Walking in the Light
To follow up on my reflection from yesterday on being humble so that the Lord will lift you up, I would like to share the importance of the truth of “walking in the light”, meaning living according to God’s word. Here is the appropriate passage, 1 John 1:5-7 (NIV):
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
As believers, we can walk in the light and we can also walk in the darkness. Walking in the darkness brings hardship and oppression into our lives. In his book The Three Battlegrounds, Francis Frangipane writes that Satan was relegated to darkness after his rebellion against the Lord. Darkness is where he lives. When we allow darkness in our lives we open ourselves to being oppressed or misled by the enemy. Thus living in the light is much to be desired and brings life!
What are some examples of walking in darkness? Allowing anger, offense and bitterness, unforgiveness, worry, fear, unbelief, and sexual sin in our lives are all areas that can cause us to stumble and give the devil an opportunity to harm us. Sin is deceptive. It can seem and feel good to justify our anger or unforgiveness towards someone who has wronged us. But it leads to our own hurt, pain and oppression. If we want to live in freedom, peace and the joy of the Lord then we must address any darkness in our lives. Through prayer, tell the Father exactly the darkness that you see in yourself and ask him to forgive you and free you. He will cleanse you. This brings life!
Again, this shows us the importance of humility and being honest about what is in our hearts and daily living.
John points out that the Lord wants us to walk in truth. Jesus is the truth. God’s word is truth. Our focus on obeying Jesus and Scripture is not about being religious or self righteous, rather it is about walking with the Lord and living in life and freedom. Praise God that He has brought us into His light and cleanses us from all sin. As we see darkness within us and confess it to the Lord, He continues the cleansing and healing process. This then enables us to have fellowship with one another, one of our goals for the new year.
Therefore as we pray again today and this week, let us pursue walking in the light as He is in the light. This is the Father’s will for you, and you will be glad that you are increasingly “in the light”.
Pressing on with you,
Dave