Tag Archives: spirituality

“For a changing time, I need a changing people”

Posted on by
4

“For a changing time, I need a changing people.”

This was a message I received while worshiping the Lord recently.

Change in Hebrew means to overturn; turnaround; turn back and overthrow.

In Greek, it means to repent and to change the inner man.

That same day on my way to work, I saw an ad on a truck that struck my attention. It read: Imagine what the right light in the right place can do.

Sun burst in New York City. Photo: J. Santiago

Sun burst in New York City. Photo: J. Santiago

LUKE 11:34-36

“Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.”

As Christians, we are light carriers and should walk as light givers to enlighten others spiritually and imbue them with saving knowledge. But, if we ourselves are not lit with the light of Christ then what good are we to others?

How do we become a ‘changing people for a changing time?’ What do we have to overturn or overthrow within ourselves to operate with the light of Christ that dwells within us?

Know your ways and motives; but also review daily your sense of heart perspective and how you see things, how you see people, and how you see or judge situations. Because what you see affects your mind, heart, will, thoughts and actions.

Perspective is a powerful thing – it can be constructive or destructive.  It can influence what we know as truth, or it can distort what we perceive as truth. Our misperceptions are often the cause of schisms in the body.

In the natural: Our vision begins when light rays are reflected off an object and enters the eyes through the cornea, the transparent outer covering of the eye. The cornea bends or deflects the rays that pass through the pupil. The iris, or colored portion of the eye that surrounds the pupil, opens and closes making the pupil bigger or smaller to regulate the amount of light passing through the eyes..

In the spiritual and like manner, our viewpoints of one another or situations we perceive with our natural eye, provide or feed that information into our soul and belief structures causing us to regulate the amount of truth we take in (which can be the light of truth) or we can take in misconceptions of truth (which is false light and where strongholds are built).

Now, If we act out on a misconception seeing through the eyes of flesh versus’ God’s eyes, we overstep our boundaries and can hurt the body. Why? Because you went on with your thoughts, your flesh and did not wait to first hand it over to God for his input before addressing the situation to see what He says about the matter.

And, thus we become what we behold. For example, if you believe or judge someone in a negative way then negativity has entered your light. We take in and become what we see to be true (even if sometimes it’s not). For years, you can be a Christian and be full of low self-esteem and believe that reality. But, that’s is not who we are called to be.

Therefore, when your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light.

Do not allow the eyes of flesh to distort God’s truth about a matter or God’s work in matter. Who are we to judge?

Mathew 5:16: Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Advertisement

Unseen Faith

Posted on by
3

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”
— Hebrews 11:1

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

From one of his sermons on faith, John Wesley stated: “But what is faith? It is a divine “evidence and conviction of things not seen;” of things which are not seen now, whether they are visible or invisible in their own nature. Particularly, it is a divine evidence and conviction of God, and of the things of God.”

By far, this is the most comprehensible description of faith I have read to date. But, when you are facing a trial, a sickness, a financial or personal loss, what comfort does this description bring?

We live in a “got to have it now” world; a world of quick fixes, fast solutions and real, tangible answers. However, faith fits in none of these worldly categories. It’s slow, it’s very patient, and it’s never rushed. It will never respond to our fears or selfish desires.

Our desire for a quick resolution to our problem or a quick end to our sickness is often driven by fear of the unknown, our fate and our flesh requiring the comfort it so desperately longs for; all normal responses and quite understandable, especially when you are not physically well.

So, how do we believe for our healing if it’s not visible?

1 Corinthians 13:12 states, “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

We can look in the mirror and see the physical manifestation of a sickness or see the pain and trauma we experienced as a child – and that can bring you down to its level. But, you can also choose to see the divine creature that God created, although not perfected, uniquely formed and made in His image. We can declare our healing as we journey to wellness.

In one biblical account, a woman with an issue of blood (Mark 5:25-34), came into real faith after having spent all she had on many physicians to heal her condition. But, her condition actually grew worse. Arriving at the end of her rope was this woman’s journey to Jesus and where her faith was formed. I know. I’ve been there.

You do all you can in the natural to obtain relief for your condition, but doctor after doctor, medication after medication, herbal supplements, and more, sometimes brings you back to square one with no where else to turn.

Perhaps, it was divinely purposed for this woman to have spent all she had, because God had to be glorified in her midst. God, had to show her something higher above her circumstances.

Faith is seeing, believing and having the confidence in what we hope for, not when something becomes visible. It is what God says about you and not what society, your own thoughts or even sickness may dictate. Faith, always unseen, must be a journey beyond our physical senses. Believe in what has not manifested yet and let faith arise through your journey to healing. It’s not the end result as much as it is the road you journey in getting there. It’s a matter of unseen faith.