The World is in darkness
First, let’s talk about this world that we live in. When we stop and reflect on what we see and hear each day, on the surface we think it’s not that bad. We get up each day and go through a process of preparing for work, going to work, working, coming home from work, relaxing, eating and going to bed. Once the routine is established, a lot of people don’t recognize anything outside of this circle of life that they call theirs. As long as their circle isn’t jeopardized they don’t concern themselves with what anyone else is suffering through. It doesn’t matter who the person is that disturbs this circle or why, because when they do disturb it, they are cut off…expendable…less than desirable…erasable. America is seeing this many times over.
Our seniors, grandmas and grandpas, are being left to be cared for by strangers paid to do so. Adult children are running away from the responsibility of their parents care because, well, it simply doesn’t fit in the circle. As a matter of fact, it really disturbs the circle and because we are so much in the world, we are fragile. Fear and apprehension lurk around every corner and threaten to drive them deeper into their circle, drawing it ever tighter around them until they become so brittle that no one can penetrate their circle without a complete melt down. Fear, torment, and terror seem to pour out of their body like sweat on a 110 degree day. They can no longer control it or bare it and medication arrives to save the day only it can’t. It can numb and distract but it can’t save, everything is still there except them.
And our children are being assaulted every day and most are too busy working and trying to provide to see it. When they do see it, they feel powerless against it. The evil in this world is quick to murder our babies, whether in the womb or out of it. Their body parts are nothing more than a greedy means to their god, $. But that is not enough and now our children’s biological identity is being stolen from them and they are being subjected to the perversity that is the devil’s LGBTQ agenda. These are God’s children and parents are their stewards and they are the target of the devil and his evil ways and parents need to protect His children according to His Word, not the world’s wicked ways and twisted and perverted ideology.
What is this darkness?
It’s evil. It’s wicked. It’s perverted and twisted. And those who give themselves over to it spread it to every corner of the world like a plague. Darkness is a plague that desires to infect anything and everything that it can. It has a name, it is Satan.
Many refuse to admit that he exists. And of those that do believe he exists, many don’t believe that he is the god of this world. And some have been fooled into believing that it’s cool to follow him, to do his works. They don’t see the physical and soulish damage they are inflicting on themselves. And they don’t see how they are grieving the very God that created them.
You see Satan was once Lucifer. Lucifer was a beautiful angel of the Lord. He was over worship and tithes and God was pleased by him. He discovered greed and envy inside himself, the Bible calls it iniquity, and he decided that he wanted to be greater that God himself. That greed and envy, that iniquity corrupted him and it corrupted a third of the angels and war was waged. He lost and he and the angels who sided with him were cast out of Heaven into the earth and the heavenlies.
Adam and Eve were God’s first man and woman, created in His image and He loved them and would come down and walk with Adam in the garden. God gave Adam the earth and all that was in it, blessed him and commanded him to multiply, and to subdue and replenish the earth. Eventually Satan, also know as the devil, deceived Eve and then used her against Adam, who, instead of choosing to obey God, chose to eat of the forbidden fruit. In doing so, he lost all this world to the devil. That is how the devil became the god of this world. And with him came the very darkness, the very iniquity that cost him his place in God’s Kingdom.
Many of you will hear this and say “oh, look story time.” As Jesus said, “He that has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Isaiah 14:12 MEV
How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weaken the nations!
Luke 10:18 MEV
He said to them, “I saw Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
Revelation 12:12 MEV
Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe unto the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short.”
Genesis 2:17 MEV
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
God’s great Grace.
In Genesis we see that God created the earth and everything in it. On the sixth day He looked at His creation and said, “it is good.” At this point there was no evil in the earth, no corruption. Everything agreed with everything else. Adam walked with God, creating an intimate fellowship and learning from Him about the good.
When Adam ate of the fruit, he died spiritually. Light left him and darkness came between he and God. How it must have hurt the Lord’s heart. A lot of things changed that day and God had to seek out men and women through the ages that would walk with Him. Eventually Jesus was born, grew strong in His Father’s business and at around thirty years old, began His ministry. Jesus is the Light and everywhere He went darkness would freak out but it couldn’t remain, it had to leave. Darkness cannot tolerate or overcome the Light. Three and a half years Jesus walked the earth ministering to all that the lost may be found. He would teach and preach and then He would heal. As man in the flesh, He set an example for those who would follow Him.
In a three day period He took every beating, every ridicule, every harassment that was each of ours. On the tree (the cross) He took on Himself every sin that was each of ours and the very spiritual death that separated us from God the Father. This is why He prayed so hard in the garden of Gethsemane that blood came out of His pores like sweat. He had been with God since the beginning, along with the Holy Spirit. He had never know separation. Even in the flesh, He had the Holy Spirit to connect Him to the Father. But at this time sin and death came between He and God and for the first time ever, He was separated and alone. This is why He asked the Father why He had forsaken Him. He did this so that we would never have to be alone ourselves. From here, He went to the deepest part of hell and whooped Satan, parading him about like the fool that he is. He claimed victory over the devil, but He didn’t keep it for just Him. No, instead He sealed the Father’s New and Better Covenant with man with His own blood, making us joint-heirs with Him in all things, including His victory over Satan.
Genesis 1:31 MEV
God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Matthew 2:1 MEV
Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, wise men came from the east to Jerusalem,
Luke 2:49 MEV
He said to them, “How is it that you searched for Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”
John 1:5 MEV
The light shines in darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it.
Mathew chapters 26, 27 and 28 covers the death, burial, and resurrection.
John 19:30 MEV
When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished.” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.
It is Finished
On the cross Jesus said it is finished. You might ask, “what is finished?” All of it, every last thing under the curse is finished. His love, His blood washes over all of us who believe that He is the Christ, the risen Savior and it is ready for those who have not received Him yet. He did it once, for all. We just need to receive it.
How?
First you need to know that is exists, that it is true, and that it is yours, this is the knowledge part.
Second you need to meet the conditions necessary to receive it, this is the action part.
As you invest time in the Bible, the Word of God, you will begin to learn about the Father’s heart for you and the promises that He has waiting for you. Remember that God is good, there is no evil in Him, therefore His gifts to you are also good and no evil is in them. The devil is an imitator but he cannot help but to have evil attached to all that he does, it is who he is.
To answer the question, “why should I?”, it is because you don’t have to live in fear and torment. You have a choice and you have free will, but you can’t escape the personal responsibility to choose between Blessing and cursing, Life and death. Don’t live your life by default in this world of darkness. Instead, live your life intentionally by choosing Blessing and Life, by becoming a child of God the Father through Jesus Christ and receiving the Holy Spirit who indwells you. Let’s read through the following verses, and if you haven’t received Jesus as your Lord and Savior yet, then now is the best time:
Romans 10:8-17 MEV
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.” This is the word of faith that we preach: 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved, 10 for with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be ashamed.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is generous toward all who call upon Him. 13 For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” 14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring good news of good things!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” 17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
It’s important to get planted in a good Bible teaching assembly or church. I encourage you not to wait for someone to guide you and teach you but, instead, seek them out and be intentional about your growth in the Lord and His Word. This is how you come to know His promises and how to receive them. Here are three things that Jesus got for us that I want you to know right now:
- The Spirit of Life or Divine Life
- Healing and Health
- Rich
Romans 8:2 MEV
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death.
1 Peter 2:24 MEV
He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness. “By His wounds you were healed.”
2 Corinthians 8:9 MEV
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that through His poverty you might be rich.
This is just the beginning and it is an exciting adventure for those who believe.