Your Word is TRUTH

In Jesus' prayer for the Disciples, he makes some astonishing declarations!

John 17:16-18 (NASB)
16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.


Jesus was born of flesh and the Spirit and yet He was not of the world.  The Spirit is more powerful than flesh.  We can buy that knowing that Jesus was the Son of God...but what he says about His followers is even more astonishing!

Astonishment #1:  We are not of the world!
Once we have the Spirit of God living in us we have made a transition from flesh to Spirit.  Paul brings this out in several places in his New Testament writings too.  We belong to HIM.  We are of the Spirit and we belong with God.  Is it any wonder that many of us do not feel at "home" here?  Our true home is in the heavenly places!

Astonishment #2: We are sanctified by the Truth of God's Word.
Being sanctified means we are set apart by God and for God.  All true believers are in this state and they remain in this state for eternity. How does one receive this state of sanctification?  It is a work of GOD...not man.  And it's his WORD so that we cannot take credit.  His word is Truth in the purest and most absolute sense there is.  It's God's Word and it does not just CONTAIN TRUTH...it IS Truth!

Astonishment #3: We all have a mission!
Once we have been called, we are no longer our own.  The Heidelberg Catechism puts it eloquently, "That I am not my own, but belong— body and soul, in life and in death— to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ."  Because we are now HIS we accept His mission to go and spread the Good News of God's forgiveness of man's sin through Jesus' death of the cross and his resurrection! Just as Jesus was obedient unto death doing the Father's will...we are given the same task of being obedient to Jesus mission.  Such an honor!

Go out and seize the day in Jesus' Name!

Blessings All!

God is Light

1 John 1:5

[ God Is Light ] This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

John is very precise to tell us that God is light.  In fact he also tells us that in HIM there is no darkness at all. And why should there be? Darkness has no substance; it occupies no space; it has not energy. Darkness is simply the absence of light.

But God is LIGHT! He has substance. He occupies space and time He has energy...and He is also beyond those limitations as well. God is the exact opposite of darkness God is LIGHT.  He aggressively banishes darkness.   Darkness cannot aggressively banish light, can it? Darkness relies on the LIGHT to even survive.

I am sure you have heard it said that a single candle cannot be extinguished by all the darkness in the Universe. This is true. Darkness only exists because light has not arrived.  Once it arrives, darkness is destroyed.

That is the analogy that John wants us to grasp. Because there is no power beyond that which God is able to wield. God is light.

God also lives in YOU. Once you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, God sent his Holy Spirit to live in you as John has also stated: 1 John 4:4

You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

So be encouraged! You have a light within yourself, given to you by God which is able to stand.  You cannot do this on your own or in your own strength, but with God's help, you can banish the darkness that threatens to overtake us every day.  Go and Shine. You have God. God is light.

Blessings All!