Glow in the dark

2 Cor. 4:5-6

Glow in the dark Silly Putty.

Yes, I’m blogging about silly putty.

Why, you ask?

#1 I have a 3 year old boy.

#2 I have been spending countless hours holding the silly putty under a light so it would glow in the dark.

# 3 He keeps saying, ‘do it again mommy.’ So, I feel compelled to hold the putty under the light.

Today he asked me, why I was holding it under the light. I started explaining to him, that for the putty to glow in the dark, it must remain in the light, and return to the light.

And it hit me… You probably know where I’m going…

For us to make a true difference; for us to be a light in the darkness, we must spend time in the light.

The longer we stay in the light, the longer we will glow in the dark.

It seems so simple, but do we truly take this to heart?

We are in a battle you know. We are in a battle of distraction. We are in the ‘phone age’ and this is definitely worse than the computer age, or even the gaming age. We are in a busy time on the kingdom calendar. We have jobs, school, friends, church, practice, tv, movies and any other activity that keeps us occupied (especially the phone.) We run from place to place, activity to activity and land at home ready to jump into bed, all to start over again at dawn the next morning.

No wonder we are having a hard time being effective in the darkness.

Since moving last month, my time with Jesus has dwindled. I can feel it. I can tell, and I’m exhausted. We truly find rest in him.

So now it’s time. It’s time to turn back. Time to get into the word. The word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. How? When I read the word of God, It’s alive and active. I stop to think and pray before I make decisions.

Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. What does that mean? When I enjoy spending time with God, truly seeking him, talking to him, giving everything over to him and trusting him with it, then he starts putting desires in our hearts that are of him. Joe and I spent a lot of time seeking God in a personal way over the last few years. We could feel him moving, and we wanted to make sure we were moving in his direction. The more we spent time and sought him the more he lightened our path. Answers weren’t always in front of us and we did not know the end result, but I believe he led us here now because we sought him back there then.

Spending that time with him gave us the strength and power to go through several moves, not really knowing where we were going to end up. It also zeroed us in on his will. (Psalm 25:4) It brought us to a point to blindly trust when things seemed dark - like a hurricane almost derailing the sale of our house.

Spending that time with him also brought us to a place of humbleness and listening. The more you spend time with God, the more you realize you don’t know. He is always showing new things and new ideas. If we had been hard hearted, we would have missed this door he was opening.

Spending that time with him fine-tuned our faith. We were literally stepping out and then answers would come. We lived with family, we moved into a rental – never understanding what was taking so long to get settled – well, we weren’t settling there. God wanted us here.

I want to recommend a book, Made For This by Jennie Allen. I know I have mentioned it before, but Joe and I were going through this together and God brought us to a point of surrender that led us to his perfect will. Once we made the step to move yet again, God started showering us with confirmation. We found a house before we had the job acceptance letter. People we did not know cleaned our house before we moved (and now that we know those people, we love them.) They prayed over our house. They welcomed us with warmth and love. We have truly felt at home since we have arrived. It’s funny that our Pastor says ‘welcome home’ on Sunday mornings during the service. He doesn’t know it, but we know those words are straight from God to us.

It’s time to get back in the light. God has a mission for us all. The mission lies in dark places that haven’t seen the light. For us to be strong and useable in the dark, we must stay connected to the light. Talk to God. Tell him what you need. Ask him what he wants you to do this day for him. Ask him everyday. Read his word. Find a great bible study, book or podcast that draws you closer. If you need recommendations, let me or Joe know. I am going to list a few of our prayer / faith reviver books. Stay in the light. It’s time to glow in the dark.

Books:

The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson (Prayer)

Fresh Wind Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala (Prayer / Faith)

Made for This by Jennie Allen (Surrender)

Whisper by Mark Batterson (Listening to God)

Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning (God’s unconditional love / grace)

Believing God Bible Study by Beth Moore (Believing God)

Dream of You by Jo Saxton (Becoming who God created you to be.)

The Bible 😊 I love the Psalms, I spent years in them when we lived in NYC and God has used them over and over in my life because David cries out to God openly and honestly.

                The Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke & John. Acts. Romans, etc.

                The story of Joseph Genesis 37-50.

                Creation – Genesis 1-2.,

                Noah, Jonah, Elijah, Elisha, Joshua, Abraham

There is so much in the Bible. So many ways God speaks through his word. Why aren’t we in it more? (and I’m talking to myself)

I know I keep saying it, but it’s time. I am praying God reestablishes a love for his word in us. I am praying that we are eager to get up and meet him in the morning and wait expectantly (Psalm 5.) I pray that we ask, seek and find (Matthew 7:7.) I am praying for a revival of souls to get back into his word and to walk boldly into the darkness, finding the lost sheep Jesus longs to rescue. If we don’t, who will? It is up to us to make a choice to go. It is up to us to stay in the light. It is up to us to be bold in the dark. It is up to us. We are the hands and feet who bring the good news. Let’s make sure we know enough about the word to know what the good news is.

Let’s go.

Courage

2 Chronicles 7:14

1 Timothy 2:1-6

I have seen several acts of courage over the past few weeks. These acts have left me wondering what we are doing.

To back up a little, I have been discouraged the last few times I have checked twitter.  There are so many hate storms. Ugly words. People trying to force their opinion.

In the end, who has the right opinion?

I have seen people tear each other apart - in the name of the Lord. But I see no evidence of the Lord in their speech. Are we truly seeking the Lord, the Bible or the truth before we utter a word?

I am not trying to leave myself out of this. I know I speak before I think. But here is where I am coming from….

We are filled with a world of true problems. People dying. Homelessness. Starvation. Slavery. Trafficking. And we choose to sit and write or speak mean, ugly words about people. I have seen atrocious words spoken about good people fighting the fight of truth in the faith. I have also seen things spoken about those who haven’t earned the right for a kind word. But what are we supposed to do as believers trying to show the light of Christ?

1.       Humility. Who am I? Do I seek truth, or validity from the world?

2.       What does the word say? Am I seeking the Bible on the issues I am complaining about?

3.       Am I spending regular time with the Lord to be in tune with Him?

To get to my point…  

A little over a week ago, I sat in the living room of a dear friend that was walking the end of her road with cancer. This was a rough site to see. The room was also filled with other close friends of mine – and hers. They had been taking turns staying with her around the clock. These friends had walked good days with her before the cancer – and were now walking these horrendous days of watching her die. While we were there, she asked for songs to be sung… ‘I bowed on my Knees’, and ‘I will not be shaken’. I watched these friends sing with quivering lips, a cappella, honoring a woman that loved the Lord. I watched hearts breaking. And I knew – I was in the presence of courage. I saw courageous people giving of themselves in the hardest of ways. I saw them trying to bring joy to a friend that they would soon see no more.

 On Sunday, Joe showed me a video of another act of courage - a man of God praying for our president. The president showed up unexpectedly at his church asking for prayer. That man honored the president. He prayed for him, other leaders and our country. He used 1 Tim. 2:1-6 as a frame of reference. This is what it says.

A Call to Prayer

1 First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,

2      For kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

3         This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,

4         Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

5         For there is one God, and on mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

6         Who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.

 My husband mentioned something to me that stuck. What if we took all the time we used on twitter, Instagram, etc, to express our opinions, and instead used that time to pray for our leaders. It is a call of God. It’s a call to pray. That is one of our privileges as humans: We have the opportunity to meet face to face with the creator of the universe. We can choose to sit down and talk to him. We can ask, seek and fin d(Matthew 7:7). We can bring our requests to him (Psalm 5:3). The bible is filled with verses of praying. Jesus prayed regularly. He drew away from the crowds to pray. He prayed before the cross. He is our example.

I wonder – if we took what we think are courageous words against people, politics, misunderstandings – and instead gave all of our thoughts to God first, then prayed for our leaders. Would we see change? I believe we would… Why? It is written…

2 Chronicles 7:14 (LEB) [then if] my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and will pray and will seek my face and will turn from their evil ways, then I myself shall hear from the heavens and will forgive their sins and heal their land.

I believe we have to be humble first. That is very hard, but if we can come humbly before the Lord and ask for help, we will see it.

Can we choose to pray for our leaders? Our churches? Our land? Could we courageously pray for God’s will instead of what we think? I think it’s time for revival in the land. It starts with us.

Here is the video of the pastor, and a letter to his church.

https://twitter.com/plattdavid/status/1135582753662164994