Healing Hands Ministries, Inc

IS YOUR LIGHT ON? OR HAS YOUR BULB BURNED OUT?

Mat 5:10 God blesses those people who are treated badly for doing right. They belong to the kingdom of heaven.

Mat 5:11 God will bless you when people insult you, mistreat you, and tell all kinds of evil lies about you because of me.

Mat 5:12 Be happy and excited! You will have a great reward in heaven. People did these same things to the prophets who lived long ago.

Mat 5:13 You are like salt for everyone on earth. But if salt no longer tastes like salt, how can it make food salty? All it is good for is to be thrown out and walked on.

Mat 5:14 You are like light for the whole world. A city built on top of a hill cannot be hidden,

Mat 5:15 and no one would light a lamp and put it under a clay pot. A lamp is placed on a lampstand, where it can give light to everyone in the house.

Mat 5:16 Make your light shine, so that others will see the good that you do and will praise your Father in heaven. (Matt. 5:10-16-CEV)

As I was reading one of my devotionals A couple of years ago, I came across these scriptures. As I pondered these scriptures, I thought to myself, what kind of bulbs do we have? Are they bright colored, soft white, glowing, hidden or already out? Do you light up the atmosphere when you make an entrance, or does it stay the same or God forbid get worst? God desires for our lights to shine so brightly that wherever we go, people will notice a difference. Do you care if your bulb is burned out? The Bible says; God will bless you when people insult you, mistreat you, and tell all kinds of evil lies about you because of me. (Matt. 5:11-CEV) Now I know that none of us desires to be insulted, mistreated and lied on, however it is inevitable simply because of who we are and whose we are, it is going to happen.

I believe that we should be thankful that we are talked about because of what we believe and the fact that it is right. Some of us harbor things that are said about us for years and years not once stopping to think that perhaps I was talked about and mistreated because of what was on the inside of me and who was on the inside of me. We need to trust God, not trust in ourselves or man. Our lights should constantly shine, no matter where we go or who we find ourselves sitting among. In verse 13 it says that we are like salt for everyone on earth. In other words, if we don’t sprinkle them, they will not be flavorful. God gave us His salt, He said that we are the salt of the earth; it was not our doing or our choosing. Because Jesus loves us so much, we can be and do all that He desires us to; we need to just take Him at His word. It is my belief that our light should shine wherever we go; yes, we will be talked about, yes we will sometimes be treated badly, or disliked, we will be different; but, it says in verses 10 and 11: God blesses those people who are treated badly for doing right. They belong to the kingdom of heaven.

God will bless you when people insult you, mistreat you, and tell all kinds of evil lies about you because of me. That is a promise from the Father, and guess what, if God says He will do it, then He will. Beloved, it is time for us to stop thinking about what other people will think about us or say about us. It is only what God says that is the most important or should be the most important to us.

I often think about Christ, if He cared about what others said or did to Him, we would not be here today. The word of God says in Mat 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. It is time for us to completely deny ourselves and follow Christ. Ask your neighbor, Is your light on? Or, has your bulb burned out? It says in verses Mat 5:14 You are like light for the whole world. A city built on top of a hill cannot be hidden, Mat 5:15 and no one would light a lamp and put it under a clay pot. A lamp is placed on a lampstand, where it can give light to everyone in the house. We are not just light for one person, the word says for the whole world, so that means wherever we go and whomever God places us in front of, we are light for them. It may be other men and women of God that are not operating in the fullness of what God wants them to operate in, so God will place us in front of them to show them something He desires for them to see and hear. We are a city, the word says we cannot be hidden, so stop trying to hide people of God, it won’t work. There is absolutely nowhere that we can go to hide from God, so why are we trying? Verse 15 says; and no one would light a lamp and put it under a clay pot. A lamp is placed on a lampstand, where it can give light to everyone in the house. You do not light a candle or a lamp in your house when it is dark and then place it under something where it cannot shine or give light to a dark room. We should be light to everyone in the house. In other words, every person in your household or those who come to your household should see a difference in you. If a room is dark, and you need light in it, it would be foolish of you to hide the lamp that is needed to light the room. It is the same way with us. If we are the light of the whole world as the word says, then we cannot continue to try to hide ourselves. It should be our desire to search out dark places where we can place ourselves knowing that we are going to expose some sin in others in an effort to bring them light so that they can turn from the darkness into the marvelous light. That beloved; whether we like it or not is our everyday responsibility. Finally, in verse 16 it reads: Make your light shine, so that others will see the good that you do and will praise your Father in heaven. For us to be sure that our lights are on and shining, the good that we do has to be seen, but only so others will praise our Father which is in heaven. In other words, we cannot take the credit for anything that we do, it is not us that does the good, but Christ that lives inside of us. For the word declares in Rom 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. In other words when I do what is good, it is not of myself for in Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. Our old nature and our old will is always present with us. Our jobs are to control the old nature and our wills, and remain a light shining in a dark world, not hidden beneath a clay pot.