"All things were made through YaHoVeH, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
In Him was Life, and the Life was the light of men.
And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." John 1:3-5
LIGHT
by haRold Smith
a citizen of the Commonwealth (Ephesians 2:19)
The struggle most find themselves in can be brought, in its most elemental state, to a struggle between light and darkness. Except - there really is no struggle. The Christian
"Church" (click on highlighted words to view content)
has hoodwinked its followers into believing they are impotent against darkness; that resisting darkness requires some kind of a fight with bluster, anger or even rage to get it to pay attention when, in fact, just the presence of light causes darkness to simply - not exist. Consider this: when you enter a room full of darkness and turn on a light switch, is there a struggle for that light to reign supreme? No - it already IS supreme. The definition of darkness is the absence of light. Where there is no light, darkness abides. When light appears, darkness CANNOT abide - there is no choice in the matter because it is a
universal dynamic.
Light dispels darkness. Light does not cause darkness to flee - it causes it to dissipate. The brighter the light, the less there is of darkness. Shades of grey are not the diminishing of light but of the darkness dissipating. When you walk down the street at night, you don't see darkness shining into the buildings, you see light shining out into the darkness, absorbing it and causing that darkness to become light. Darkness has not, will not, nor
will it ever
overcome light. Darkness is absorbed or, it can be said, embraced by the light thus OVERCOMING darkness.
life = light ---> (which produces) faith
death = darkness ---> (which produces) fear (unbelief)
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It is important to understand that, at their core, neither faith nor fear are emotions - they are choices. Throughout scripture we are told to "fear not", "be not afraid" and "be not dismayed" - those are choices made through an act of will. The English word translated as "power" in
John 1:12
is the same Greek word translated as the English "authority" in
Luke 9:1.
Both translations come from the Greek word
exousia
which means "power of choice." When we embrace the Nature of YaHoVeH's Spirit expressed in
His Words,
we become empowered by His Spirit to face whatever circumstance is confronting us. Separating fear from a feeling now frees me to be able to choose (eksousia) how I am to act, to behave toward circumstances regardless of how I might feel about them. Faith now becomes
actionable
as a choice over feeling. The act of embracing the Life Yeshua lived among us gives us the authority to CHOOSE life over death. When we CHOOSE to believe through the actions of our life that YaHoVeH is Good, every day, regardless of what the world is telling us; regardless of what we see, hear, feel or think, and pattern our lives accordingly - we are choosing the Life. By choosing to live the Life, we are then choosing to live in
His Presence
- we are becoming Light.
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...light dispels darkness
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Everywhere He went, Yeshua made a public spectacle of the powers of darkness by the virtue of His life. He cast out demons
with a word;
no fight, no bluster, no argument - because He knew the power the Life, that Virtue, that excellence of spirit, gave Him over darkness. He healed the sick because He
KNEW
who YaHoVeH was and the virtue
He carried within Him.
His Life is the example He lived for us to follow
(1John 2:6).
Most who consider themselves part of His Body today do not comprehend or understand the depth of the authority of the Power that has
ALREADY
been provided because they do not KNOW YaHoVeH for who He truly is
(Luke 10:19).
Not what we would like Him to be, not who we imagine Him to be, but who the scripture chronicles that Life to be. We have settled for something less than excellence because to know Him requires of us something more than most are willing to give -
our life.
The strongholds we are up against which prevent us from accepting Him for Who He Says He Is are
not external,
but those thoughts that
exalt themselves
against this true knowledge of YaHoVeH and of His Son. The battlefield where those strongholds exist is in our minds as to whether we are going to believe that YaHoVeH is Good in every aspect of life, regardless of what the externalization of life tells us
(1Thessalonians 5:18).
This is what Paul referred to as "fighting the good fight of faith." Do we believe who Yeshua says He is (backed up by the evidence of the Life He lived before us) enough to embrace everything that He is in every circumstance that confronts us? Or, do we CHOOSE to embrace fear masquerading as dismay, comfort, anger, practicality or tolerance in situations we are unsure of because we are not really convinced that what He said is true and begin to hedge in areas of our life? If you have embraced the example of Life Yeshua led before us, then He says you have within you, right now, the power that resurrected Him from the grave. As you embrace His Life, His excellence of spirit, it becomes Light within you. The more you choose to embrace, cultivate and exhibit
virtue
in your daily encounters of life, the more brilliant that light becomes and that is what overcomes the darkness within you. No fight - just Light.
"For I have given you an example, that you also should do
just as
I have done to you. Truly I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you
do them
...Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives the One who sent Me."
John 13:15-17, 20
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When we try to avoid darkness or try to run it off, it is because we don't have an understanding of how powerful the Light within us really is. If we fear darkness, it is because we have come to believe that when we are in the middle of something sinister, somehow it will attach itself to us and contaminate us. The reality is just the opposite. When you are in the palm of YaHoVeH's Hand, the scripture says that NO ONE shall cause you to be removed
(John 10:27-29,
Romans 8:34-39).
and when you walk around in the fullness of the Light of His Spirit in you, the demons of darkness tremble
(James 2:19).
He spreads a banquet table before us, where? - in the PRESENCE of our enemies
(Psalm 23:5).
The Greek word exousia
has a second definition associated with it - it also means "power of influence." Scripture declares in both
Acts 11:13-14
and Acts 16:31
that those living within the household where Light exists will be saved - it does not say the family of the one who has become Light will be saved as many popularly interpret these verses to mean. The reason it says "household" is because it is those gathered in your house who are within immediate proximity and continually exposed to the Light within you - they can not remain neutral. They will either warm to the Light or be
dispelled by it.
Light changes lives.
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...light to the world
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Yeshua is calling upon those of His Body, to be Him to this world. YaHoVeH is calling on us, individually, to be Light in our corner of responsibility and then, collectively, to be Light to the world. Yeshua is the Head of the Body and those embracing His Life become the members of that Body. It is a mystery but, just as your head does not float around apart from your body, so His Head is not separate from the members of His Body and the members are not separate from either the Head or from each other - even though, looking through natural eyes, it appears otherwise. This is why it only takes two or more for Him, as the Head, to be present at any one time and for His Body to function as a whole. As was seen with the
Ashes of the Red Heifer,
this is a mysterion
(Greek for "mystery") - a Truth hidden in plain sight. When we choose to embrace His life, we choose to embrace the authority that comes with it to CHOOSE to bring light into the middle of darkness and cause that darkness to become light.
We think this power, this authority in Spirit, is to be on exhibit and promoted; but, it is not based on the charismatic, success, take-charge platform of current Christian culture. It is based on sphere of influence - and we all have influence. The outward manifestation of the power of YaHoVeH is just a realization of the inward choices we make when we embrace Yeshua. His Life was of such purity, the Light so intense, the Virtue so full to the brim that when someone just touched the hem of His garment that virtue, that Light, simply overflowed out of Him and they were healed. He wants us to be the same way. The authority given us is the power to choose to be light to the world, even as He is. Before we can BE light to someone else, however, we must first choose to BECOME light. We must allow the light resident within us to become so intense so as to completely dispel the darkness within us - then that the Light can spill out onto others and
they be healed.
To PRAISE in Hebrew is halal.
It means "to shine - to flash forth light".
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Light, a discussion
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"Herein (by this) is our love made perfect, that we may have confidence in the day of judgment: because
just as He is, even so
are we in this world." 1John 4:17
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???Questions???
Please feel free to email me at harold@hethathasanear.com.
While not claiming to have all
the answers, it would be an honor to partake with you of what Spirit is uncovering.
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