Women's Focus Ministries: Sunday Writing.. 2-10-19.. "TURN ON THE LIGHTS"

Good morning!

Today's writing, "TURN ON THE LIGHTS," is the 6th writing in a series about light during this Epiphany season. We started with the Bethlehem star as a light to the Gentiles and Jesus as the Light to the whole world, followed by Jesus being a light in the darkness, present even before creation began. Then we moved to God's creation of day and night with the light of the sun and moon, and then followed with the stars and how all of God's creation works together for our good and reflects God's greatness. Last week we saw how light and shadows interplay, and that God never changes like the shifting shadows. Today we hear about walking in darkness vs walking in the light.

May all your dark places see the light!

Blessings,
Jan

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today's Devotional:

"TURN ON THE LIGHTS"

Jan Andersen

Have you ever stumbled around in the dark, in a hurry and thinking you knew the way, but suddenly you make significant bodily contact with a hard immovable object… with just your little toe? I did that once a long time ago with no shoes on, and caught the inside of my small toe on the corner edge of a protruding metal vent cover. I thought I was going to lose my whole toe, and at that very moment, lose my mind over the pain! It would have been wiser to take the time to turn on the lights. But I wanted to be polite and not disturb anyone else.

Sometimes life can be like stumbling around in the dark. We may think we are doing the right thing, or we know which way to go on our own. So instead of depending upon God to guide us we go off and do our own thing because it feels right at the time. We justify it in our minds with thoughts like "everyone else is doing this”, or “just this once I will give this a try”, even if we know it isn’t the best or the right choice. Or we may think, “this is better than that other choice,” or “it’s just a tiny bit off course, just a little bit wrong.” Other times it is a major deviation off our path, and maybe we feel we can never find our way back or be welcome back on the right road. It could also be as simple as making an ok choice but smugly thinking we are so smart. We actually show our ignorance by not trusting God for guidance, or not asking Him to bless our decision or journey. It’s all like stumbling around in the dark when all we had to do was turn on the lights!

Without light in a dark jungle we could easily stumble and fall, take a wrong turn and become lost, or fall into a pit and die. Without God to lead us through the jungle of life, we could easily stumble into sinful habits, follow the wrong people and become lost from the faith, or fall into deep depression or deadly sins and lose our life. When we get dangerously close to losing our way or even our life in darkness, how do we turn on the lights?

God has promised to be our light in the darkness to guide and protect us. We don’t even have to be the one to be able to reach the light switch - God’s light is already on, all the time! We just have to remain in His light, not try to turn it off or cover it, blow out the flame or break the bulb. God says even when we are completely dead in our trespasses, He is there to make us alive again in Christ and save us by his grace. When He picks us up in his loving arms, we just have to stop struggling and trying to break free from his grasp. God’s light will become evident to us as we study his Word. His light will be sustained in us as we gather together and fellowship with other Christians. His lamp will guide us to our heavenly home as we remain in faith. God says, “I’ll leave the light on for you!”

Ps 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.

Dear Father in heaven, your word guides us to you and your loving grace in your Son, Jesus Christ. Thank you for giving us your light to guide our steps, protect us in the dark, and light our way to heaven through faith. May your light shine through us as we glorify you in all that we say and do. Help us to trust you, seek your guidance, and request your blessings on our decisions and journeys. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Song:

THY WORD

Maranatha Singers