ARISE AND SHINE AS YOU WORSHIP GOD IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH

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.