Arise Shine

Many people in the world today are looking for celebrity or star status but the light that they seek is self-seeking and so far removed from the true light of God, the Bright and Morning Star.

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Arise shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.  For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness shall cover the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you and nations shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising.  Isaiah 60:1-3

After becoming a Christian, almost shy of 15 years old, I was asked by my Pastor at the time to speak at the Sunday morning communion service.  I thought this was rather strange, as I was only young in the faith and only knew a few bible stories.  I was just learning to read the Bible from the beginning.  I hadn’t been to Bible college and had no training on how to put a message together or speak in front of people.  To say how inadequate and nervous I felt at the time would have been an understatement.

However, undeterred by my fear, I prayed to the Lord and asked him to give me the right message to share with the church and the Lord didn’t disappoint.  I opened my Bible and it fell on Isaiah Chapter 60  ‘Arise, Shine, for thy Light is come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon thee’.   Suddenly, although my faith was very new, I was excited and humbled, as this particular verse jumped out at me.  Without any doubt, I personally knew that the Lord had shone his light into my broken and sad life and that He had brought me to a place of repentance, salvation and hope.  The Light of the World now lived in me and I could be a light in the darkest of places and so could everyone who was at that communion service, or even reading this blog today.   

Many people in the world today are looking for celebrity or star status but the light that they seek is self-seeking and so far removed from the true light of God, the Bright and Morning Star.

Matthew Chap 5:14, says ‘You are the Light of the World, a city on a hill that cannot be hid’.  You might be very young or old in the faith (or somewhere in between) but the Lord wants to shine His light through you today to help others to come to know His love and mercy or to just speak a kind word of encouragement.

It has been a few years since I gave that first little sermon, but I’ve since had many opportunities to allow God’s light to shine into lots of dark situations that have arisen in my personal life, my family, my neighbourhood and places of work.

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One instance of this was helping an old lady who was hesitant in crossing a very busy road.   When I saw her fear, I spoke softly to her and asked if I could help her get to the other side.  As we continued to walk together towards the shopping area about ½ mile away, she opened up to me that she was a Christian and that her son was a Pastor in another area, however, she had been ridiculed for her faith in the sheltered accommodation where she was living.  Vandals had recently smashed her windows which were now boarded up.  This had left her feeling vulnerable and afraid to leave her property.  That day was the first time she’d ventured out of her flat.   I was able to listen, give some kind words of encouragement and then pray for her.  We parted with my giving her some money to buy a box of tea bags and to treat herself to a special cake from the nearby cake shop.  I never saw that lady again, but knew that the light of Christ had shone through me into her dark situation. 

Other instances have been where I’ve had to pray about the right decisions being made in Government, in my locality, places of work, and dealing with all sorts of situations as they have arisen on a daily basis.

You might be going through a dark time right now in your own life or have been through a bad situation or even affected by all the issues associated with all the Covid lockdowns and restrictions, but be assured that the Lord is shaping you and that His light will break through the darkness.  He will then use your experience to help others in a similar situation to bring hope, comfort and light.

Be encouraged to make a difference in the place where you are based and let the Light of Christ shine through you wherever you go.

Author: Barbara Wilson

May God bless and enrich your life

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