Walking in the Light of the Word

I was surprised when I started looking, how many Scriptures there are about light, but I guess I shouldn’t be, because the very first thing out of God’s mouth was ‘let there be light’.

And later in the first chapter in the book of James verse 17,  He is called the Father of Light, in whom there is no shadow of turning, and to end it all, He is the light in heaven, there will be no need for a sun or a moon.

Then of course, there is Jesus who was sent to earth, and called the Light of the world, and He is the firstborn of many brethren and asks us an important question. Would we stick a lamp under a bed? No, and not just because it’s a fire hazard, but because then it would be hidden, which means that we too then are filled with His glorious light.

We have been delivered from the power of darkness and conveyed into the Kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.   Col 1:13-14

And then, if that’s not enough His Word is a light too, I’m remembering here the old song, Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a Light unto my path.   Psalm 119:105

When the world feels dark around us, and even our way seems confusing, it’s amazing to me that God promises to be our light, Jesus is our light, His Word is our light and even we are filled with light and amazingly darkness cannot resist the light. In the same way that smoke cannot resist the wind, darkness cannot resist the light. Even a tiny little bit of light puts a hole in that darkness.

So what about when our life feels dark? How do we practically use this light? Proverbs 4:18 gives us a clue: But the path of the just is like the shining sun (or in some translations the first gleam of dawn), that shines ever brighter till the full light of day.

As our lives progress in God, they will shine brighter if we are diligent to apply His Word to our lives, because His Word is a light. In Psalm 119:130 it says ‘The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.’

And then I’m met with a question that I’ve been wrestling with, there are so many different doctrines out there, some of them directly opposing each other, how do we know what is truth?

More and more I’m guided back to looking at Jesus life and the truths He taught, and I’m taking Scripture simply and meditating on it and then writing it down and asking myself, if this Scripture was to come to pass in my life, what would it look like?

There’s a Scripture about encouraging and exhorting one another with Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, so everyday I’m trying to take just one minute to ask God for a Scripture or song to send to a friend to encourage them in their walk with God.  (Ephesians 5:9)

Have you ever had a friend send you a Scripture that just exactly fits what you are going through and perhaps gives you the solution? That has happened to me several times, and I know that a spiritual law is sowing and reaping, so I sow into others, so I shall reap.

Another Scripture says that Proverbs 11:25 25A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed, or in another version, He who waters others shall himself be watered.

So the Word illuminates our path and we use it to renew our mind. Another Scripture that sheds so much light on our path is this:

By His stripes I was healed. 1 Peter 2:24. Is this just for spiritual healing or did Jesus walk in perfect health and heal everyone who came to Him?

What would it look like for me to live like that? I start using my Godly imagination to see my life lining up with the perfect Word of God. The more I am meditating on this truth, the more I have seen it come to pass in my body this year.   This is called renewing our mind.

It looks like taking God’s Word and yes, examining it for the culture it was written for, but then also applying it literally, because Jesus said greater works than I do, you shall do also.

What does it look like for us to live like that?

In the Western church sometimes we don’t believe in the power of miracles because we’ve been taught not to through tradition and religion, but then in countries where people have only got the Word of God and they see that Jesus healed and He told them to also, they grab hold of that and they start seeing people get healed and whole villages transformed.

They don’t have their mind in the way saying that can’t happen. We have to renew our mind to conform to His Word, and that comes by chewing it over and over again.

In this way and many others God’s Word is a light to our path. The book of Proverbs is filled with advice about money, parenting, marriage and many other things and the book of Psalms is almost like a mental handbook of how to yes, express your true feelings but then remind yourself, of all the many blessings we have in God, and that that truth trumps our feelings.

Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all His benefits, who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases. Psalm 103:2

In David’s darkest time, running from Saul when all his men wanted to stone him because all their wives and children had been stolen, David wept until he could weep no more and then he encouraged himself in the Lord, reminded himself of all God had done for Him, chose to dwell on that, received instruction from the Lord and moved on.

The Word of God also says that it was written for our instruction so that we don’t have to make the same mistakes as the ones in the Word. That is another way it is our light. If we choose to heed it’s instruction we don’t have to make the same mistakes, though of course if we do God will forgive us, and we move on and eventually He turns that thing into something beautiful as we also see through the Word, there is redemption.

There can be lies that we are believing about ourselves that are preventing us from living victorious lives, but God’s Word is the light that exposes these. Sometimes it can be a very specific lie that God reveals to us, for example a year ago I kept thinking to myself, I feel so stuck, stuck in my house, my ministry, my health etc. One day God just brought the Scripture to mind, I have everything I need for life and godliness, (2 Peter 1:3) and shone His light on that disgusting little lie.

And though nothing changed physically, in my mind it changed, and I started using my excess time to pray through the day for my husband’s work place, and our neighbours and we started seeing God move in his factory, and even as I talked to people down the street, God would give me words of life and encouragement to speak to them.

I realised that while I didn’t specifically have a ministry, that did not need to stop me from giving encouraging words to people down the street, and even praying over the first person to appear on my facebook feed, for God’s intervention in their situation.

We are never stuck because we have Jesus inside of us.

Other times, we may not know what the specific lie is, and instead of searching around in the dark for it, because who’s ever had success searching for anything in the dark, we just start putting more and more of God’s Word in and it will light up our life and expose that thing we can’t quite put our finger on, but we know that we aren’t living victoriously in that area.

I was recently listening to a video by John Bevere about the Word of God. When people were in the Word one day a week, it was barely making a difference in their life, two to three times a week, slightly, but 4 or more times a week, it was making an exponential difference, pornography dropped, anger issues dropped, loneliness dropped, feeling spiritually stagnant dropped and most importantly people were more than 200 times more likely to share their faith.

The Word is truly a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.  It has an answer for every situation, and I’d love to bless you with this Free Printable of Light Scriptures.

About Elizabeth

My name is Elizabeth Ainsworth, a wife and mother in QLD Australia who shares her ponderings of faith at Where Deep Calls to Deep

One thought on “Walking in the Light of the Word

  1. I’m so happy that I found your site! I’ve been reading your words and references and it’s been truly a blessing. May God Bless You and Bless You for all you are doing in the lives your are touching for HIM!!!

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