doesn't happen I'm going to be broken about it.
So whats getting me through? Whats getting me to sit up and write this instead of crying myself to sleep? Its the hope I have in what God wants. I've walked in darkness for years before, stumbling and falling, bleeding and bruised, but now, I desire to walk with God in the light. I so desire to be a faithful and true servant to His name. I've had all the bad a girl can get, trust me, I've lived enough pain for many a lifetimes, now I'm at the point where I can truthfully and honestly say that I want what God desires in my life. I don't know how I ever managed to be "happy" when I walked in darkness before. I now, more than ever before have the joy of the Lord to keep a smile on my face but Its this thing that's bringing me down. When I clicked on the message from Louie, I was just desiring comfort, someone to nurse my wounds and say, 'Its OK Jamie, its all going to work out'. What I got was a good solid bell in my ear. A real shot to the heart. I've been letting this thing take over. Its something that I so desire, but I've been letting this thing just become a huge thing, I've kept it in my parameters, in Gods realm, but I've been letting this thing get in the way of my prayers and worship. I've been letting this thing become a monster that's attacking me and making me cry. What God spoke to me through Louie was a powerful word. That sometimes God uses things we don't like to knock us back into reality, His reality, the only real reality. Gods grabbed me by my ponytail and spun me around to face Him and say to me 'I am sufficient, what I desire for you is sufficient, I'm going to take care of you and your happiness, just trust me'. Its blown me away. Its something that just dropped into my spirit, God is telling me to just rest in Him, to trust that He will take care of me. I'm going to do it.
So recognize that. God uses all kinds of things in our lives to get us to pay attention to Him. Some of them are joyous and awesome. Some of them are sad and cause brokenness and hurt and pain. Whatever the problem though, Gods saying this, 'Just trust me'. So I challenge you to do it, to say, 'Yes God, I'm going to rest in you and let this be as You will it, because Your will is ALL I'll EVER need.' Its my prayer tonight. So rest in comfort dear friends, Gods in control and who better than the guy who breathed the universe into existence to be in control?
Its an act that so many of us have a hard time with, we get the being born again through Christ thing, we get saved, ya, we believe, check, we go to church, check check, we tithe, check check check, we get that part. But we don't complete the transfer. We say 'OK. I've gotten saved, I have faith, I go to church, now I've got that eternal assurance and yes I love God but I'm going to do my thing, I've got the believing part, that's all Hes asking for'. Eh, no, wrong. Christ physically died to the world. Physically, He hung on a cross, bled actual blood, ALOT of it, and He died when He gave up His spirit to God, He said 'Father, to Thee I commend my spirit' and He died. Doubt it? The Bible tells us the Romans did too, what the custom was (kick in the Anthropology major stuff) the custom was to go through and break the knees of those hanging on the crosses. The actual being crucified, that was just the torture part, you bled profusely, but what you actually died from was suffocation. They nailed your hands and feet down to the wood, underneath the feet that are nailed down is a little platform, so what your doing is hanging by your wrists and the weight of your body is pulling down on your chest. So to breathe what you have to do is to push up on that little platform, your feet are either nailed to it, or just above it and your pushing with your toes, and your pushing yourself up so you can actually breathe. Therein lies the torture. Your in excruciating pain trying to push yourself up to breathe. So what the Romans did was when they'd had enough fun watching you in that excruciating pain, was they went through with a huge mallet and broke your knees, which means you cant push up anymore and you actually died because you couldn't inflate your lungs to breathe. Sounds painful right? That was the point. So what Christ did was He took on the added burden of ALL of the sin of ALL of the world for ALL time, past and present, it was a weight that pressed down on Him, and He actually died from that weight, not from the broken knees and no pushing up, He actually died because of the weight of His physical body added with the weight of the sins of ALL mankind for eternity and before. The Romans went around to break the legs of the other two thieves hanging with Him and when they came to Christ He was already dead. So what did they do then? They took a spear and pierced His heart, when water flowed and not blood (because none was pumping) they knew that Christ was dead, and there was no need to break His knees. He had already commended His spirit to the Hands of the Father. He ACTUALLY died by the burden of sin for you and I.
What the Scripture calls for is that we, the body of Christ on Earth, die to the world. That means giving up everything that is fleshly. Becoming a complete new creature. Not of the world, but in it, you cant be out of the world, but you can be not of it. You are called to be light. To be a light to the world, your called to be the manifestation of Christ on Earth. To be set aside and different. People are supposed to see Christ in you. That old phrase your mom used to toss out at you when you were doing something wrong 'Your the only Jesus someones going to see' that's absolutely true. Shes not just giving your a guilt trip, shes stating what the Holy Word of God says, that you are supposed to be a light unhidden. Not under a basket, being like, 'Oh I've got the light of Christ in me and I'm a Christian, I'm going to the club now' No, God is saying your to be a Light for HIM. Your to show the world the Love and Beauty and SALVATION that is Christ. Does that mean you cant have any fun? No way, its meaning that you must simply show Holiness in everything you do. Show Gods work through your hands.
As I said before. God comes to people in some pretty surprising ways. I say this because I've been dealt a blow today. One that shot straight to my spirit and its been rocking me all day. Its 8:04pm right now and I've been crying about it for awhile before. So to cheer myself up I came to the feet of Jesus, I'm trusting Him to fix this because I know, I KNOW I cant fix this alone. I've done my part, I've put this thing out there and am just waiting now for the bite. I'm doing what I've needed to do for some time, I'm coming straight to the source, and that's Christ. I've been home all weekend so I've missed spending my quiet time with God and Louie Giglio, since its what I've been doing through recorded messages and his books, I feel a real connection to his ministry and what hes saying, so I've been really excited to be hearing what hes got to say. So I came back, I have high speed Internet here at the apartment (lightning fried out computer at home...again) so now that I've got a hookup I cried out to God in prayer and then visited the 268 Generation site and choose one of Louie's messages. I choose 'Pure Light' which is the next in the 'Tattoo' series my last post highlighted. Basically Louie talks about what I talked about above. Being a light to a generation in darkness, showing that we are pure light in Christ, the light which should shine into the world to show the way to Him. I was floored. One of the things that Louie talks about is how we look for happiness in things other than God. We say, oh, this guy will make me happy, or this girl will make me happy, or that new car, its going to change my life. No, those things are great, they're gifts from God, what we need to focus on, what our eternal happiness should be, is Christ, and Christ alone.
Its hard. What happened today is probably me just freaking out for nothing. Its me hearing something or thinking to much on something that is insignificant and making it into something that's bigger than it should be. All the same. I'm devastated at what it could mean. I've spent my entire summer praying out something (and please continue to pray for me about this, its truly something important in my life) and today I just got this blow, this feeling that Its not going to turn out the way that I want it. God is a God of blessings and happiness and I've resigned myself (after many sleepless nights and many times of crying out to God broken about this) to the fact that If this is not something that God wants in my life then that's OK, I choose to let God guide my path and if its not in the cards then so be it, It wasn't meant to be so anyway. Its SO hard. Its something that I so badly don't want to let go of. Its something that I've given to God to say, 'Take this, If I keep it then it wont be what you want it to be, and all I want is what You want', its something that I've consciously kept in my prayers and spirit as something that I desire God to be inundated in. This thing, I want Gods name ALL over it. And I'm to the point now where If it doesn't happen I'm going to be broken about it.
So whats getting me through? Whats getting me to sit up and write this instead of crying myself to sleep? Its the hope I have in what God wants. I've walked in darkness for years before, stumbling and falling, bleeding and bruised, but now, I desire to walk with God in the light. I so desire to be a faithful and true servant to His name. I've had all the bad a girl can get, trust me, I've lived enough pain for many a lifetimes, now I'm at the point where I can truthfully and honestly say that I want what God desires in my life. I don't know how I ever managed to be "happy" when I walked in darkness before. I now, more than ever before have the joy of the Lord to keep a smile on my face but Its this thing that's bringing me down. When I clicked on the message from Louie, I was just desiring comfort, someone to nurse my wounds and say, 'Its OK Jamie, its all going to work out'. What I got was a good solid bell in my ear. A real shot to the heart. I've been letting this thing take over. Its something that I so desire, but I've been letting this thing just become a huge thing, I've kept it in my parameters, in Gods realm, but I've been letting this thing get in the way of my prayers and worship. I've been letting this thing become a monster that's attacking me and making me cry. What God spoke to me through Louie was a powerful word. That sometimes God uses things we don't like to knock us back into reality, His reality, the only real reality. Gods grabbed me by my ponytail and spun me around to face Him and say to me 'I am sufficient, what I desire for you is sufficient, I'm going to take care of you and your happiness, just trust me'. Its blown me away. Its something that just dropped into my spirit, God is telling me to just rest in Him, to trust that He will take care of me. I'm going to do it.
So recognize that. God uses all kinds of things in our lives to get us to pay attention to Him. Some of them are joyous and awesome. Some of them are sad and cause brokenness and hurt and pain. Whatever the problem though, Gods saying this, 'Just trust me'. So I challenge you to do it, to say, 'Yes God, I'm going to rest in you and let this be as You will it, because Your will is ALL I'll EVER need.' Its my prayer tonight. So rest in comfort dear friends, Gods in control and who better than the guy who breathed the universe into existence to be in control?
posted by Jamie | 6:37 PM
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