Friday, January 29, 2010

I AM the Light of the World


I was meditating on the things of God the other day and I felt him say to my heart, “I am the Light of the world.” I thought, Wait aren’t we the light of the world? Again I heard, “I am the Light of the world.” Because this was different from the scripture in the New Testament (Mt. 5:14), I was set back some. You always need to check what you’re hearing to what God has already said.
So because I realized that the Lord was not simply stating scripture and wanted me to understand something else, I started to meditate and ask God what He meant by the phrase “I am the Light of the world” and what He wanted me to get out of it.

The first thing that came to mind when thinking about the phrase was that when Moses asked God His name, He said, “I Am who I Am” (Ex. 3:14). He is the eternal, self-existent One. Lord, you are the great I Am, the Lord over all creation. Help me to give my life to you today as a living sacrifice and as an act of worship. Too many times I seem to get absorbed into the busyness of my day and forget who God really is and how He wants to express His eternal love in the everyday things of my life. Yes, Lord, You are the great I Am. Now help me to understand what You mean by light of the world.

I started thinking how the very first thing God created was light (“Let there be light” Genesis 13). The Lord brought me to the idea of how the presence and absence of light affects us - the necessity of light for life. I thought about it for a few days – a few very gray days – and realized that on the days when the sun was not shining, it was harder for me to get going and harder to stay motivated. I am definitely one of those people who gets affected by lack of light. I love the sun. I feel better when it’s shining. I feel more motivated, even healthier. I know, I know – skin cancer and all, but even the medical community is now saying that we should expose ourselves fifteen minutes a day to the sun without sunscreen so our bodies can absorb vitamin D.

Consider this article that discusses the connection between the lack of light and depression:

The association between darkness and depression is well established. Now a March 25 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals for the first time the profound changes that light deprivation causes in the brain.

Neuroscientists at the University of Pennsylvania kept rats in the dark for six weeks. The animals not only exhibited depressive behavior but also suffered damage in brain regions known to be underactive in humans during depression. The researchers observed neurons that produce norepi-nephrine, dopamine and serotonin—common neurotransmitters involved in emotion, pleasure and cognition—in the process of dying. This neuronal death, which was accompanied in some areas by compromised synaptic connections, may be the mechanism underlying the darkness-related blues of seasonal affective disorder.

Principal investigator Gary Aston-Jones, now at the Medical University of South Carolina, speculates that the dark-induced effects stem from a disruption of the body’s clock. “When the circadian system is not receiving normal light, that in turn might lead to changes in brain systems that regulate mood,” he says.*

OK, Lord, I get it now, what you wanted me to know. That you are the great I Am and without the sustaining power of your light, the essence of your greatness and power, I will be negatively affected – the world will be negatively affected. Light is necessary for health – in the natural and in the spiritual.

Thank you Lord for your desire to speak to my heart, my soul and my mind.

*http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=down-in-the-dark
(Editor's Note: This story was originally printed with the title "Down in the Dark")

Saturday, January 2, 2010

The Letters of Love



I wrote this for my nephew's wedding, but wanted to share it with all of you.

The Letters of Love

A – aware: be aware of each other’s needs, desires, hopes, and dreams.
B – bear: bear one another’s burdens; carry and lift up the very heart of your love.
C – communicate: like the moving water of a stream, let your thoughts and words flow like a current, keeping the waters of your love deep and healthy.
D – devotion: your devotion to God will fuel and direct your devotion to each other.
E – encourage: urge each other on; strengthen and inspire each other toward holy greatness.
F – fellowship: embrace your partnership and the intimate familiarity God can bless you with.
G – growth: cultivate your love and discover how deep, how high, how wide and how long true love really is.
H – heart: be bold in the sharing of your hearts. It is the seat of your inmost thoughts and secret feelings and the center of your inner life.
I – intercession: be an advocate for each other. Bring each other before your heavenly Father daily. Stand for, fight for, and live for the one whom God has given you.
J – joy: let the strength of your holy joy be the strength of your relational joy.
K – know: appreciate, comprehend, discern, experience, grasp, perceive, prize, and realize. Deliberately grow in your understanding and knowledge of each other.
L – listen: pay attention to not only what the mouth is saying, but what the eyes and the body are saying as well. Listening is active and intentional. Hearing is what your ears are programmed to do. Do not confuse the two.
M – maturity: experience and time when combined with wisdom can cultivate a mature spirit between you that will make your life a living well where others will be refreshed.
N – nourish: appreciate, discern, grasp, perceive, prize and feed each other’s unique individuality.
O – obey: submit and surrender to love. Obey the Spirit, embrace His Word, and yield to the call to go deeper.
P – praise: praise and celebrate each other as you praise and celebrate the One who has given you life.
Q – quiet: find the calm in the midst of the storm. Take time to be still. It is in stillness that we can know that He is God.
R – rest: breathe and dream in quiet; be refreshed in the tranquil rest that comes from being joined to each other and to God.
S – safety: be a safe haven for each other. Create an atmosphere of security in your home, drawing on your knowledge and experience of the One who delivers all who call on Him.
T – time: find the tempo of your relationship. The God of timelessness is there to bring the unlimited possibilities of eternity into this day, this hour, and this minute of your lives.
U – understand: grasp the meaning of it all as you open your minds to this new journey. Because we are called to observe and seek the deeper meanings to life, seek understanding with all your heart.
V – victory: be open, wide and free in your desires. Go into battle for each other. Celebrate each other’s successes.
W – worship: treat each other with great honor and respect. Consider how extremely precious your life is. Hold each other in esteem. The depth of your worship and devotion to God will be reflected in your devotion to your partner.
X – x-ray: look beneath the surface of things. Just as an x-ray gives off radioactivity, Godly discernment can bring light, heat, and electricity to a relationship.
Y – yearning: ache, crave, hunger, pine, and thirst for each other. Let the passions of your heart drive you into each other’s arms.
Z – zeal: with fierceness and intensity, stoke the fire of your passion with perseverance; and sincerity. Let no one steal away or quench your devotion to God and to each other.