Different Battles… Common Ground

In listening to clients share, I have consistently found a similar theme. No matter the “story” and no matter the circumstance, there is always one consistent factor.

The absence of light.

I love fact finding. I love research. This week my quest was to investigate LIGHT. A fact concerning Gamma-rays (the most powerful level of light) stated the following:

“Gamma-ray bursts are the most energetic and luminous electromagnetic events..and can release more energy in 10 seconds than our solar system Sun will emit in its entire 10-billion-year expected lifetime.” – Science Mission Directorate.

Knowing the power of light drives straight towards fact finding of WHAT light IS. The more I dug through resources, the more my original belief was supported. It is that the source of light begins with God and IS God.

Hopelessness, anxiety, frustration and fears are all driven by an absence or lack of time spent with God. When asking clients to review their relationship with the Lord, repeated responses are…“Not good….I just don’t have time…seldom do I even pray…” seem to always emerge. The farther they are from God, the darker their lives have become. They are controlled by depression, anxiety, fears and hopelessness.

A.W. Tozer in The Pursuit of God says this…

“To be specific, the self-sins of self-righteousness, self-pity, self-confidence, self-sufficiency, self-admiration, self-love and a host of similar self focused thoughts reveals a person… dwelling in the nature of carnal man…and will not change until the light of God is focused upon them…To tear it away is to die… is to hurt us and make us bleed. To rip through the tender stuff of which life is made….it is nothing but painful. Yet, that is what the cross did to Jesus and it is what the cross would do to every man – to set him free.”

John Calvin’s quote recorded in the book The Red Sea Rules states:

“When the light of divine providence has once shone upon a Godly man, he is then relieved and set free not only from the extreme anxiety and fears that were pressing him before, but from every care.”

Well said.

The older I get the more I realize an intimate relationship with God is the only assurance of peace in these times. It is the only guarantee of light. Lifegiving light. Light that will transcend the turmoil and penetrate the hanging fog of evil existing within our society, our culture and smothering our daily lives.

Review how your time is spent…

Give time today to God. Let the light of His presence flood your soul. Surround yourself with habits that honor God. How we spend our time reveals what we worship. And ultimately, we become what we worship.

And Remember……

I’m Listening.