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Tag: revelation

Be Radiant

Have you ever read or heard a verse that leaves you puzzling for days? Whether you’re a new Christian or have been a believer for a while, God’s Word always has something new to offer. There are so many levels to the letter that He’s written us in the Bible that there’s no way that we could know and understand everything about our heavenly Father. It’s  a constant learning process.

A couple weeks ago, I encountered this verse in two completely different setting. The first one was an online speaker I was listening to (Katie Souza) and she was talking about how God is light and how we’re able to speak light because His Holy Spirit dwells within us. The second instance was after a powerful prayer time at church, where a majority of my church family (including me) received prayer for freedom in Christ.

The verse was Isaiah 60:1 (AMP), and it reads like this:

“Arise [from the depression and prostration
in which circumstances have kept you – rise to a new life]!
Shine (be radiant with the glory of the Lord),
for your light has come,

and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you!”

At first, I didn’t take much notice of it. I acknowledged it as a good verse to think about and probably posted it as my Facebook status for that day. Then I heard it repeated by my pastor on Sunday and he expounded on the fact that we’re not called to just sit back during this thing called life. We’re called to freedom in Christ and the power that comes with that is too great for us to not act upon.

That caught my attention.

So, throughout the last two weeks, I’ve been puzzling over what this verse could mean for my own individual walk with Christ. I came to the obvious conclusions – yes, the old me is dead and I am made completely new, the glory of the Lord is mine and I am the light of the world. But I knew there had to be more to it than that.

I kept pondering… and then it hit me.

The only way I can truly shine for Christ and become that light is to hunger after His word! If I’m continuously thinking about His Word, meditating on what it could mean for my life and diving into the Word for more, I won’t be able to contain the fire that will ignite in me. God doesn’t want lukewarm Christians; He wants us to be on fire for Him, to be a light that attracts the lost, to reveal the truth that is within us…

to “be radiant with the glory of the Lord”!

Don’t settle for less. Make an effort to spend time in the Word every day. Ask for a spiritual hunger and revelation if you find yourself struggling. God wants nothing more than to reveal Himself to you and when you ask, He will most certainly follow through. 🙂

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Realizing Our Identity in Christ

“Love has been perfected among us in this:
that we may have boldness in the day of judgement;
because as He is, so are we in this world.”
(1 John 4:17)

Read that last line one more time – “…because as He is, so are we in this world.”

Now take a moment to really think about it. If you still don’t fully comprehend it, that’s just fine. It took me over a year to figure out what that part of the verse meant in my life and, to tell you the truth, I’m still getting revelations about it.

It all comes down to your identity. Do you really understand who you are in Christ? What being a son and daughter of the Most High God means for your life? Dan Mohler, a pastor known for his enthusiasm and unashamed passion for Christ, has a series on YouTube called “School of Kingdom Living.” It details who we are in Christ and how a realization of that identity can completely change our lives.

One of his points is that Christians tend to base their potential in Christ off of what they feel. If they don’t feel super spiritual one day or if they’ve stumbled in some way the next, then it’s as if they’ve fallen to the bottom of the slippery slope and have to crawl their way back up to the top. That’s not the way it is at all, according to Mohler:

“He did not die to expose that you’re sinners.
He died to remove sins and to expose that you’re sons!”
(Dan Mohler)

It’s not like we have to earn a certain number of points in order to perform miracles in the Spirit or to hear from God. He sees you as a completely new creation and is ready to reveal Himself to you in this moment.   All you have to do is confess or declare that it’s not you that stumbled and thank God that the old you is dead and gone. Praise Him for making you a brand new creation and step into the revelation that Christ is still within you. There’s no way you could ever lose your sonship.

Overall, it’s an understanding of love that opens our hearts and minds to this revelation. By believing that “love has been perfected among us in this…” we realize who we are in Christ. Through that, we can live by what we believe and manifest that in the world around us. So don’t get down on yourself about how you may have messed up or how far you have to go to obtain that level of righteousness.

Receive and accept the identity that has been granted to you today through Christ!

 

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