What Is Darkness?

January 13, 2012 By 1 Comment

By Cyndi

We live in a world that values strength and belittles weakness. We idolize characters such as Rambo, John Wayne, and Jason Bourne. It is so easy to feel that there is no way to advance in life if people see our weaknesses, our personal struggles. So we tend to be drawn toward hiding these things about ourselves. We want to put them in the dark where no one can see them. Yet, if we can’t even acknowledge we have struggles, how can we ever hope to overcome them? Understanding what is darkness and what is light puts a huge tool in our hands for growth.

Blatant sin, of course, is darkness; however, there can be smaller, less noticeable ways where we might be living in the dark. 1 John 1:6 says,”… if we say we have fellowship with God, but we continue living in darkness, we lie and do not follow the truth.” So what exactly does this “living in darkness” mean? Simply put, anything that is hidden and not exposed. To paraphrase Andrew Murray’s definition of humility, darkness is not being willing to be known for who we really are.

If we are humble – being known for who we really are – then we find no reason to hide our past, our present struggles, or our future dreams. But being open and transparent like this involves risk. If we were to divulge certain things about ourselves, people may reject us or make fun of us, or even worse, they may not love and accept us. And it’s possible they may abandon us.

It’s much easier to stay in the dark than to take the chance of living in openness and transparency, but unfortunately, there are “friends” that tend to hang around us there. Fear, worry, anxiety, shame, guilt – all of these can be our ‘best friends’ when we’re in darkness. And there’s no peace or rest there. Only by embracing light do we position ourselves to experience growth.

We can be free from our past and live emotionally present in all our relationships today! By facing the hidden darkness in our lives, we can find freedom to be who we really are, unashamedly. Light is the place where we have the actual experience of feeling secure in our Father’s arms and live open-hearted to the world.

Filed Under: Christianity, Father's Love, humility, Shame, Spiritual Maturity Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Strong Man: Revealing Weaknesses

January 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment

By Cyndi

Luke 11: 21-22—When a strong man, with all his weapons ready, guards his own house, all his belongings are safe. But when a stronger man attacks him and defeats him, he carries away all the weapons the owner was depending on and divides up what he stole.

As I was reading this verse the other day my heart was saddened as I realized this is such a picture of where many of us Christians are today.

We start out as this strong man, our weapons are ready. We have a college degree, a good job, a decent car, a great spouse, maybe even a kid or two. Life is good. All of our belongings are safe. The bills are paid, there is food in the refrigerator, and we have just bought our first home. Our guard is up and we are taking care of everything: we mow our yards, call our mothers regularly, and buy life insurance. All our belongings are safe.

But then a stronger man comes along. Maybe a job loss, a health crisis, a major house repair, a death, a car accident—something unexpected that is much stronger than us. It becomes overwhelming and we get defeated, maybe financially, maybe emotionally. Now all of our strength, the things we counted on, leaned on, trusted in, are gone—stripped away from us. They are divided up by the bank or by the divorce court. Our life that was so good has now been stolen from us.

This verse is extremely sobering to me. I want to be ready for that stronger man. I want to be looking for any cracks in my walls and holes in my armor. I want to keep my ears open, listening to the Lord and hearing where my weaknesses are. It will be in those spots where the enemy will attack. Oswald Chambers said, “An unguarded strength is a double weakness.” Revealing my weaknesses and confessing where I am falling short are not something to be ashamed of. For it is in this place of humility where the Lord may show His strength (2 Cor.12:9).

Filed Under: humility Tagged With: ,

Hard or Soft?

February 12, 2010 By 11 Comments

By Cyndi

How do we Christians come across to the world around us? What do our friends, family, and co-workers think about our Christianity? Do we display the attributes of Christ in our daily lives? I was challenged by these questions just the other day and wondered how I appear to the people I meet every day.

Last week I was having a conversation with a friend and afterwards I realized that I dominated the conversation. It was all about me. What pride! Oh, I asked about how she was doing but I wasn’t really listening. I was waiting to share some more things about me the minute she stopped talking. And then when I got caught in traffic driving to another part of town, I was extremely impatient and furious with all the incompetent drivers I was around. “If they could all just drive like me it would be so much better,” I thought. Yes, dear reader, sometimes my Christianity is quite hard and harsh. It’s not always a pretty sight.

So I picked up Andrew Murray’s Humility book and decided it was time to re-read it again. (I think this is one of those books you need to read at least once a year—at least I need to.) I found this particular line quite interesting:

In striving after the higher experiences of the Christian life, the believer is often in danger of aiming at and rejoicing in what one might call the human, the manly, virtues, such as boldness, joy, contempt of the world, zeal, self-sacrifice, while the deeper and gentler, the diviner and more heavenly graces, poverty of spirit, meekness, humility, lowliness, are scarcely thought of or valued (pg. 56).

So I can take the “onward Christian soldiers” approach, plowing through everything and everyone who gets in my way of living for God, or I can attempt to live by the “more heavenly graces,” as Murray says. If I were humble, I would carefully listen to my friend share about how she was doing—her challenges, her delights—so that I could pray for her or rejoice with her as Rom. 12:15 instructs me to do. If I were meek and lowly, I would not stress out in traffic, or get angry and judge the inapt drivers, but be patient and kind instead—-preferring others (Rom. 12:10).

I have repented for my rude behavior of the past and am trying to focus on the sensitive side of Christianity. Yes, I still think there is a place for the harder, stronger virtues of fasting, fearless preaching, and warring in the Spirit, but maybe our world needs to see more of the softer, gentler, loving and forgiving attributes of us Christians.

Filed Under: Christianity, Father's Love, humility Tagged With: , , ,

Seeking God in Father’s Love

July 19, 2006 By Leave a Comment

Seeking God in Father’s Love

  Isaiah 66:1, 2 Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? Vs.2 For all those things My hand has made, And all those things exist,” Says the Lord. “But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, And who trembles at My word.”      At one time in my Christian walk I would study the Bible from 8 in the morning until noon each day, I would awake at 5:30am and go to my church to pray each day. It seemed like almost everyday I would try to fast. Most days I ended up buying a box of Captain Crunch cereal and eating the whole thing! I wanted to have Smith Wigglesworth’s anointing. I sought intimacy with God but I sought it wrongly, through trying to build God something, through my works, to build an anointing and enough sacrifice to please Him. I had not learned to simply receive what He freely offers through humility And Brokenness. God desires for us to know Him but because of misconceptions we have about who our Father is we often end up discouraged because our efforts do not bear the fruits we had hoped. We try to build Him something, we try to do something. The very act of trying to do for God ends up keeping us from Him. Ps.131:1-2 Lord, my heart is not haughty, Nor my eyes lofty. Neither do I concern myself with great matters, Nor with things too profound for me. Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul, Like a weaned child with his mother; Like a weaned child is my soul within me. It takes humility to let go of our own efforts and simply receive but it brings a glorious freedom.Zach.4:6…Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the LORD of hosts.Ps.127:1 Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it… Check out Jack Frost’s article on Rest  http://www.shilohplace.org/Downloads/Articles/Article29-WhenWeStrive.pdf

Filed Under: Father's Love, How to Change, Jack Frost Tagged With: , ,