DARKNESS, SPIRITUAL
Ever have a Dark Night? Ever have a dark week, month, year or years?
Can you describe this dark night? Is it like God has forsaken you? Is-it like you lost the “fire” you once had? Is it like you cannot see Him working in your life anymore? Is it like He has withdrawn His Spirit from you? Abandoned you? Were you or are you confused by this?
What happened to the God of your First Love? Have you seen loved ones you prayed for pass away? Have you seen family and friends abandon you in your time of need? Has that perfect job that you believed was from God fallen through? And how about that perfect Christian marriage that fell apart that you knew was ordained by God?
Have you felt that God is punishing you for some sin of yours or your ancestors?
Do you or have you believed that there must by something you can do to bring back or to renew that Spirit within you?
You need the right Bible Study, you need the right Church, you need to tithe more, you need to stop some sin, you need, you need, you need, you need..... Get the picture? It is all about us! Not about HIM!
Yes we can worship Him when things are going great, yes we can try to help another when we are feeling spiritual, yes WE can, yes WE can, yes WE can,..... Get the picture?
Fighting the WILL of God in good or bad times just prolongs our maturity as Christians and prevents God from transforming us into His Image in His TIME and in His WAY.
These are the times that God tests our Love and Trust for Him. If you do not want to go through trials and tests then Christianity is not for you. Taking up His Cross daily means just that, not making God into our image and what we want Him to be but accepting Him as He is, a loving caring Father who will never leave us and never stop loving us, in fact, the dark nights are all part of His love because it is during these times that He is perfecting Himself in us.
Think any of this is biblical? You bet. Just take a look at all of the great leaders in the Bible (including Jesus Himself), who experienced the feeling of either being tested by God, put through trials, or totally abandoned, only for God to show in the end that He was true to His promises. As we see in the stories of Abraham, Joseph, David, Elijah, Moses, and Job. These had a love for God that enabled them not to wither in their faith and eventually found favor with God for it.
Many, many believers have fallen away because they could not deal with
A God who would not always give them ice cream with a cherry on top!
We should be followers of Jesus like Jesus heals. Jesus heals totally, He does no half measures.
When you are healed by Jesus that is it, finished, you are no longer beleaguered with whatever your problem was.
So we must not just do what He asks us to do, but we must also accept all that He allows in our lives.
God will not fellowship with sin. He forgives sin, but will not fellowship with it. Once you come to Jesus He will use all the events in your life to rid you of sin and self, so that He can replace us with Himself.
God’s Word enlightens us (Psalm 119:105)Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path.
The way of wicked people is darkness (Proverbs 4:19) But the way of the wicked is like complete darkness. Those who follow it have no idea what they are stumbling over.
Jesus brings light to darkened lives (John 1:5) The light shines through the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.
Living without God is living in spiritual darkness (Acts 26:17-18)’ And I will protect you from both your own people and the Gentiles. Yes, I am going to send you to the Gentiles, to open their eyes so they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God's people, who are set apart by faith in me.'
Christians do not live in spiritual darkness (Ephesians 5:8) For though your hearts were once full of darkness, now you are full of light from the Lord, and your behavior should show it!
God rescued us from eternal darkness (Colossians 1:13) For he has rescued us from the one who rules in the kingdom of darkness, and he has brought us into the Kingdom of his dear Son.
There is no darkness in Jesus (1 John 1:5) Living in the Light. This is the message he has given us to announce to you: God is light and there is no darkness in him at all.