LIGHT & LOVE WILL LEAD THE WAY

1 John 1:5-10 

And this is the message which we have heard from him and proclaim to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him — none!

If we claim to have fellowship with him while we are walking in the darkness, we are lying and not living out the truth. But if we are walking in the light, as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of his Son Yeshua purifies us from all sin.

If we claim not to have sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we acknowledge our sins, then, since he is trustworthy and just, he will forgive them and purify us from all wrongdoing.

If we claim we have not been sinning, we are making him out to be a liar, and his Word is not in us.

1 John 2:9-11

Anyone who claims to be in this light while hating his brother is still in the dark. The person who keeps loving his brother remains in the light, and there is nothing in him that could make him trip. But the person who hates his brother is in the dark — yes, he is walking in the dark, and he doesn’t know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

I have been meditating on 1 John for a while now, partially because it was teed up in my reading through the New Testament, but I haven’t been able to move on after listening to this sermon recently given by Ben Fitzgerald. It’s a powerful message on finding freedom by living in the light as a disciple of Christ. Please listen to it.

I have been learning quite a lot about light and love lately. It turns out the two cannot be separated.

The Lord has been exposing (with His flashlight of Truth) every remaining particle of hatred and entitlement stuck in the crevices of my heart.

My prayer has been simple, “Let me only hear what is True. Let me only see what is Light. Help me to love what You love, and hate what You hate.”

This single petition is rapidly reshaping my reality. It is causing me to take my eyes off of the brokenness, dysfunction and darkness of the systems and institutions of The Church and back onto the heart of His Bride. I have been recaptured by the Light of Love.

This seems elementary, wouldn’t you say? Oh, but how far we’ve drifted from this eternal truth.

I was sitting in a church service this past Sunday and the preacher took a step back from the pulpit during his message and asked a question.

He asked, “What is God’s ultimate value?”

I wasn’t even trying to answer the question, but the first word that jumped up into my head was, “HOLINESS!”

The crowd fell silent, and he responds. “Love.”

Does God value holiness? Of course, He is holy. But this proved to be an instance where I had taken an attribute of His Character that He has been graciously revealing is deficient in His Bride and misappropriating it as the central and core message of Truth. I had subtly created an imbalance of truths in my heart, placing a higher value on holiness over love, when it was meant that holiness is to be attained through love. This created a distorted perspective of the subject of my focus, overemphasizing and broad stroking the need for purity in The Church without looking through the right lens.

The Lord then told me,
“Take your eyes off of the system, and put them back onto My people.”

And last night, He gave me a dream.

In the dream, a girl who I used to disciple sat with me and asked me a question. She said, “how do I know if I am in the right church?” I looked at her with deep compassion, sensing her confusion and desperation in a time where there has been so much shifting, sifting and shaking in The Church. I could tell she was weary. I answered her, “Do the people around you pull darkness out of you, or do they draw out light? That is how you know.”

Remember 1 John? The person who loves his brother walks in the light, remains in the light, and in Light finds true fellowship. The one who hates his brother is blind and walks in darkness, leading others further into deception. Take your eyes off of the system and the structure, and put them back onto the people. This is of true importance. Are you surrounded by those who walk in the darkness of hate towards their Kingdom family, or those illuminated by Love? This is the measuring stick of His Church.

And here is a prophetic perspective I would like to lay before you today. To the one who has ears, let them hear.

We are in a period of re-entry and reintegration.

Those who were delivered by the hand of the Lord from systems, institutions and man made structures had to be set apart for a time.
You had to be made holy, led through a process of refinement.
You had to be trained in Truth, purified by fire, and delivered from darkness.

But you weren’t just separated to be delivered from deception and falsehood.
You were being delivered into Light.
He liberated you into Love. And now He’s leading you back.

He is taking you back, in Love, with Love. You are no longer just a voice of truth crying out in the wilderness, you are a holy vessel of deliverance carrying the message of True Love— raw, unfiltered, uncompromising; tenderized, compassionate, pure.

He set you apart to make you into a disciple of Light. And now you are to lead His Bride back into Love.

May we have ears to hear only that which is true.
May we have eyes to see only that which is Light.
Teach us to love what You love, and hate what You hate.