Genesis 1:1-2 In the
beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form
and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God
moved upon the face of the waters.
At
the genesis of creation, there was a big empty space with total darkness. There
was no tangible being in existence. There was no three dimensional structure on
the surface of the earth. There
was void; there was emptiness; there was a state of chaos and disorganization. Darkness
is a state of confusion. It is a state of hopelessness. Darkness brings fear.
When you are in darkness, you begin to see strange things. You begin to have
weird imaginations. Some people even see monsters and many things that don’t
even exist. This
was the state of our hearts when we did not know God. We were full of sin,
hopeless, and full of wicked and evil imaginations, until God called us from
this darkness and brought us into His marvelous light. At
different states in our lives, we can experience some form of darkness. It may
be a family relationship that has gone sour, a medical condition that don’t
seem to go away, a marriage that is on a rough road, finances that is tumbling
down, church issues that is hindering your spiritual process, or a child going
wayward. These create void or emptiness in your spirit because you may
have tried so many different solutions but they all seem not to work.
You
may have started a new business or a new venture but you are in darkness. It is
difficult for you to determine which direction to move. The total picture of
your destination is not clear; you are not sure if this business will work or
not. You are in the state I will call “business chaos.” While
the earth was in the state of chaos, God said, “Let there be light, and there
was light.” God spoke to the situation and what was not came into being. The
commander in chief gave an order and it was immediately fulfilled. When God
speaks, who can stand against it.
At this moment, by the divine authority given to me by the commander-in-chief, I
proclaim light into your darkness. I declare that what is disorganized in your
life will be organized; I declare hope into your hopeless situation. Whatever that
canker worm has eaten, may it be restored a thousand folds, may you experience
the soundness of mind in your marriage, may your finances be restored according
to God’s own riches, may the Lord who created the heavens and the earth renew
your tissues. May He take away the pains in joints and muscles, may that
headache vanish in the name of Jesus. May that wayward child come back home and
turn to the Lord. May that business flourish as never before.
God
hates darkness so He created light. The bible says that “Men love darkness more
than light” because darkness breeds evil.
God created light to dismantle darkness. Light
is energy and energy gives life. Without energy, plants will not be able to
produce food. Plants take water from the soil, carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere, then with the energy from sunlight, trapped by chlorophyll (the
green substance in the leaf), they produce their food (which is the sugar
glucose). This is then stored as starch which we have in potatoes, yam, corn, and so on. God’s
energy brings life into all situations. It brings hope and strength. It drives
away all fears. But
God will not interfere with your business unless you have asked Him to do so,
because of His freewill.
You see, the Spirit of God was hovering over the face
of the waters and was ready to strike and perform wonders, but it was waiting
for a command to act. Brothers and sisters, God is ready to perform
on your behalf. He has his army of angels lined up to fight your battles for
you. So David said in Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He
maketh me lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me besides the still waters.
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his
name’s sake. Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadows of death, I
will fear no evil: for thou art with me, their rod and thy staff they comfort
me. Thou prepareth a table before me in the presence of my enemies: thou
anointed my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely, goodness and mercies
shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the
Lord forever. Amen!
As
a child of God, he wants to shine His light upon you for His name’s sake. He
has a major stake in your well-being as His child. It is his desire for you to
prosper and be in good health only if you allow Him to lead you in spirit and
in truth. Worshiping
Him in truth means taking Him by His word and trusting him fully to perform
what He says in your life. If we say that he is our mighty healer, we need to
manifest it in our daily lives. When we say he is our provider, we need to make
it operational in our lives. If you say that He leads you beside the still
waters, then have peace within you and don’t fear. If you say He is Holy, then
be holy. If the Lord is our shepherd and I shall not want, then let’s do the
things that will not make us want. We should be a reflection of what God is. We
have been made in His image and glory so that we can declare his goodness and
mercies. So if He is merciful, we ought to be merciful. If he is good, we ought
to be good to one another. If God is love, let us love one another. You cannot
say that he is your mighty fortress and protector when you are scared of
witches and wizards. They should rather be scared of you!
Our
bodies do not produce light! God throws His light on us so that we can reflect
His likeness onto the world. In physics, when you throw light at a certain
angle, it is reflected at the same angle. (So we say that the angle of
incidence is the same as the angle of reflection). So God shines His light at a
certain direction on you and He expects you to do the same. So in Matthew 5:14-16, Jesus said that, “You
are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither
do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it
giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before
men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in
heaven.” Truthfulness
in worship is not only declaring God’s attributes with our mouths but acting
upon it as well so that God’s name will be glorified by all men. Light is seen
wherever it is placed. Light is an electromagnetic wave unlike sound which is a
mechanical wave. Sound needs a medium to travel. So without air in this room,
you will not hear me. You will only see my lips moving. But light does not
care. It does not need any medium. It can travel in vacuum. You cannot hide it! Today
God is telling as in Isaiah 60:1-2 “Arise, shine; for thy light has come, and
the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover
the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee,
and His glory shall be seen upon thee.” The
darkness will come but the Lord has assured us in this verse that we will soar
high above it, if only you arise and decide that you are going to shine in
every situation. God will enable you to do so because he wants to use you to
establish his kingdom. You
may have been dormant for some time, the Lord says, Arise, shine! He has already won the battle for you. Arise, shine! If
you are sitting stand, if you are walking, run, if you are running fly!
Don’t
see yourself as nobody! You are somebody in God’s eyes that is why His light is
upon you. Go out there and do exploits. Be the head and not the tail wherever
you find yourself. Today,
God is calling you to higher things. If you saw yourself as a grasshopper before
men, see yourself as a giant because you are a reflection of God’s glory, If
you saw yourself as poor, see yourself as rich and work towards it. If it means
cutting the use of some credit cards, do it. If it means cutting your coat
according to your size, just do! Do the things God will want you to do. You can
do all things through Christ who strengthens you. Yes, you can!
God
has a big share in your success in this Christian journey and your personal
life, so He has drawn the road map for you in His word, but you have to tap
into it to find it. You can find it by waiting upon Him. He cannot do it
without you availing yourself to Him. So he says in Isaiah 40:31, that “They
that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with
wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk, and not
faint.” Waiting
is tuning your spirit to align with God’s spirit. It is tapping into the right
frequency of God to hear clearly from him and that comes when you begin to
worship Him in spirit and in truth. You need to shut off all external noise,
focusing and meditating to hear from him. You must tune your spirits frequency
into God’s frequency. When
you begin to sing worship songs, you tune yourself gradually into His
frequency. You begin to seek Him with songs (All heavens declare, the glory of
the risen Lord, who can compare with the beauty of the Lord, forever he may be,
the lamb upon the throne, I gladly bow my knee, and worship thee alone) …and
you will begin to find Him in His most Holy place. Then you can hear and talk
to him face to face like a father and son.
As
you meditate on His word, the word becomes the lamp unto your feet, and a light
unto your path (Ps 119:105). Ps 119:30 also says that “the entrance of thy
words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.” In order words,
you can make your life less complex by following God’s words. Isn’t that true? We
can arise and shine if we find God’s will for our lives through worship and His
word. When
you begin to shine, you reap lots of benefits: Read Isaiah 60:1-22 to
summarize them.
If
you are here and you have not accepted Jesus as your personal savior, you are
in total darkness and you cannot experience these benefits I have spoken about.
Jesus is the light of this world. Jn 8:12: "He says that I am the light of this
world, he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the
light of the world.” Will you make Jesus your light? Invite him into your heart
as your personal savior and he will come and dwell in you.
