WEAPON OF THE LIGHT

Matthew portrays Christ as our King!!!

Prophetic Scripture:  Matthew 4:16 (KJV)

The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up.

My message for the people of God today is “Weapon of the Light”!

Everywhere Jesus went, He brought light, because He was “Light”!

Of course, not everyone loved it as He brought light to people who had been sitting in darkness for such a long time. Have you ever watched how people respond to the light after several hours in the dark?

Think of a time when you were asleep, and someone flipped on the light. Your eyes needed time to adjust!

When God’s light shines where there has been a lot of darkness, there has to be an initial adjustment period, and some may try to hide or resist!  But when God’s hand is upon you, you may get by for a while, but you’ll never get away from what He has for you to do.  Ask Jonah!

But in Jesus’ ministry, He continually kept bringing the light, and eventually multitudes responded positively.

How many know in order for the whole armor of God to work defensive for us and be effective we must first use the offensive part which is the weapon of light that Romans 13:12 speaks of and the weapon of righteous spoken of in 2^nd

Corinthians 6:7.

What is Light?  In the Greek it is phos or pha’o, which is a symbol of intelligence! It also means to shine, or make manifest, as in to give light or illumination; luminousness as “reaching the mind,” or to make appear.

What is illumination?  It means to give light, to make clear; to provide with understanding; spiritually or intellectually enlightened.

In Genesis 1:3, when God said, “Let there be light”, this word comes from the Hebrew word owr (ore). He was saying, “I am going to give man (male/female) my light”!  “I am going to provide them with knowledge and understanding”!  “I am going to cause them to become enlightened spiritually and intellectually”!  He was talking about the “waters” (people) that the darkness was on the face of, in Genesis 1:2, not H2O (waters), but people! 

·        Revelation 17:15: And he said unto me, “The waters which thou saw, where the whore sits, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues”.

In other words, God was saying “let there be luminaries”.  A luminary is defined as a notable person; one who can enlighten mankind. 

 There were people in Genesis 1:1-2 in existence, but they had fallen into a chaotic state. 

·        Hebrews 11:3, “Through faith we understand that the worlds [ages; perpetuity (also past); beginning of the world (began)] were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear”. 

These people were morning stars and sons of God with power to rule and reign over the earth, but they lost it.  Look at what the Psalmist wrote:

·        Psalm 82:1: God stand in the congregation of the mighty; he judges among the gods (elohiyms).  Vs 2: How long will you judge unjustly, and accept the person of the wicked?  Vs 5: They know not, neither will they understand:  they walk on in darkness:  all the foundations of the earth are out of course.

Then look at what God said to Job in chapter 38: 

·        vs 4: Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?  Declare if thou hast understanding.  Vs 7: When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

These foundations were people and Lucifer was one of those foundations, but when he began to exalt himself, God brought him down! 

·        Isaiah 14:12: How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!  How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

But God was now ready to call back into existence a people into whom He would again shine His marvelous light of intelligence through and give them His mind and power to again reign over the earth.

·        Genesis 1:3: And God said, “Let there be light”, and there was light!    

LET as a verb means to allow; permit; propose; cause; assign.  God (Elohim), the Creator was now allowing, permitting, or giving the creation the assignment to be replenished or restored to its original form before the chaos [disorder; confusion; abyss; void; formlessness] set in!!!  Hallelujah!!!

This word light here is the root word owr (ore), meaning illumination or luminary (lightning; happiness); to kindle; (be, en-, give, show) light (en, ened); set on fire; shine.

God was ready to restore back to His creation or creatures, that He was going to call Adam, the illumination, the fire, the happiness, knowledge, wisdom, dominion, authority, and power that had been and is inclusive of what Isaiah 11 speaks of:  which is all that’s contained in the Spirit of the LORD.  Hallelujah!!! 

·        Vs 2: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear (reverence) of the LORD.   

These luminaries were later called Adam.  Genesis 1:26: And God said, Let us make man (Adam) in our image, after our likeness:  and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.  Vs 27: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.  Vs 28: And God blessed them and God said unto them, “Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it:  and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth”.

Again, what is “light”?  Light is the understanding principle (nature; premise; source) in the mind.

In divine order it always comes first into consciousness.  

As I said earlier, light is a symbol of intelligence!  It’s also a symbol of wisdom!

When Jesus said, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12), He meant that He was the expresser of Truth in all its aspects.

Psalm 86:11: Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.

John 8:32: And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

John 16:13: Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth.

 “And as He is, so are we, in this world” (1^st John 4:17)!!

We are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14). We are intelligence!!! We are wisdom!!!

That means that wherever we go, we bring the light of God with us like Yashua’ did!

Why??? Because we are Light!  The “Light”, meaning the illumination of Spirit is resident in the center of every man’s being. Whew!!!! Isn’t that good news…….that Light resides within YOU?? 

·        1^st Thessalonians 5:5: You are all the “children” (sons) of light, and the children of the day:  we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

So, expect someone to respond to the light of God that is in you.

Don’t be discouraged if there is a period of shock or even resistance.

Just do what you do best—keep on shining!

You are a “weapon of light” and those who are living in darkness will begin to respond in a good way!

This is the magnificent [grand; splendid; awe-inspiring; noble; superb] light!  God has put His Light into the minds of His people.

·        1^st Corinthians 2:16 “But we have the mind of Christ”! 

·        Philippians 2:5-6, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God”.

God Himself remains the source and goal of all things, but He has chosen to make “Light” (knowledge, wisdom, intelligence) the power that wields the weapon of His Word.                                  

Wield meaning to exercise or use God’s power, which is His authority, influence, etcetera; as in ruling or dominating.  To “wield” means to use (a weapon, instrument,  effectively; handle or employ actively. This is why we need on the “whole armor” of God that’s spoken of in Ephesians 6:10-18, but those pieces of armor will not operate “effectively” without the “armor of light” mentioned in Romans 13:12, and the “armor of righteousness” mentioned in 2^nd Corinthians 6:7!

God Himself remains the source of that power, but He grants us the privilege and joy of being the instrument of light to the ones in darkness, and the privilege to use the “light” to deliver them out of the darkness!

Look people of God we as Sons of God desires to “Mirror” (reflect) God!!!!

I believe all of you somewhere within your heart want to be the instruments of God's power to shed light.

The reason I am confident of this is that every one of you are created in God's image and after His likeness.

Each one of you was created to be a “conscious mirror” of God's image.                      A “mirror” is a glass in which you can see yourself; any surface that reflects light!  A mirror reflects or gives true description; something to be imitated; a model; example; or pattern.

You were created to consciously reflect God’s glory like a mirror of God's image.

Before sin entered the world, the Adam people were mirrors of His glory.  But the light was distorted by sin.

In a sense, the distortion was only slight, but it was the difference between day and night.

It is the difference between wanting to reflect His face and wanting to take His place.

The glory of a mirror is to put its face to the light and to let that light shine.

This is what mirrors are made for. This is the deep longing of the heart, being a conscious mirror of God.

 But when sin enters in and its first manifestation is to make us discontent with being mirrors, then men (mankind) want to be their own source of light. They began to feel that mirrors are just glass with a thin black coating of tin and mercury.  Man, suddenly became conscious of the fact that to be a good mirror you have to turn whichever way the light moves, meaning the “True” Light!  So, they (mankind) chose to be their own source of light. They turned their brilliant mirror-faces away from God, and now all they can do is block His light and cast a shadow across the world.  A shadow is an interruption of the light.

We want the world to revolve around our interests.  This is the way the “natural or carnal man” thinks!

We want to decide for ourselves which way to turn our faces. (Speaking of the natural [carnal; flesh] man).

We want people to esteem us and admire us and compliment us. We don't like the thought of being a mirror which has no beauty except in the thing it reflects. We don't like the idea of having to turn our face wherever the light wants to go.  We want to be our own light – [speaking of self-gratification].

This comes with our fallen humanity. It is the very essence of sin.

But this universal experience of sin is Satan's distortion of something wonderful.  It is Satan’s way of trying to destroy the marvelous light in God’s people, and the wonderful thing of the pure and righteous longing to be used by God to reflect His glory in the world.

Look!  It's not wrong to want to be significant.  It's wrong to want your significance to reside in yourself instead of in the one you reflect!

It's not wrong to want to be important.  It's wrong to want your importance to be in yourself instead of the one you reflect!

It's not even wrong to boast, but "Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord!" (Ephesians 2:9).

Concealed deep beneath our pride and our craving for esteem and our love of power and influence is a good thing that has been distorted, namely, the longing to be a mirror of God.

To be a mirror of God is the highest honor to which a creature can aspire.

And the most ludicrous sight in the world is a created mirror turning away from the light of God and then trying on its own to make a little spark to brighten the shadow it casts on the world!

What I have been trying to show is that each of you, if not consciously, at least subconsciously wants to be a conscious mirror of God to enhance light to someone in darkness.

That is, you want to have a significant place in the purposes of God. You want to be God’s instrument in accomplishing something worthwhile.

To have the significance and the importance of reflecting the glory of God we must constantly pray.  Because prayer is the way we mirror God.                                              So, we mirror God through prayer!!!

•       Ephesians 6:18-19: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.  And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel.

A mirror faces away from itself to its source of light so that it might have some use in the world, and prayer faces away from itself toward God so that it might be of some use in the world.

A mirror is designed to receive light and channel it for the good of others, and prayer is designed to receive grace and channel it for the good of others.

The value of a mirror is not in itself, but in its potential to let something else be seen! And the value of prayer is not in itself, but in its potential to let the power and beauty of God be seen!

 A mirror is utterly dependent on the source of light from outside itself, and prayer is the posture of the kneeling vessel, utterly dependent on the resources and kindness of the Heavenly Father that’s within him/her.

So praying is the way we mirror God!

And since we are in the image of God, and since we have a deep desire to be a mirror of God, then it is also true that, buried somewhere in your subconscious is the longing to be a person of fervent and effective prayer.

Here are some Scriptures that may shed some light on this armor:

John 12:36: While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spoke Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.

Ephesians 5:8: For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:  ⁹ For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth.  ¹⁰ Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.  ¹¹ And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.  ¹² For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.  ¹³ But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.  ¹⁴ Wherefore he said, “Awake thou that sleeps, and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light”.

Colossians 1:12:  Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.

1^st Thessalonians 5:5: Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

The word “day” in the Greek means to be tamed. We have become domesticated, manageable, and calm. If an animal is not domesticated, they are considered wild.  We have become domesticated or tamed by the Holy Ghost so that we can glorify God in the earth.

We also have become broken (another meaning of tamed); to be subdued; to be meek; to be gentle; to be humble, manifesting the fruit of God's Spirit.   

 1^st Peter 5:6: Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due season.

1^st John 1:7: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.

1^st John 2:10: He that loves his brother abides in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.

So people of God…….God said, “He will make you this day a weapon of the light against the darkness of this hour".  So rise up and act as the light and expect the darkness and evil that would come near you to dispel.”

Dear Lord, I thank you for making me a “weapon of the light”! “I will let my light shine through my actions, character, words, and attitude”!

“As people see me, let them see YOU, Lord”.  “I have faith that someone will respond to Your Light inside of me and receive a touch from YOU that will change them forever”!

“In the Matchless Name of Yashua’,  the Christ, Amen!” 

HALLELUJAH!!!!!!                    

Clap Your Hands and Give God The Highest Praise!

Assist Pastor Jackie Burton