Day Star part 2
Jesus is the day star. The bright morning star. The sunshine (SONshine). And that's important to understand because Jesus is God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in OUR flesh. Love in OUR body. So when the day star arises in our hearts, when we see things clearly, we see that its all about love. Love is what lights everything up. The Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto your path, right? And the Word is Jesus. The Word is love. The problem is that we create a lot of our problems. We stumble around in the dark because we don't know that the light is already shining. Look at one of my favorite Bible verses: "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee" (Isaiah 60:1). And notice, because this is so important, we don't try to shine in order to get the light to come. We shine BECAUSE the light has come. BECAUSE the glory of the Lord HAS (and IS) risen upon us. Yesterday I used to picture of turning a light on in a dark room and not being in a dark room anymore. But in reality, WE don't have to turn the light on at all. Jesus did that 2000 years ago on the cross. And, really, He did it before anybody did anything. The Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world. The new day dawned before you ever had to worry about what day it is. We don't have to do anything to make it happen. Just arise... and shine. Let what's inside come out, by knowing and believing that its in there. The day star arises in our hearts when we know and believe that He is in our hearts. What's inside comes out, when you know and believe its in there. Whatever you believe is inside you WILL come out. Whatever it is, its too big to stay inside. So find out what's really in there. Let God love you. That's the difference between Adam and Jesus. Luke 3:38 identifies Adam as the son of God. Right? God created him from the dust of the ground. But Adam didn't know that God loved Him. God DID love him. God is love. He loves everybody. There's nothing else He could possibly do. But Jesus is the beloved Son of God because Jesus let Himself BE loved by God. He knows who His Father is. And while Adam ran FROM God when he thought he'd messed up--because he thought God was going to punish him--Jesus always ran TO God no matter what. Jesus would go off by Himself and pray. He would spend time with His heavenly Father. Because He knew who He was, and He knows who His Father is. Knowing and believing is so vitally important. That's why God gave us His Holy Spirit; so that we might know and believe that He loves US. Because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth that leads and guides us into all truth. The truth that God is love and He loves you. The truth that we CAN arise and shine because the light--the glory, the LOVE--of God HAS risen upon us. That light, that glory, that love, rising up on us is what equips and empowers us TO arise and shine. The day star rises in our hearts, and we are lifted up above all the stuff that's trying to drag us down. And I'm here to tell you, when love is holding you up... nothing and nobody can drag you down!