SUBJECT - STUMBLING IN A DARK ROOM!!!
PLAY/DOWNLOAD [MP3]
Picture this for a minute.
You are about to enter a room that you are totally unfamiliar with, because you are being led to believe that there is something in it, that you need to fix a serious problem that you are facing.
When you open the door, you find that the room is totally dark, and you can't see a thing in it. So, you feel around for a light switch, so that you can light up the room, to locate the object that you need.
Upon lighting the room, you find that there are many things [obstacles] that are also in there that if you had tried to navigate through it without the light, you most certainly would have probably injured yourself, or worse. Of course, you also would probably not have found what you needed.
Light, is a wonderful thing, because it enables us to see things that are in our surroundings, that could either be helpful, or worse, injurious to us.
With light being as important as it is, I marvel at how those among us that are blind, are able, in many cases, to live in a place by themselves, and be perfectly able to move around in their home, without the benefit of seeing.
The key to them being able to do it, has to do with them being familiar with their place of residence. They know the complete layout of the place, where everything is, how many steps it takes to get from one part of the place to another, and so on.
For them to be able to do this, it takes a lot of time, concentration, and patience. However, in the end, it pays off. They can move around as freely in there, even if the place were pitch black, as well as we could with it lit up. The only problem they might face is if someone came in to their home, and moved some furniture around and didn't tell them. Then they would have to get adjusted to what was moved.
What I want to get you to look at, no pun intended, is the relationship between light and darkness, as it pertains to how we live our lives, by drawing a parallel between life, and a dark room.
When you walk in to a room that you are not familiar with, and it is dark, your first instinct is to turn on a light of some kind so that you can see what is in there. You would especially want to do it if you
were warned of possible dangers in there that you should avoid.
Well, in like manner, your life on this earth, can be compared to that dark room that you have entered in to, that contains not only things that you need to deal with your life's goals, but also is full of things[obstacles], that you need to avoid, because they could delay, stop, injure, or worse yet, kill you.
It always helps to be able to see what you are doing, as well as being made aware of the possibility of danger, because then, you can proceed with caution.
Those of us that drive cars, know that even though a car is able to travel at high speeds, it is not always prudent to do it because of certain dangers that we face at those higher speeds, that we don't at lower speeds. For one thing, higher speeds means it will take us longer to stop, if we have to in case of an emergency. Another thing is that we will have to react a lot quicker to that emergency, and that failure to do so, may result in far greater danger than at lower speeds.
This is an example of our navigating in the room of driving. We have the light of our knowledge of how to drive, as well as signs, traffic signals, and a host of other things that are there to make sure that we can drive safely, to get wherever we need, or want to go.
If we compartmentalize all aspects of our lives, and classify them as different rooms, then, take our knowledge of those rooms [ie light], like I did with the room of driving, then we could see why it is that in certain of these rooms, we are able to move about without any problem, while in others, we are stumbling, bumping in to things, injuring, or even killing ourselves.
It makes absolutely no difference what area of life you are dealing with, it is a dark room until you have the knowledge [light], to move in it freely. Growing up, raising children, relationships, marriage, business, politics, success, conflict, or whatever, are all different rooms that we may have to walk in, in order to get to where we want to be in life, and we need knowledge of each one of them, in order to do it.
The bible says,
Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge, …........ What this means is we are being destroyed because we are walking around in a dark room, because we have no light to see where we are going, and are stumbling and being killed because of it.
I'm not going to go in to it in depth, but, an example of someone walking in to danger, totally blind, is the prophet Balaam. And if it weren't for a talking jackass, he may very well have been killed. The ass, provided a glimmer of light, to the situation, which in turn got him to see the danger he was in before it was too late.
[Num. 22:20-34].
If only we could get a glimmer of light, to help us see a little clearer in some of those dark places that we find ourselves in, we would be a lot better off.
What most of us have, that we depend on is the light that comes to us by way of what is called the flesh.
The flesh provides us with 5 elements of light commonly known as the 5 senses. From these, the result that we come up with is common sense!!
Common sense, is so named because it is something that is derived from how the flesh sees and deals with things. And while that is helpful, there is one big drawback, and that is the flesh can only deal with what it knows. If something comes up that the flesh has little or no knowledge of, then it too is in a dark room, and needs light to navigate through.
This brings us to one major room in life that many of us are totally in the dark about, and that is the Kingdom of God, or the core of all things that exist.
You see, every thing that exists today, has its beginning in the Kingdom of God, better known as the spiritual realm. God is a Spirit, and He rules over every thing that was, is, and is to come. And since He is also the Creator of all things, then it stands to reason, that they had their beginning in the spiritual realm. As the bible tells us,
Heb 11:3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen[exist] were not made of things which do appear[exist].
To those walking in the light of the flesh, this is the biggest contradiction to common sense that there can be. The reason being is that it defies the rationale of needing to see something, before the flesh will accept it.
The spiritual realm can't be seen by the flesh, and therefore is a dark room that we are walking in, stumbling, falling down, injuring and destroying ourselves because we have no light. You can get the most brightest light that man can find, this includes the sun, and you still won't be able to see where you are going, because it takes a Spiritual Light to illuminate the spiritual realm, so that you can see where you are going, and the dangers to avoid.
There is only One source of Spiritual Light that is available to us that can do this, and that is the Word of God, Jesus Christ. As the subject verse tells us,
Jesus says, He is the Light of the world!! If you picture the word
'world', as being another name for the spiritual realm, then you can realize that without Him, we are walking in darkness.
Now, what you then have to realize, is every thing that we do spiritually, results in an equal manifestation of consequences in the realm of the flesh. To put it another way, every thing that we do in the flesh, triggers a response in the realm of the spirit, that will manifest something, either positively or negatively, in the realm of the flesh.
This is one of the main reasons that we are having such a mess in our lives today. We are doing things that are triggering negative forces that are being made manifest, in our lives, and we don't know why. This is because we need Light, to see it. But, the light of the flesh, can't see it. It is foolishness!!! How can you say that because I am doing this, that I am suffering what I am suffering???
Well, the bible does say, you will reap what you sow[Gal. 6:7]. That is Light to your situation. No one escapes this one aspect of the kingdom of God.
Throughout my decades in ministry, I see it time and time again. When trying to explain to some people that their circumstances, have come about because of something they are/aren't doing, they look at me as if I have just dropped in from Mars. It doesn't compute. This is because they are spiritually blind!!! They can't see it!!!!
Now, while most of us that are saved, would look at them, and say, 'Yeah, that's right!! They need Jesus!!', there are many of us that are in that same boat, and don't know it.
I know many Christians today, that, on the one hand profess their status as being 'saved' and filled with the Holy Ghost, and love the Lord, that are just as spiritually blind as those that are relying on the flesh[common sense], more than on the Word of God, when dealing with negative situations in their lives.
You can't tell most of them that they need to get back to God, because in their own minds, they already have Him, and that you are judging them.!! Let me tell you something,
'if it walks like a duck, looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then, it is a duck!!' That's the fleshly reasoning. Jesus put it this way,
'...by their fruits [the things they do and say] shall you know them.......' You can claim something all you want, but, if your actions prove otherwise, then you are not what you claim to be. Oh, you may be saved, but, you are walking in darkness, and somewhere down the road, you will suffer the consequences, if you don't make the necessary corrections.
Making corrections takes on one aspect that most people don't want to admit, and that is, they have been wrong about something, and need to change. As a Christian, I remember how for nearly 20 years, I thought like everyone else that I associated with, and that was, I am not as bad as some others, that were essentially the scum of the earth. I mean, I had my faults, but at least I wasn't out there raping, and killing people. In fact, my little faults were normal, after all, no one is perfect. That is the way those walking in the light of the flesh see it.
However, when you come to Christ, the first thing you have to do, is admit that you are something that repulses the flesh, and that is a sinner. The flesh can't stand that word because it brings up the idea that there is a God, and that despite what we may think about ourselves, we are wicked, miserable, and deserve to go to hell, as far as He is concerned.
The correction, is the act of repentance, which means turning away from what you were doing, and embracing the Lordship [leadership] of Christ. Only then, can you begin to start walking in the Light, through this life, seeing all things, both physical, and spiritual.
How about starting out this new year making the necessary corrections in your life, so that it will truly be a prosperous new year??