In the presence of light, darkness has to flee, in the presence of truth lies start to lose their grip and eventually flee.
I heard this beautiful quote from the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe movie yesterday which I must confess to not really having watched properly. Lucy, Susan and the older boy had come to the land which had been frozen and controlled by the white witch for many years, and maybe it was the beaver who said to them, ‘the hope that you have brought has started to weaken the witches power.’ All the ice was starting to melt, spring was starting to come.
Hope is so powerful. It is a potent force. As we allow our hearts to embrace hope, it weakens the power of the enemy.
God is so very careful when He sees signs of life, a smoldering wick he will not snuff & a bruised reed he will not break. He speaks of the reeds that grew by the banks of the river that the young boys would play as flutes. If you bruised one you would throw it away & just replace but not God.
Jesus brought hope. He restored back to the people what the Pharisees had stolen. He restored God’s original image. The second thing he is recorded as doing in the Gospel of John after the wedding of Cana is going into the temple where he overturned the money tables. My husband shed some light on this today. The men at the tables were selling sheep and doves for sacrifices at ridiculous prices. They wouldn’t allow the people to use their own, they had to buy the sacrificial animal from them, plus there was a temple coin that incurred an exchange rate fee and it was keeping people from sacrificing animals. He called them a den of robbers. He will fight for you too.
Jesus was a great light that dawned on the land of Zebulun. Sometimes our hearts can hurt from a past season and when He tries to shine light on them to give us hope we shrink further back into the darkness.
Part of submitting to God, and resisting the devil to see him flee is embracing the truths God says about us in His word.
One such truth is that we are accepted in the beloved. This word accepted is the same word used when the angel spoke to Mary and said you are highly favoured among women. These two instances are the only time that word is used in Scripture. Wow. What a truth. Not that we are Mary, not that we have the same role as Mary, but just how much value God places on us.
When God gives us a promise may we have the courage like Mary to say, “may it be to me as you have said.”
May we not be remiss and dismiss His holy words. May we embrace and nurture and wonder and treasure these things in our heart.
