WALK IN THE LIGHT

TEXT:   PSALMS 27 (Portrays Christ - Our All and All)

Psalm 27:1  THE LORD IS MY LIGHT

If you are walking in a dark place, dealing with dark issues, facing darkened circumstances, just shout, “THE LORD IS MY LIGHT"!!! 

This is not just any kind of Light. When this light penetrates your Spirit, it will drive diseases and afflictions out of your body. It gets down into your finances.  It will renew your spirit and cause you to walk in the anointing God has for you.

NOW IF YOU BELIEVE THIS, SHOUT “THE LORD IS MY LIGHT”!

In relation to “light”, one readily thinks of the sun (an obedient light bearer). It's the brightest object we can see in the sky, and without it, we would not be alive.  It gives off light, and we need Sunlight to make the Earth a warm, comfortable place to live. Plants use light from the sun for photosynthesis creating food for animals and oxygen for us to breathe. Sunlight makes our days bright, and it reflects off the moon to give us light at night. That's called natural light.

But there's a light in the Bible that's synonymous with the revelation of God. Where God is present, there is light, and where God is absent, the darkness is all consuming. I John 1:5 tells us this light is GOD HIMSELF.

The Psalmist, David, is showing a unique relationship between God and man. In the Book of Acts, God said he would restore the tabernacle of David and uses him to show us the relationship he desires to have with man. God called David, "a man after His own heart" (Samuel 13:14), and he shows us David's divinity and in the same breath opens up his human side with his frailties, flaws, and limitations. David suffered through many hardships: infidelity; suffered heart ache at the death of baby boy and two sons; the rape of his daughter; life hunted and threatened by evil kings and even his own son. Yet through all he faced, he was tempted to fear, but he refused to give in to fear. David understands God from the basis of his past experiences and declares "the LORD IS MY LIGHT”!

 There are a few who reach the status of chosen. Many are called, but few are chosen (Matthew 22:14). To be chosen is to be hand picked out of many. You would think God would pick people who are privileged, those who had all the benefits, fine houses and cars, eloquence of speech.  

But do you really know God?

❖     Isaiah 55:8  For my thoughts are not your thoughts, for they are higher than yours.

God picks the most disadvantaged, unlikely - the brother who committed murder - to do his will. Where man gets into trouble is looking at what he sees from the outside.

When Samuel went to Jesse's house to anoint a king, David was the last guy on the list.  Everybody in the house looked like a king except David. He wasn't someone Jesse wanted to select or promote. To him he was a keeper of the sheep, an errand boy, “go fetch it, boy”. When it comes to God, we don't need human promotion. When God chooses you, you don't have to promote yourself. You don't have to try and make a name for yourself, or wear a collar around your neck. You can be on the back side of the desert, and God will snatch you out and put you on display.  ''THE LORD IS MY LIGHT''.

David came from a dark past, ostracized by his father and brothers.  David was broken but chosen.  God picked him out of a dark, dysfunctional background and shined the 'LIGHT' on him and said I have chosen you. God chose David out of a furnace of afflictions.

❖     Isaiah 48:10  I have refined you, though not as silver: I have tested you out of a furnace of afflictions. 

A furnace is a dark ashen place filled with erosion and residue of fire and ashes of things being burned. Understand, it's the afflictions of life that causes you to shine and nobody can duplicate you, nobody can replace you. You have a place of uniqueness all by yourself. 

How many know that creation started with light?  The Bible says,

❖     Genesis 1:1-3  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.  The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light.

The very first thing Moses tells us is what God said in the creation process.  Letting us know that he is the Elohistic Covenant keeping God stepped out in the midst of a blackout and hurled words LET THERE BE LIGHT, AND THERE WAS LIGHT.

And before there was a man and a choir to sing and instruments to rejoice or anybody to clap their hands, God stepped back and praised Himself and said, "That's good". 

He can do that because He created praise. He is complete within Himself. He goes on to say that the evening and the morning was the first day. He separated the waters above the firmament and the waters under the firmament.

Then on the fourth day, God said, Let there be lights. He creates the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. The greater light was the sun and the lesser light was moon, and it wasn’t created until the fourth day. 

If God created light on the first day and didn't create the Sun until the fourth day, then that means for three days there was light without any source or without any signs that lit the earth. Just the raw PRESENCE OF GOD lit up everything on the earth

It was Light just because "He said it". When God speaks things in your life, you can receive it for no earthly reason than for you to have what you have but yet you have it because "God said it".

Can anyone testify times when you didn't know where your next meal was coming from, but God sent someone with food to eat?  You may have been without a job and no income coming in, but the bills got paid. God wants you to understand that if you walk in the light of His Word, you will begin to receive things for no reason, and yet, you have them just because God said it. I'm healed, just because God said it; I'm delivered, just because God said it; I'm blessed, just because God said it; and I'm free just because God said it. It's because THE LORD IS MY LIGHT!

The Bible says, “The entrance of thy words giveth light” (Psalm 119:130, meaning enlightenment (lit up with the Word of God). God can shine the light in a dark place in your life and illuminate that area where you can build and don't have the money. You can move things and go places and not have the finances. God wants you to know that He is El Shaddai, more than enough, and you can do what you do and go where you go because THE LORD IS YOUR LIGHT.

Sometimes, God won't allow you to have the resources that others have. He won't allow you to carry the same lantern that others carry. Yet, God has selected you to do His will. He will put you in a place just so you can face opposition.  You need people to oppose you.  You need doors to slam in your face. You need to know what it feels like when you have been ostracized by others. Yet God allowed you to step into that position so that HE could prove not only to you but to your enemies that HE is on your side.

❖     Romans 8:31  What shall we say to these things?  If God be for us, who can be against us?

And yes, THE LORD IS MY LIGHT.

St John 1:4-5  In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

I came to tell somebody - If you're working in a dark place and surrounded by evil people, don't be afraid of the darkness. With the kind of light that God has put on you, the darkness can't comprehend it; the root worker can't touch you; nor can witchcraft touch you.

The Lord is your light. When the light comes on, there is no fear, no intimidation. You can walk in boldness when the light comes on, and you can get things done. When the light comes on, God will allow you to see things you've never seen before. The Lord is your light.

Don't be afraid of the dark; don't be afraid of the people who turn and walk away; who disappoint you or reject you. It's just God setting the stage for your next miracle.

In Exodus, the Lord teaches Moses how to access His Presence through the tabernacle. Tabernacle is from the Hebrew "mishkan", which means residence, dwelling place. It is the tent of meeting, the place where humanity and Divinity fuse together. God teaches it on three stages of light.

FIRST STAGE - (outer court) - Natural light:

This is where many of us start with nothing but daylight. This is where we go to work all day, come home, watch television, listen to the radio, and later eat dinner, dancing at the club or a party, or some other kind of amusement.

SECOND STAGE - (inner court) - (Holy place) Candlestick and Table of shew bread-

Now you're getting the light through the Word of God because you've been walking with God. This stage requires flesh work. You have to dress the candle, you have to trim the wick, and you have to keep the light burning. How?

❖     Psalm 1:2  But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and IN HIS LAW DOTH

HE MEDITATE DAY AND NIGHT.

❖     Psalm 119:105  Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Then there’s the “shew-bread”:

❖     St. John 6:48, 50-51: I am that bread of life.  (Vs 50-51) This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.  I am the living bread which came down from heaven:  if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever:  and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

❖     2 Timothy 2:15 God's Word - Read it: Study (memorize it) to shew yourself approved unto God (not man), a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of Truth.

❖     St. John 6:53  Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man (FLESH WORK)

❖     St John 6:63  It is the Spirit that quickeneth (who gives life).

THIRD STAGE - Divine Light- Shekinah Glory (Holies of Holy) (Most Holy Place).  You have stepped into the throne room - where God dwells. This light requires no work from you at all.

In the first stage, you are beginning to recognize your divinity, and you are stepping into the entrance of the tabernacle - CONVERSION PHASE OF YOUR LIFE.  Then the Second stage is the working stage - you're asking God for what you want.

There’s a place in God where you don’t have to do anything at all except receive what God has for you. Has anybody here ever stepped in a place with God where you began to receive things and can't explain how you got it. When you walk in the Divine light of God, He will give you houses that exceed your income, cars that you didn't buy. He will turn “NO LAWS” of men into “YES LAWS”, just for you.  WANT HE DO IT?  Only because "THE LORD is Your Light

All you need to go into the dark place and come out with what you need is just to know, THE LORD IS YOUR LIGHT - YOUR brilliancy, YOUR resource, YOUR illuminating force, YOUR Glory, YOUR fortress, YOUR strength, bulwark, drive, intensity, enlightenment, YOUR passion, the lifter up of YOUR head, establishment of YOUR peace, YOUR defense, YOUR covering. "THE LORD IS YOUR LIGHT".

In this stage, you don't have to spend time asking God for other things. All that you need has already been given you. The healing, the financial breakthrough, the favor you're seeking, it's already there.  You just need it revealed to you. You just need God to shine the light on it. Anything He shines the light on will become powerful.

 He shined the light on two fish and five loaves of bread and fed five thousand (John 21).  He shined the light on a handful of meal, and it yielded a lifetime supply (1 Kings 17).   He shined the light on Sarah's barren womb, and it became productive (Genesis 21). When God shines His light on something, it just means, "IT'S COMING TO PASS.  THE LORD IS MY LIGHT".

Even though David was walking in the light, he still had distractions. Distractions are a part of the process. If you trace it on down, there are five (5) different enemies he has to deal with. The first two are individual enemies. One will cause you to fear and the other will cause you to be afraid.

David said (Psalm 27:1) The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear?

He continues, the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?  At this early stage of walking in the light, you will have something to happen to you at a moment’s notice. In the other stage, you get one thing straight and something else happens, and it seems like a recurring cycle.

David goes on to say, (Psalm 27:2) When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, come upon me. These are longer lasting individuals. Now, he's dealing with a cluster of enemies. There's a difference between enemies and foes. 

ENEMIES - you don't always know who your enemies are. They're called secret enemies - smiling in your face; secret enemies - sitting at the table with you to eat; secret enemies - acting like they want to see you blessed.  You thought they were friends, but David called them wicked enemies. When you're walking in the DIVINE LIGHT, God will protect you from your secret enemies. .

FOES - you know who they are.

❖     Matthew 10:36  A man's foes shall be they of his own household.

They will physically come to fight against you. As you walk in the light of God, expect to have secret enemies and public foes.

Keep in mind, as you walk in the Divine Light, expect to have a Judas. Jesus had one. He was one of the disciples. He's not coming with a sword or a knife, something visible. He's someone sitting at your table. If you want to know who Judas is, just look around your table, he's supping with you (Matthew 26:23).

David said, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell (Psalm 27:2).  Isn't it good to know that God is on your side?  David said, by this I know God is with me because He didn't let my enemies triumph over me (Psalm 25:2).  When God is your Light, He will trip your enemies

The enemy attacked my body with diabetes, but God tripped him up!

He threatened my sister's life with a subdural hematoma, but God tripped him up!

He threatened my niece with an aneurysm, but God tripped him up!

He threatened my oldest sister with stage four Cancer, but God tripped him up!

He tried to steal my niece's mind and covet her with depression, but God tripped him up!

What the enemy meant for bad, God turned around for our good. If you can look back in your past and see your enemies stumbling and falling, it's because GOD IS with you. When they tried to devour you and me, they tripped and they fell!!   You ought to give God praise just because He's with you.

You have got to know that you're backed by God's perimeter. He has a hedge about you. Are you glad about the hedge of God? He will allow times of testing and trials but the enemy can only go so far. So many times we feel like all hope is gone. But God can cause the enemy to fall at your feet. Satan can't cross God's perimeter because "GOD IS YOUR LIGHT"

Can I help somebody today?  Stumbling and falling indicate the FAVOR of God upon you. What is favor? It is when God does something for you, AND you don't deserve it.

When you work and get a pay check, that's not favor because you earned it. Those are wages for compensation. But, if someone walks up and gives you a set of keys to a car and says this is yours, that's favor because you did absolutely nothing to earn it.

 HAS GOD EVER DONE YOU A FAVOR? That's the secret to David's praise life. He never took God for granted. He humbled himself before the Lord. The more you humble yourself the more you gain.

You see some folks driving the fancy car because they got a good job, but you’re driving the car because God did you a favor.  You see others staying in the fine house because of their resources, but you’re in your house because God did you a favor.

After all David has been through battling with his enemies and his foes, but when the dust settled, he was still standing. 

❖     Psalm 27:3  Though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.

This sounds like confidence to me (boldness, assurance, new level of trust).

Philippians 4:13  I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.

BECAUSE “THE LORD IS MY LIGHT”!!!

~ Evangelist Brenda Hansley