N
oel Richards has written one of the most
popular worship songs of recent decades,
and it starts with “Great is the darkness that
shall cover the earth”. At first glance these don’t
sound like lyrics of a worship song, but the song
continues, “Great celebrations on that final day,
when out of the heavens You come. Darkness will
vanish, all sorrow will end...”
There is a spiritual darkness all around us, and
yet we don’t have to fear it. Rather, we can see it as
an opportunity for us to shine and, more than that, for
our lives to show those around us that we love Jesus.
In the darkness people stumble and fall and get into
all kinds of difficulty, but as God’s people, who carry
the light of the Lord, we can come in and reveal
him by our works.
Jesus says in Matthew 5:16:“Let your light so
shine before men, that they may se e your good
works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
This is a great opportunity for us, so it is time to
lift up our voices in prayer. It is time to cry out for
the light of Jesus to shine into the darkness that
covers the nations, the city and our society! But we
shouldn’t only look outward; we also must pray that
he will shine in our hearts, to give us a fresh light
of the knowledge of God’s glory in the person of
Jesus Christ.
We can pray with confidence, because we
don’t need to rely on our own efforts. It is God who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness. And
there is no darkness that is able to conceal that
light, to cover it or overcome it.
Darkness cannot understand light. When the
light shines, the darkness flees. When the light of
the Lord shines in our hearts, we will see Jesus
afresh. And those around us will see Jesus
reproduced in us, because we will become
reflectors of the glory of God!
We can live for God boldly, in assurance that
there is no shadow, no doubt, no turning and no
changeability in him. He is constantly shining in the
full splendour of his majesty. He is at the height of his
powers eternally. He doesn’t wax; he doesn’t wane.
He doesn’t rise; he doesn’t fall. He doesn’t come;
he doesn’t go. He is the great ‘I am’, who lives and
abides forever. That God is our God, and we are his
people! And we shine with Jesus, who is the light
of the world.
We pray that the fire that has been ignited in our
hearts and kindled in the week of prayer and Holy
Spirit refreshing would spread from person to person,
district to district, city to city and nation to nation!
We give God the glory! Let light shine and darkness
go! Let glory come, and shame go! Let faith come,
and doubt go! Let his Holy Spirit be manifested, and
every spirit that is not of God, that does not confess
that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, will be bound,
broken, destroyed and overthrown in our lives!
We open up our hearts to receive from the Lord
and ask him to open the windows of heaven over
our lives. When we do this and make space for
God, he will come in and fill us afresh. We won’t
experience just a superficial filling, but one that starts
at the very depth of our being. He will not stop, ➜
Revival Times February 2018 7