“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matt. 5:17 “Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. he who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Matt. 13:43(NKJV)
“Do all things without complaining and disputing that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights in the world.” Phil. 2:14-15(NKJV)
“They shall be mine, says the Lord of Hosts, on the day that I make them my jewels and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.” Mal. 3:17(NKJV)
The Scriptures make it plain that we are the light of the world because we belong to Jesus and He is the ultimate light of the world. All that we do is supposed to glorify God. People are to watch us and then glorify God for what they see. How do we “shine” when we are only human? Our light is the reflected light of Jesus in us. We shine only as bright as we reflect Him in our lives.
God calls us His jewels and that puts us in a special place with Him. Let’s consider a diamond for our example. A diamond is a piece of coal put under pressure and heat for a long time. When the work is done the coal becomes a diamond and shines brightly when it reflects sunlight. We were a piece of carbon (coal) but the power and fire of God changed us into a jewel when we accepted Christ. We can then reflect “Son-light”.
All diamonds are made up of the same thing but not all diamonds shine the same. The better the inside of the diamond the more it reflects the light. Put a diamond in the mud and it remains a diamond. But it will not reflect light when it is covered in mud. Just because it is in the mud doesn’t turn it back into a piece of coal. It is still a diamond and if you clean it up it will still shine. It is the nature of a diamond to shine. No matter how much light you shine on a black piece of coal it will never reflect it. But, as a diamond, it will.
We have been changed from darkness to light, from death to life, from lost to saved. All of this because God took a piece of carbon, applied His power, and made it a diamond. That is a “new creation”. Now, shine like you were made to shine! Remember, you are still a diamond even if you are covered with mud.
* EL-SHADDAI
Gen. 17:1-3 “And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God (El-”Shaddai)i; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face; and God talked with him . . .”
The name “God Almighty.” or El Shaddai in the Hebrew emphasizes God’s ability to handle any situation that confronts His people. “El” is the singular form of Elohim, and “Shaddai” is literally “sufficient” or “self-sufficient”.
God wanted Abram to know He is in control of every situation. Satan tries to destroy us from within. He can give us physical trouble, and he can give us much opposition in the work we try to do for the Lord. But the frontline for the battleground is your mind. Satan knows that if he can defeat your thoughts, he’ll defeat your faith. He wants to make you skeptical of God’s promises. So he seizes on every setback and problem as an accusation to bring to your mind.
But God told Abram, “I am the Almighty God. . .” In other words, he said, “Abram, you see a lot of obstacles ahead, You see only the problems. But I’m bigger than any of your problems, and I’ll fulfill my promises to you despite all the problems, if you’ll turn them over to me.”
God is able to take care of whatever trouble I’m facing! He may not show me how He’s going to do it; He doesn’t have to show me. He only reminds me that He is the Almighty God, more powerful than any problem in my life. God, the Almighty, El-Shaddai, is far greater than any political theory or economic system or social utopia. God blesses those who are faithful to Him, even when His blessings contradict human logic.
*…Lester Sumrall THE NAMES OF GOD
Kenneth Hagin peached an awesome message on this and included the phase–”El shaddai, the God who is more than enough. Which includes the idea, if God doesn’t have it, HE’LL MAKE IT FOR YOU!”
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” II Cor. 5:21(NKJV)
“I am covered over with the robe of righteousness that Jesus gave to me. He gave to me. I am covered over with the precious blood of Jesus that He shed for me. Shed for me. Oh, what joy it is to know my heavenly Father loves me so and gave to me–my Jesus. And when He looks at me, He sees not what I used to be, but He sees Jesus.” These are words to a song we sang here for years. It is based on scripture references from Isaiah and other places. By singing this we were confessing that our sins have been taken by Jesus, and we have received His sinless righteousness. We sang it, but do we believe it?
Am I righteous? If so, why and how? Am I unrighteous? If so, why and how? I am righteous either by my works or Jesus’ shed blood. You can never work your way into being righteous, and you cannot make yourself unrighteous by your works. If you have accepted “The Great Exchange,” you are righteous (in right standing with God). If you haven’t, then you are unrighteous no matter what else you may have done.
The Bible says it is not possible to cleanse from sin without the shedding of blood. (Heb. 9:22) But it also says, “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. Heb. 10:4(NKJV) Only by the removal of sin can one be declared righteous. Truth is that the blood of animals only covered the sin temporarily and had to be repeated every year. The blood of Jesus removes the sin completely and makes one clean (righteous). “So Christ was offered ONCE to bear the sins of many.” Heb. 9:28(NKJV) He finished the sin offering by shedding His own blood for the sins of mankind.
It was the will of God that man be made righteous by the work of Jesus. “By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Heb. 10:10(NKJV) Furthermore, it says, “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified (set apart).” Heb. 10:12-14(NKJV) We are righteous because of what Jesus did. We believe ourselves righteous (Rom. 10:10). You can’t make your self righteous, but you can believe you are righteous. Quit trying to do something that has already been done and start believing you are righteous.
I believe that God has given us all a song. It is put in our hearts, that place that only God can touch.
We all know that life is tough and the road can be rough at times. It is the enemy of our souls that wants to take from us that song that God has given us.
The Bible tells us in Nehemiah 8:10: “Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Why is joy important? Because the “Joy of the Lord is your strength!” Did you know that joy produces strength, and strength is what is needed to fight this good fight of faith that we are called to.
In Psalms 63 we read that David was in the wilderness of Judah because his son Absalom turned the heart of the people against him.
But he did not lose his song. He wrote in Psalms 63:3-4 “Because, Your loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You. So will I bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.” David knew the importance of keeping his song even in the wilderness.
What has caused you to lose your song, your praise? Whatever situation we find ourselves in keep singing.
I will bless the Lord at all times and His praise shall continually be in mouth!
I believe that God has given us all a song. It is put in our hearts, that place that only God can touch.
We all know that life is tough and the road can be rough at times. It is the enemy of our souls that wants to take from us that song that God has given us.
The Bible tells us in Nehemiah 8:10: “Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Why is joy important? Because the “Joy of the Lord is your strength!” Did you know that joy produces strength, and strength is what is needed to fight this good fight of faith that we are called to.
In Psalms 63 we read that David was in the wilderness of Judah because his son Absalom turned the heart of the people against him.
But he did not lose his song. He wrote in Psalms 63:3-4 “Because, Your loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You. So will I bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.” David knew the importance of keeping his song even in the wilderness.
What has caused you to lose your song, your praise? Whatever situation we find ourselves in keep singing.
I will bless the Lord at all times and His praise shall continually be in mouth!
“And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, ‘Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.’ Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, ‘I am willing; be cleansed.’ Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.” Matt. 8:2-3(NKJV)
When you look at the scope of the four Gospels you must be awe struck by the mighty miracles and signs that Jesus performed during His ministry. From deliverance from demons to raising the dead He showed the scope of His power and compassion. These “signs and wonders” were not just to prove He was Messiah but to fulfill the promise for New Covenant believers. Jesus began an era of grace that was to extend until His return to earth as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
The Scriptures say that God is not a respecter of persons. He is willing to do for everyone what He will do for anyone. Jesus ushered in a new creation meant for all who believe. What can we believe? Are we limited to only what we can understand? I am quite sure that Mary and Martha did not understand all about their brother being raised from the dead. Man’s opinion and God’s opinion are not always the same. Man says, “It just can’t happen.” God says, “All things are possible to him who believes.
Our part of our relationship with God is to believe what He has promised. We can only believe that God has provided all we need. We cannot bring it into being by faith but we can transfer it from the unseen realm into the realm of sight. Faith is the key to receiving from God. It grasps the things not seen and makes them visible.
The greater our faith the more we see things come to pass. Your faith is not weak but needs to be gathered as a storehouse of power in time of need. “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Rom. 10:17(NKJV) The more you read and know the Word of God the greater your ability to believe that “all things are possible.”
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