Be a Reflection of the Light of Jesus

Scripture: Luke 11: 33-35

No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body is also full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.

Scripture Commentary: What type of light are you?

Today we have different types of light. We have colorful lights, black lights, halogen and fluorescent lights, just to name a few. If someone were to look at you what is the light that they would see? Would there be any light at all?

We all have a light that represents who we are. If we have Jesus Christ in our lives, then the light is bright. Living a life with Satan leaves no light, and we are dark. If we have nothing, then we are neither light nor dark. We are nothing.

Open the doors of your heart and let the light of Jesus Christ shine through

The last one might sound funny, but if you have nothing to show then you do not make any impression on anyone. There are plenty of people that we meet but remember nothing about. We might remember their name or their face, but we don’t remember their job, their hobbies, whether they are good or bad. We don’t remember if we liked them or not.

When you live a Christian life, people will see and know you for who and what you are. By spreading God’s word people will know what you have done. When you open the doors to your home they will know where to find you because your Christian light will be on!

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Luke Chapter 11

God’s Mercy Extends to Those Who Fear Him

Scripture: Luke 12: 4-5

And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

Scripture Commentary: Fear him who has the authority to throw you into hell.

Jesus told his disciples to watch out for hypocrites who appear good, but their hearts are far from God. If you please our Lord Jesus Christ first, you may not please other people. If you fear opposition or ridicule, you weaken your witnessing for Christ. How can you cling to peace and comfort at the expense of your walk with God?

Do you set up finish lines for yourself? Maybe if you please this person, or acquire this object, or make a large amount of money, you will have it made? This is the path of someone who is lost.

God provides everything you need.

What have you given God in return? When your earthly life is over, you cannot ask God for another chance. God gives you another chance every day that you are alive!

Jesus reminds us to fear God.

God controls eternal, not merely temporal, consequences. Our true value is God’s estimate of our worth, not our peers’. People evaluate and categorize you according to how you perform, what you achieve, or how you look.

Jesus takes you for your love of Him, not for the people around you.

Read the Entire Chapter:
Luke Chapter 12

Believe on the Name of Jesus

Scripture: John 20: 24-25

But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Did’-y-mus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.

Scripture Commentary: Through faith we believe.

There are many like Thomas in this world today; people who have to see before they believe. If you are a believer, then you do not need proof. Faith is believing in the things you cannot see, and as Christians we have faith in God. Through faith, we feel God’s presence.

Jesus told us he would go to his father, and He would send the Holy Spirit to us.

The Holy Spirit is already residing in you. If you have not accepted Christ, the Holy Spirit is still in you, but it is asleep.

Jesus tells Thomas in verse 29: “Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”

If you are skeptical, but not stubborn, then read the Bible. Study the Word of God.

Questions are good; they will guide you to answers and answers will give you the truth.

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John Chapter 20

God Separates Light from Darkness, Good from Evil

Scripture: Luke 11: 34-36

Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.”

Scripture Commentary: Turn on the light, and open your eyes to the life you are living!

What do you do when you enter a dark room? You find the light switch. You turn the lights on to see so that you don’t bump into things and risk hurting yourself. Satan is associated with darkness because with him you don’t know where you are or what you’re really doing. Evil desires and actions blur the light of Christ and make it hard to see the path of righteousness.

Jesus can bring you out of darkness if you let him. If you wish to remain in darkness, then you choose Satan over Christ. Without Jesus as your savior, you stumble in life and remain lost. God won the battle over Satan when Jesus rose from the dead.

Why be on the side that already lost?

Come out of the darkness and enter the light of Christ. Feel his love and warmth. He promises to meet all your needs and desires.

Is the Holy Spirit leading you or is Satan working in you?

Read the Entire Chapter:
Luke Chapter 11

Other Scripture Commentaries on the Book of Luke:
Save Yourself Through Belief; Save Others Through Discipleship
I Once Was Lost but Now I’m Found
Lord, Remember Me When You Come Into Your Kingdom

Spiritual Gifts Are Given for the Good of All

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12: 1, 4-7,14, 20-25

Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. (1) There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. (4-7)

Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.(14)

As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty,while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it,so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. (20-25)

Scripture Commentary: Bring as many souls to Christ as your gifts allow.

We are of one body in Christ. As one body we work for one goal. We serve our Lord and bring as many souls to him as our gifts allows. If you bring one and another brings a hundred, we are to rejoice for all.

Rejoice when a Christian is honored, weep when one suffers; we are one. Christians exist in the world together. There is no such thing as private or individualistic Christianity.

No one gift is greater than another.

Paul tells us that we all have gifts given from God, and no one gift is greater than another. Your spiritual gift is not for your own self-advancement. Its purpose is enhancing the spiritual growth of the body of believers.

Spiritual gifts build God’s church.

We, the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ, include many types of people from a variety of backgrounds with a multitude of gifts and abilities. All spiritual gifts are from the Holy Spirit and their purpose is to build up Christ, the church.

Read the Entire Chapter
1 Corinthians Chapter 12

For More on Spiritual Gifts
What Are the Different Spiritual Gifts?

What Is the Evidence of Your Faith?

Scripture: Hebrews 11: 1,3,6

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.(1) Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.(3) But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.(6)

Scripture Commentary: Faith is the evidence of our relationship with Christ

Believing in God is only the beginning. Faith is the foundation and the evidence of our relationship with Christ and our eternal life with God in Heaven. God will not settle for mere acknowledgment of his existence. He wants a personal and dynamic relationship with you. He wants to transform your life.

The first step to faith is believing in God’s character; he is who he says he is. The endpoint is believing in God’s promises; he will do what he says. Believing in God’s promises demonstrates true faith.

Faith allows you to carry the power of God within you.

How many times have you asked for God’s help and received a solution? God’s word has awesome power, and faith allows you to carry that power within you. Through faith, God is always with you, giving you the strength you need to serve him.

God rewards those who seek him with his intimate presence. Faith is trusting God regardless of the circumstances or consequences. In times of pain, persecution, or suffering we should trust confidently in God.

Read the Entire Chapter:
Hebrews Chapter 11

Do Not Turn to the Right or Left; Keep step with God

Scripture: Mark 10: 38-39

“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” “We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”

Scripture Commentary: Stay on point with God – do not turn to the right or left

James and John wanted honored places alongside Jesus. They wanted to know where their places were. Would they sit at Jesus’ right or left at the table?

Today, people think they are working toward having a physical spot next to Jesus. We don’t realize that, if we live and love as Jesus did, there would be no need to question our place.

Jesus died and rose; he paid the price for our sins. We have an opportunity to turn to God. God’s plan is to give us what we want out of love, and in return we love him with faith.

We suffer, just as James and John, with serving others. Jesus will not ridicule us for wanting to know where we stand. Remember that God wants us with him.

Take it upon yourself to remove sin from your life. Repent and find a place with God. Live a Christ-like life and minister to the needs of others. Fill your life by serving Jesus Christ.

Read the Entire Chapter:
Mark Chapter 10

The Lord Offers You A Seat At His Table

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 10: 21,31

Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.(21) Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.(31)

Scripture Commentary: You cannot have both a seat at the Lord’s table and a seat at the devil’s.

At which table are you seated? If you wake up and tell yourself that today you will be a Christian but tomorrow you’ll act contrarily, you are wrong. If you think you can sit at both tables, you cannot.

You are either a Christian, living as God wants you to live, or you are not. There is no middle ground between God and Satan. You cannot switch back and forth moment to moment based on where you want to belong.

Your relationship with God is a commitment.

As followers of Christ, we must give him our total allegiance. We cannot, as Paul explains, have a seat at the Lord’s table and have a seat with the devil. To sit at God’s table is to commune with Jesus and identify with his death and resurrection.

To sit with Satan is to promote evil and worship of earthly things. Do not try to live two lives. At the end, you will be held accountable for one. Remember that no matter what, this life is only temporary. The next one is for eternity.

Read the Entire Chapter:
1 Corinthians Chapter 10

He Began to Cry Out, Have Mercy On Me!

Scripture: Mark 10: 46-48

And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.

Scripture Commentary: Jesus hears us when we cry out to him

When we pray we cry out to Jesus. We often cry out to him seeking help; either for something we want or think we need. What are we doing in our lives that leaves us with a need for something?

God gives us everything we need, so what are we asking for? Did we use or did we waste what we had? We often call out to Jesus looking to gain something that we do not need, but something that is the object of our greed.

Jesus gives you what you need. What have you given him?

Jesus healed Bar-ti-mae’-us out of love. He gave you what you need, and sometimes he gives you the things you ask for, out of love. What have you done for Jesus out of love?

Have you taught his Word to others? Do you spread the word about what Jesus has done for you and for your family? Jesus gives you so much. What have you given?

Read the Entire Chapter:
Mark Chapter 10

If God is for us, who can be against us?

Scripture: Romans 8: 31-34

What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

Scripture Commentary: Jesus intercedes for us; He is always with us

These verses are especially for those who do not think they are good enough to receive God’s love. Do you think that you are not worthy of God’s salvation? Do you exclude yourself from the forgiveness and mercy God has for us? Just remember the words in the Scripture, “If God is for us, who can be against us!”

God gave his only son, hoping we might turn to him and serve him. He gave his son to you. With his son, he gave salvation to everyone. Christ gave his life for you; he will not turn around and condemn you. He will not withhold any of the tools you need to live for him and with him.

Jesus always advocates for you

Paul says that Jesus is interceding for you in heaven. God acquitted you and removed your sin and guilt. It is Satan, not God, who accuses you and guilts you. Satan strikes all the time. Jesus always advocates for you; he stands at God’s right hand to present your case.

No matter what happens to you, no matter where you are, you can never be lost to God’s love. If you believe these overwhelming assurances, you will not be afraid of anything. In Christ, you are a super conqueror, and his love will protect you at all times.

Read the Entire Chapter:
Romans Chapter 8