{"id":17953,"date":"2014-02-20T00:05:13","date_gmt":"2014-02-20T05:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=17953"},"modified":"2014-02-20T00:27:41","modified_gmt":"2014-02-20T05:27:41","slug":"christlife-twentynine-enlightened","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2014\/02\/20\/christlife-twentynine-enlightened\/","title":{"rendered":"CHRISTLife — TwentyNine: Enlightened"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"cl<\/a><\/p>\n

\u266c\u266a I wandered so aimless, life filled with sin; I wouldn’t let my dear Savior in \u266c\u266a
\nThen Jesus came like a stranger in the night \u266c\u266aPraise the Lord, I saw the light<\/p>\n

I saw the light, I saw the light! \u266c\u266aNo more darkness, no more night
\nNow I’m so happy, \u266c\u266a no sorrow in sight! \u266c\u266aPraise the Lord, I saw the light<\/p>\n

As much fun as this song is to sing, it is even more so a joyful proclamation of God\u2019s redeeming grace in our lives! \u00a0No matter how \u2018good\u2019 a life one could possibly lead before accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior…life prior to that IS\u00a0<\/b>aimless and filled with sin. \u00a0It is only through the accomplishments of Jesus on the Cross as He fulfilled the plan of salvation that Almighty God alone could have put into motion that anyone can \u2018see the light!\u2019<\/p>\n

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.
\nLive as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness,
\nrighteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.
\nHave nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
\nIt is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.
\nBut everything exposed by the light becomes visible\u2014
\nand everything that is illuminated becomes a light
\nEphesians 5:8-13<\/p>\n

Oh, do you not just love the end of that passage? \u201c…Everything that is illuminated becomes a light….\u201d That\u2019s us (you and me)! We have been illuminated…the darkness that filled every part of our heart has been dispelled by the Light of Christ!<\/p>\n

When Jesus spoke to His disciples about truly \u2018seeing\u2019 and \u2018hearing\u2019 He was also including us in that group of people who are blessed! \u00a0We have<\/em> heard the message of salvation and have<\/em> responded to His call!<\/p>\n

But your eyes are blessed because they do see, and your ears because they do hear!
\nFor I assure you: Many prophets and righteous people longed to see the things you see
\nyet didn\u2019t see them; to hear the things you hear yet didn\u2019t hear them.
\nMatthew 13:16 and 17<\/p>\n

May I encourage you to recognize the light that you are! \u00a01 Thessalonians 5:5 tells us that, \u201cFor you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.\u201d \u00a0Being we now ARE children of the light, we should fulfill Jesus\u2019 words (Matthew 5:16), \u201cIn the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n

We do, for now, live in an evil, dark, perverse world. \u00a0But, by God\u2019s grace we have the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Light of the World, living in our hearts. \u00a0We have been made new, we have received grace upon grace, we have His power alive within us and we are the children of the Light! \u00a0Let your little light shine!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

…for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
\nDo all things without grumbling or disputing,
\nthat you may be blameless and innocent, children of God
\nwithout blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation,
\namong whom you shine as lights<\/span><\/strong> in the world<\/em>,
\nholding fast to the word of life….
\nPhilippians 2:13-16<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *<\/span><\/p>\n

\"CLiiakim022014\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And here are Kim\u2019s thoughts and her beautiful inner identity album page for this week; she writes:<\/p>\n

This page really touches my heart as it is my life\u2019s story!! \u00a0God turned my darkness into light. \u00a0My mess into my message. and just like Isaiah 61 says:<\/p>\n

to grant to those who mourn in Zion\u2014
\nto give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
\nthe oil of gladness instead of mourning,
\nthe garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
\nthat they may be called oaks of righteousness,
\nthe planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.<\/p>\n

Hallelujah!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u266c\u266a I wandered so aimless, life filled with sin; I wouldn’t let my dear Savior in \u266c\u266a Then Jesus came like a stranger in the night \u266c\u266aPraise the Lord, I saw the light I saw the light, I saw the light! \u266c\u266aNo more darkness, no more night Now I’m so happy, \u266c\u266a no sorrow in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":17893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5040],"tags":[5560,5044,235,5563,5557,1287,425,5565,5562,4654,5564,5559,5558,5561,5068,1141],"class_list":["post-17953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christlife-bible-study","tag-1-thessalonians-55","tag-christlife","tag-coleen-hayden","tag-enlightened","tag-ephesians-58-13","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-i-saw-the-light","tag-isaiah-61","tag-kim-golds","tag-let-your-little-light-shine","tag-matthew-1316-17","tag-matthew-516","tag-philippians-213-16","tag-ruth-myers","tag-womens-online-bible-study","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/cl-enlightened.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-4Fz","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17953"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17971,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17953\/revisions\/17971"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}