DARKNESS DELAYS

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

^1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

I took a fella, JM, to my REFUGE partner yesterday. He was one of 8 other men who were taking a step of faith and “turning the page” yesterday. The REFUGE was offering a chance for all of them to emerge from some very DARK places to the warmth and possibilities of the light for the first time in a long time.

I know that was true with my new friend, JM. Years of dark addiction, dark bars, dark corners of dope houses not to mention the dank and dark surroundings of life under a bridge. All JM had known in recent years was “dark”. His life was colored in hues of varying degrees of grey. It was cold. It offered little hope.

 

Yet yesterday, with the help of my friends in Grove City, we exposed

JM’s eyes to the wonders of light; the light of JESUS CHRIST!

 

John 8:12

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

 

And yes while JM was squinting a bit in its brightness and looked a little uncomfortable at times due to its intensity, he truly was ready to step out in faith in order to feel and experience CHRIST’S light.

 

Hebrews 11:1

Faith is the assurance of things you have hoped for, the absolute conviction that there are realities you’ve never seen.

 

JM had faith that:

The light offered hope!

The light offered possibilities!

The light offered a new future!

The light offered grace, truth, transparency, and direction!

 

And when I pulled away from Grove City a little after 4:30pm yesterday, the dark was on its way to being a distant memory for JM!

 

And while JM’s time in the dark may have been longer or most certainly bleaker, we ALL have spent time in the “dark”.

 

Come on be honest.

 

Sometimes the dark is more comfortable because there are areas in our lives that we aren't ready to have the light deal with yet. To expose those to the light right now seems too scary, possibly too painful.

 

Oh we may be ready to pray for God's light to shine on the “biggies”,like addiction but hesitant to let it shine or worse yet expose those areas that we'd rather keep covered in darkness. Those things like lustful tendencies, bitter feelings or gossip-laden conversations.

 

In fact, I will let a little light in this morning. Those are some of my struggles and I would rather keep them “in the dark” some days.

 

But Jesus warned me and you about that behavior. He called us all out on it in fact!

 

John 3:19-21

God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is.

 

Truth is, even at the risk of being a bit bright and uncomfortable, CHRIST’S light is needed when we're trying to walk without stumbling. When we were hiding shameful issues and holding on to our sin the darkness seemed like our friend. IT ISN’T. All darkness does is delay deliverance!

 

In order to walk in the steps of recovery and CHRIST, we need the light to keep us from stumbling. We need to embrace it regardless how bright or how exposing it may be!

 

So today, be like my friend JM. Don’t fear the light any longer.

 

The LORD wants to safely guide us like HIM on the right path to a life filled with LIGHT and LIFE!

 

Let HIM shine it on you!

 

Psalm 27:1

The Lord is my light and my salvation;…

I love you all!

Freedom Church

Pastor GDelaney