When we listen to the Holy Spirit, we are filled with God’s light. This daily devotional looks at how the Holy Spirit uses that light to extinguish the darkness within us.
Nuggets
- The Holy Spirit helps us distinguish the light from the darkness.
- The light changes us to be children of God.
- Because we are children of the light, our walk has to prove that.
Devotions in the Never Alone: The Holy Spirit in Our Lives series
Okay, this was the devotion I was going to upload yesterday. Yep, technical difficulties again.
Jesus is the light of the world. The Holy Spirit leads us into this light from the darkness.
Let's Put It into Context
Here is a running list of nuggets for the series.
What Is Light and Darkness?
“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” (Eph. 5: 8 CSB)
The Holy Spirit helps us distinguish the light from the darkness.
One way our sinful nature has been described is by calling it darkness. To me, that is very descriptive.
Since we got married and Pastor Steve moved in, we haven’t gotten all the boxes unloaded. Those and his furniture are mainly sitting in the living room.
I am usually awake when everyone else is asleep. So, when I navigate through the house, I don’t turn on lights.
And walk right into a box, the sofa, or a chair.
When our eyes aren’t adjusted to the darkness or to the current amount of light, things can be hidden from us. We need the light to dispel the darkness in order to see them.
We are blinded by our sin. We cannot see God because we are so focused on Satan.
When we are not living the way God created us to live, we are under His wrath. Ultimately, that will lead to an eternity in hell if we don’t come back to Him.
We don’t want sin to be hidden in our lives. We want the light to shine.
Jesus has been called the light of the world. “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life’” (Jn. 8: 12 ESV).
Where does the light shine? In our hearts.
The light clears out the darkness. It exposes all the sin that is hanging around in the nooks and crannies of our hearts and lives.
To read a related devotion, click the appropriate button below.
We Are Light
The light changes us to be children of God.
Did you catch the change? “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord …” (Eph. 5: 8 CSB emphasis added).
We tend to think that Jesus is in us — the Light is in us. No.
We are changed to be like God is. We are children of the light because we are children of God.
Glossary
I can see this when we look at how Clarkson described light.
“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (II Cor. 4: 6 ESV). We have to know God in order to invite Jesus into our hearts. That brings the light into us.
“his is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (I Jn. 1: 5 ESV). If there is no darkness – sin – in God, that means He is pure. We know He is because that is one of His attributes.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
We make God’s character ours when we go through the sanctification process. Sanctification is the transformation of mind, body, and soul, which begins with regeneration; gradually changes our nature and morals through the promptings of the Holy Spirit; and ends with the perfected state of spiritual wholeness or completeness.
- Regeneration is being changed from spiritually dead to spiritually alive and the internal new birth and requickening that God brings about through the work of the Holy Spirit to give us new character.
- Spiritual death is the separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
- The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
- Sanctified means to be set free from sin.
- Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
- Spiritual death is the separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Glossary
Sanctification purifies us.
“There are many who say, ‘Who will show us some good? Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!’” (Ps. 4: 6 ESV). When God shines His light upon us, we gain His joy and peace.
“who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen” (I Tim. 6: 16 ESV). We cannot approach God until we have been cleansed through the Plan of Salvation. When we are pure in Him, we can give Him honor.
Resource
Walking in the Light
Because we are children of the light, our walk must prove that.
Walking is the term used to describe how we live our lives.
We have to walk in the brightness of God’s light. Evans told us what that means. He wrote, “… to walk in the light of God’s precious gospel, to walk in the light of God’s perfections, to walk in the realizing view of His pardoning mercy, to walk in the light of His adoption, to walk as righteous ones, righteous in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Resource
That means we don’t quench the Spirit.
I think many times, we tend to think about quenching the Holy Spirit as not believing in Him. I think there is more to it than that.
I would have quenched the Holy Spirit if I would have said there was no way that I would be a pastor’s wife. I had to submit to him.
The walking goes along with the tenses of salvation. Salvation is the gift of life through the deliverance from condemnation and sin to acceptance and holiness and changes us from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive.
- Sin is not believing that Jesus is our Savior to save us from our actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Pure means not being sinful or having the stain of sin.
- Virtues are standards of moral excellence.
- Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Holiness is the transcendent excellence of His nature that includes elements of purity, dedication, and commitment that lead to being set apart.
- Purity means possessing God’s moral character, having eliminated the stain of sin.
Glossary
Conversion is salvation past. Conversion — the product of repentance, when we turn away from our sins and return to God, that secures salvation — is the point in time when we are changed from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive.
- Repentance is acknowledging our separation from God and expressing sorrow for breaking God’s laws and commandments by making the commitment to change our sinful ways to ways of righteousness through obedience.
- Obedience means submitting ourselves to the will of God as it is presented to us and living our lives accordingly.
Glossary
Then we have salvation present. We have to work out our salvation. That is where the Light penetrates our hearts and cuts out the sin.
It doesn’t happen instantaneously. It doesn’t even happen over night.
We will be changed even more when salvation future happens. “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (I Jn. 3: 2 ESV).
No, that doesn’t make us a god. It doesn’t give us any superhuman powers or entitlement to any sort of treatment.
It means we are to have the character of the Sovereign God.
Making the Connections
We are made to be light because of God’s grace. Grace is a free and unmerited gift of love from the Heavenly Father, given through His Son, Jesus Christ, that enables salvation and spiritual healing to believers by the work of the Holy Spirit.
Glossary
It was through His grace that God designed the Plan of Salvation to restore our relationships with Him. It was all His doing.
How Do We Apply This?
- Walk with God.
- Remember when we walked in darkness so we can compare it to our nature under grace.
- Acknowledge God’s power.
- Remain humble.
- Be compassionate.
- Watch.
- Hold your pastor in high esteem.
- Promote unity among God’s children.
- Be cautious.
- Consistently follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
- Follow God’s Word.
- Examine our walk to ensure that our salvation is genuine.
Resource
Father God. We thank You that Your Light is pure. We long to be in the light of Your Presence. Change our nature from one of darkness and sin to one of Light and purity. Amen.
What do you think?
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