experiencing darkness

Thanks for your patience this week.  I had the opportunity (thanks to my in-laws) to spend time with my wife, children and some other family members in Georgia.  That meant that I was away from the computer but enjoying some much needed and appreciated family time.  What I want to share with you today is something that I am learning and is very transparent.  In other words, I am learning.  God is speaking, and I trust you will hear from God too.

Romans 13:12 (NASB)
The night is almost gone, and the day is near Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

Have you ever noticed yourself getting short or irritated with people when things don't go your way?  This week there were at least three times I remember getting upset and wanting to respond to people in the wrong one.  Once it was toward a family member and the others where in public setting.

Each time God spoke to my spirit.  Even when I responded wrong, which happened a couple times which I feel terrible about, God taught me about what was going on in my.  One time I remember very clear that I was able to respond with grace and the right way.

God's thought to me was this: often we let the darkness of self over take the light that is in us.  No, we don't lose Jesus.  It is those times when we say yes to self and no to God.  It is when we respond out of pain to hurt others.  It is when we let others experience darkness and not light.  God desires and calls us to express and share His light.

The more we listen to God, the more of His light is going to shine.  When we let His light shine, the darkness is pushed out of the way and even done away with.

1 John 2:8 (NLT)
Yet it is also new. Jesus lived the truth of this commandment, and you also are living it. For the darkness is disappearing, and the true light is already shining.

Letting our light shine lets people see Jesus.  Keeping our light from shining lets people see the worst in us.  That is darkness.  But God has called us to share light and shine light.  It is time to help ourselves and others who are experiencing darkness to experience the light of God.  

Matthew 5:16 (NASB)
Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

So, I am being honest.  Sometimes I let the darkness take over.  I don't want to do that.  I want light to shine.  Folks, we have to a choice: light or darkness; Jesus shining or not.  My prayer is that people, those close to me and those I just happen to meet, will not experiencing darkness through me.