It’s been a long time since I wrote a post for Five Minute Friday. But this week’s writing prompt: GOAL, was too fitting for me to pass up. Recently, God has given me a new goal that has become my new purpose in life.
During May, I led a group of ladies in God-Living Girls with Chronic Illness through a mini-Bible study entitled Verse by Verse, Growing Closer to God. The study we used was written by Jodie Barrett and Donna Fender of Faithfully Following Ministries, and I had already planned to do the study so I volunteered to lead it in our group.
What I didn’t know at the time was that God was going to use this study to speak a very clear word to me personally, a word that has given me a new purpose in life.
As I went with our group of ladies through this study, I kept hearing one message over and over and over again. It was simply this: Your focus needs to be on finishing the work I have called you to do.
After losing our special needs and medically fragile son David last November, my husband and I had been sensing one long season of our lives was over and it was time for a new focus. For thirty-four years, meeting David’s needs had been the center of our lives around which everything else revolved. So both of us had been praying for God’s direction for the future. And during this mini-study, I found the direction I was seeking.
Writing has been a love of my life for several years, and it’s time to move forward with God’s plan in this area. In prayer, I’ve sensed two specific focuses for my writing, and I’m now in the process of taking my new Goal and turning it into a plan to make it more than just a wish. And it was time to put that decision down on paper.
I’m currently working on doing more articles for God-Living Girls and my blog, as well as in the planning stage of writing my first Bible study. Since I celebrated my seventy-first birthday earlier this year, I don’t know how many years I have to finish the work that God created me to do. But in this past month, doing that has become my burning desire.
A friend from God-Living Girls with Chronic Illness is doing a series of articles on how to explain the challenges of living with fibromyalgia to friends who don’t understand this usually invisible illness. I wanted to see if any of my readers are interested in doing a guest post on this subject. If so, click on the following link for more information.
For the last two years, God has clearly put a specific word on my heart for a Word of the Year. In 2016 it was JOY. I learned that JOY is found in our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And I began forming a new habit of CHOOSING JOY when I didn’t always feel it in my emotions.
In December 2016, I again received clear direction from God for a Word of the Year for 2017. HOPE was the word I heard repeatedly in prayer, as 2016 came to an end. Again, it proved to be a very appropriate choice, during a year that turned out to be one of the most difficult we’ve recently been through. I shared some of the things God has taught me this year about hope in my recent blog post: https://readywriterbr.wordpress.com/2017/12/26/exploring-our-theme-part-2-still-anchored-in-hope/
As December 2017 began, I again began asking God what word He wanted me to focus on for 2018. For the whole month I prayed, but no one particular word stood out to me. Then as I was reading my Bible and praying this final morning of 2017, I sensed God speaking not a word but a phrase to my heart: A NEW THING. I did a search using one of my Bible apps, and Isaiah 43:19 jumped out at me as a clear word from the Lord.
I’m not sure what lies ahead of us in 2018, but there are definitely some signs that God is at work. My husband has an appointment on New Year’s Day that has the potential of being a major breakthrough in his dream of producing Christian movies – or possibly a total detour from God’s plan. We are moving forward with expectancy that the Lord will make His will clear.
Some of the major issues we have dealt with in 2017 are now behind us, others should be behind us in the next few weeks, and still others present longterm issues that are unlikely to be resolved any time soon. 2017 has definitely been a year of walking through the wilderness, but at no time have we been alone. God has clearly led us through this year, bringing us into a place of increased obedience to the precepts of His Word and a deeper knowledge of His nature. As 2017 comes to an end and 2018 is on the horizon, I’m taking hold of this promise that the Lord is making a way in the wilderness and will provide streams in the wasteland.
And as the new year draws closer, God is continuing to speak to my heart. REST. My new Word of the Year. This is a year to learn to REST in the Lord and in His work in my life. To REST in His promises and His character.
During the month of December, I have been doing a Bible reading plan by Rachel Wojo entitled The Light. As I prepared to write this final post exploring the theme of my blog, Hope & Light, I realized my idea of what it means to walk in the light has changed during this study as my understanding of why Jesus came to earth has grown.
Here are some key things I learned this month from my daily reading plan about Jesus as the Light.
Jesus came to earth, God in human flesh, to bring light to a world of great darkness.
“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.” Isaiah 9:2 NIV
He came as the Light that would draw not only Israel but also the Gentile nations to Himself.
“See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.” Isaiah 60:2-3 NIV
As a light to the nations, Jesus has the power to open blind eyes and to bring freedom to those held captive, whether their captivity is by physical chains and bars or by sin.
“I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.” Isaiah 42:6-7 NIV
The Gospel of John confirms that Jesus is the One spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, clearly identifying Jesus Christ as the Light.
Jesus is the Light of men, the Light that darkness is not able to overcome.
“In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:4-5 NIV
By believing in Jesus, the Light, we become children of light.
“Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.” John 12:35-36a NIV
He came into this world as light, so those who believe in Him no longer need to walk in darkness. Walking in spiritual darkness is no longer our lifestyle.
“I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.” John 12:46 NIV
So now to get back to the theme of walking in the light, the main thing God spoke to my heart from this study is this simply means walking with Jesus, who is the Light. To learn how to walk in the light, we do what He instructed us to do, as recorded in Matthew 11. We yield to Him, come into His yoke and walk through life at His side, allowing Him to carry the bigger part of the burden.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 NIV
The most familiar Scripture about walking in the light is found in the first chapter of the epistle of 1 John. Before my recent study on Jesus as The Light, 1 John 1:7 was the main verse I had in mind when I chose the second half of the name of my blog.
“If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.” 1 John 1:6-10 NIV
Yes, this is still an important verse in understanding what it means to walk in the light. Knowing how to scripturally deal with sin is an important part of walking in the light. But I believe it is only a small part of the meaning of the phrase.
To walk in the light in its fullness is to walk with the Light, our Lord Jesus Christ, to walk as He walked when He walked on this earth and to allow Him to lead us in everything we say and do as we walk on the earth.
HOPE & LIGHT 