MEDITATION ON JOHN 3:19-21

The true test of a follower of Christ is not necessarily shown by the absence of sin, but by a fierce love and commitment toward the light. A willingness - constantly recommitted, moment to moment, day to day - to submit every thought, word and deed to the cleansing power of the purest light in the universe, exposes that which was hidden, rendering it powerless. 

Through the simple act of lifting up my darkest thoughts, my worst words and my most selfish deeds into the light that is Christ, everything that does not reflect light loses it's power and cannot stand in opposition to the righteousness of God. The perfection that the apostle Paul talked about is not being without sin in and of itself, but in the voluntary process of submitting our darkness to the light until it is no more. 

"And this is the judgement: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly  seen that his works have been carried out in God."

That's the conundrum. No one who does evil wants the light to hit those things. So the difference between a pure heart and an evil heart is not one who has no sin, but one, who by virtue of their will, chooses the light, which requires humility. Voluntarily exposing things that bring shame is and act of humility which leads to repentance; with true repentance coming in through the repetition of admission of it, submission of it to the light, which brings about the change of direction; effectively exchanging shame for joy, ashes for beauty, mourning for gladness. 

God takes what was once conceived in darkness, through the act of humility in repentance, and through the blood of Christ it is transformed into an act carried out in God. That's the truest picture of grace I can imagine. Taking the very ugliest of things in me and transforming them into His righteousness. But unless I change my mind - which is my acknowledgement of my need for his grace - and decide that I want to love his light and risk the humiliation of exposing my darkest things to it, then I render his grace powerless in my life. 

Preparing for Victory

Reading Exodus Chpt 15. The morning after the Egyptian army was swept away in the Red Sea, Moses led the people in a song to The Lord. 

Chpt. 15:14-17 "The peoples have heard; they tremble; pangs have seized the leaders of Moab; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as stone, till the people pass by whom you have purchased. You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established."

The second half of the song is prophetic. The people of Israel were actually singing prophetically about the victory to COME; the people mentioned in the song are those who are currently occupying the Promised Land. But instead of hearing their own declaration of victory in their song, they believed the bad report that came back from the spies, and as a result they spent 40 years wandering in the desert when that was never God's intent. He had prepared immediate victory for them. 

We know that singing and praise and thanksgiving is warfare because that's how we enter His gates and the enemy cannot touch us when we are in His Presence. Why didn't Israel realize this? If they had pondered in their hearts the song The Lord put in their mouths, they would have believed The Lord strong to bring them into the Promised Land. 

We all face giants in our lives. They are our struggles, adversaries, fears and obstacles. God does not send these to us, for they are the work of the enemy; but God uses the very things that are meant to destroy us to become our greatest victories, which then become an anointing in our lives to break others free from the same things we have overcome. If I do not understand this; that God has already secured my victory in this area, I will not have the confidence to stand and sing the song of victory he has declared over my life for that circumstance. 

So when my giants are present in the land The Lord has said is to be mine, I should lend my ear to hear the song of praise he has actually prepared for me to sing. That is what I stand on when fear knocks at my door and bad reports come my way. How can we know what that song is? Well; what are his prophetic promises for you? What scripture is he leading you to? What worship or praise songs are touching your heart right now? Take those and compile your song of victory and sing it until The Lord shows himself strong.