STUDIES FROM BRETHREN IN CHRIST

11/19/2017 ~ Darkness Uncovered

⛯   Darkness1AM.mp3 (41m 31s)   Darkness2PM.mp3 (41m 49s)                                    Darkness.pptx          SheepGoats.pptx                                                          Sheep/Goats added 12/5/21   SheepGoatsAM.mp3 (24m 53s) Darkness oh darkness, how art thou able to see? We are all in the light of His love. For You will light my lamp; The LORD my God will enlighten my darkness. ~ Psalms 18:28 Stumbling from one day to the next, sometimes just searching to breathe, has many dumbfounded as to the reasons we are alive. Is it only to suffer? Many qualities are at play in the rising of a spirit. One cannot achieve greater understandings of why without the help of God through His explaining word. Insights for spiritual living avails one to see clearly. "... when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness. ..." ~ Luke 11:34-36 Darkness is upon those who lack purpose in His brilliance. Direction in life is the light that delivers juice; it may or may not involve godly pursuits. A vague haze lingers on the spiritually blind as impulse pours out in desperation. A rat cannot see what the eagle perceives. Knowledge is the road to enlightenment upon understanding. How and what we seek establishes the good and or bad character that rules us. "... 'to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, ...'" ~ Acts 26:18 It is the light of God that has come, to uncover the darkness, so the blind may be able to rise from their horrible pits of disgust for self. The foundation of a soul requires love and peace if true maturity is to be achieved. Allowing His presence delivers those things unobtainable through mortal means. Light’s warmth expels the cold darkness. Come to His lifting Spirit and find what cannot be tangibly found. It is a choice to rise in His light or descend in to the darkness. He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness ... ~ 1st John 2:9-11 Insincerity is the plague of all genuine. A blaming soul can cling to a haughty mask which covers the darkness of a sinking heart. Hate is the fall into the pit of no return. Isolations best friend is a lone violin no one hears. Anger is heard loudest in the one who is angry. Love conquerors anger and is how one comes to possess oneself. Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." ~ John 8:12 His redemption is the escape clause from all that would destroy one. In His light we see. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. ~ John 1:4-5 One can avoid the light but it does not change the fact of light. If one wants to be truly alive, in the fullest sense, it can only be achieved in His Grace and truth. "... light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." ~ John 3:19 True spiritual darkness has no flavor for open godliness in its’ self-seeking and hidden lustful venues. "... Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. ..." ~ John 12:35-36 As our lives are but a fading brief moment, arrival to His doorstep, and light’s eternal entrance, is an inevitability for all. To dismiss His light is to reject life itself in a hollow demise leading to the eventuality of being left alone in the darkness. "I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness." ~ John 12:46 Belief in Christ shows us how to rely on God Himself while purging the unwanted darkness. Darkness is the destiny this universe flows into. We are meant to be greater than that which we can perceive. Out of the darkness of the womb we are born in to the light. Our eternal being is developing, rising from the darkness, born in this womb of His light, for those that hear the call and see the truth of His design. As fetuses are blind to the greater extent of the outside, so we too must realize the boundaries of our spiritual awakenings as we develop inside. True Faith is by design meant to draw one into eternity. A lifetime is just a small sense of what yet can be seen. "... Is of few days and full of trouble. He comes forth like a flower and fades away; He flees like a shadow and does not continue." ~ Job 14:1-2 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, ... ~ 1st John 3:10 Distinguishing souls of God         of God → practice righteousness of the devil → does not love For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light ... ~ Ephesians 5:8-10 Self forgiveness is often roughest when one carries evil deeds from the past or say the baggage of guilt immersed in repentance. Releasing and abandoning those evil deeds enables a better spirit to rise from that darkness left to the past. It is the present that the Lord is interested in. All carry the burdens of living, but the path is either one of rising goodness or descending oblivion. Either it is a focus on service to others or various vices of drugs and or alcohol in which self consuming misery covers a painful life in search of unreachable love. True love originates from the source in which it came. Returning to Him allows relief from self. To be secure in God one must take control of the reigns of desire. We need to bring the light of His truth near to fend off the darkness that lurks seeking to destroy all goodness. Thoughts are the power of a soul. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. ... ~ Ephesians 5:11-13 In an age where darkness rules the land, light is hated for the truth that it is. What is disgusting will always remain disgusting and as civilization exalts the abominations of evil, excusing them as good, our monuments of nobility and integrity crumble in the shadows of shame. Each individual must come to his or her own light, and cast off this shadow of deception for true salvation of Spirit to be had. Faith is what is sober in us. ... God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. ~ 1st John 1:5 Light holds no lie Fellowship in Him = Practice the Truth To be in the light of God one must practice truth for a lie of any color is darkness. ... "Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light." ... ~ Ephesians 5:14-16 Not coming to His unending light of truth only leaves a soul rambling in foolishness. He is serious about calling us to be serious as the times are evil. To miss His message for life in the light has the real potential of leading to death in the darkness. We need to carry our responsibility, duty if you will, or reasonable service, called out for by the Lord our God. No one or thing can replace God who is in each of us. ... against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. ~ Ephesians 6:12 ... whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. ~ 2nd Peter 2:17 As individuals we are unable to purge the larger evils which have already come. There are many Mr. Evil’s. God’s rule will eventually subdue all darkness. Pray as individuals may we be found in the light, as the darkness is eternally repelled to its permanent destination of nowhere. Pray for our victory in His presence. ... For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? ~ 2nd Corinthians 6:14 To associate with darkness only diminishes the light within. Suffocation is where the air is thick gagging the heart. Darkness has no luster and can only take away any brilliance that can be had. ... proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; ... ~ 1st Peter 2:9 For the true Christian His light shields us from the darkness that destroys the world. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, ... ~ Colossians 1:13-14 His life prepares a path for our return where bliss is eternally upon all in Him. We are now in His kingdom where Christ has paid the sacrificial price for our redemption, if we in heart follow Him in seeking out His ways. This Grace comes to light through His sacrifice in love for all. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light ... ~ 1st Thessalonians 5:4-5 The faithful good hearted march in beat with His will. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. ... ~ 1st Thessalonians 5:6-8 Materialism will consume itself in the dead substance that it is. Spiritual values have worth well beyond the temporal times that confine the mortal. True strength rises to the anchors He has established for our return. Is the gravity of one’s thirst for rocks of this world or that beacon call from eternity’s gates? "The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death Light has dawned." ~ Matthew 4:16 His knowledge of truth has delivered us from the darkness of death, if we open our hearts to see Him for who He is, the Light of Life. Fear is the path of darkness without the torch of His courage. Light has overtaken the darkness. ... judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. ... ~ 1st Corinthians 4:5 It is best to leave it to the good way of God for He will retrieve all that is upright in Himself, rejecting all that is offensive. Pray we are found pleasing in His sight, resting our deepest hopes on His promises, and embracing grace’s protective bosom by which we are buried in the Son of His Love. Darkness fades as a call comes from His Light ● It is the Lord that brings light to a soul ● He instructs us to shine in Him rejecting darkness ● He who hates holds darkness over any light ● His life turns one back to the light over the darkness ● Pursuing Jesus allows light to purge darkness ● Evil defines all that is darkness ● He is the only true path with all blind darkness left behind ● Light orders us to find out what is acceptable to Him ● It is Christ that gives the light of life ● Do not associate with or pursue darkness ● Deliverance is one breath away while He is ● Fill one’s desires soberly in love hoping for salvation ● God will judge the darkness in His light God’s Light calls to the Darkness to Return Have you come to the pools of His truth? Darkness only leaves emptiness in its’ wake. Darkness has no bottom. Darkness is uncovered in the brilliance of His light. ... angels who did not keep their proper domain, ... He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment ... ~ Jude 1:6 Condemned for abandoning loyalty to their Creator God, evil waits exposed in their own naked darkness for His final judgment. Broken from heights of their own making, reserved in the coldness of separate pain. ... the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; ... ~ 2nd Peter 2:4 Confined in their own iniquities, destruction is upon them who have turned from God. If the defiant only realized the exterminating tumultuous state we are in, as angels do, they would surely throw themselves humbly before Him. The proud rise to the deepest pits. ... whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord. ~ 2nd Peter 2:9-11 For those that show no regard, for authority, invite their own demise. God delivers those that pray for an escape from evil, who possess a steadfast patience, and love for Him. It is not an easy path to remain good surrounded by the vortexes of evil’s revelry. True Christians suffer as Lot did in Sodom and Gomorrah. We wait for our awakening at our Master’s feet. "... 'And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' " ~ Matthew 25:30 There is an outer darkness where all unrighteousness will be purged from His presence to their detriment. Casting off the spoon that feeds you has a permanent taste of death in this instance. Come Forth into His Light      Pureness of His Light                             Respectful                                Angels Light in Life                            Truth                  Hope Faith                                 Believers Righteous                                                                    Wise            Rising     SHEEP     Faithful           Children of Light            Forgiveness            of sins Unrighteous                           Liars Fools                                                  Unbelievers  Falling      GOATS    Unfaithful Unprofitable Servant              Hate                           Death      Evil Deeds ⭨               Outer          Darkness Disrespectful Angels Chained         Angels          FALLEN Reserved Darkness                         Love In the realm of His light there are believers and unbelievers. He has revealed what is and what will be. After all is said and done, it is God that remains above all for all that is faithful in His goodness. The righteous will not witness the ultimate demise of the unrighteous, however, the wicked will witness good’s ascension. To dismiss the trumpets played for all to hear is to fall on a fools silent shock. Hearts will deposit where they have sought. ... your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, ... ~ Isaiah 59:1-2 God sees all that is evil though He separates Himself from their wicked pleas. Many broken sticks walk the land. A broken stick can only be repaired through a miraculous means. It is the stick that must call out to be healed as this upwelling prayer in belief and trust is the seed to the request. Hearts fuse where His brilliance shines. ... No one calls for justice, Nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies; ... ~ Isaiah 59:3-4 Evil in its’ bloody lies cannot lie to itself when His justice is revealed. Shame is the worst when we are conceived into death. ... Their works are works of iniquity, And the act of violence is in their hands. ~ Isaiah 59:5-6 There is no refuge from the evils of man where he perpetuates upon the meek. Body’s are torn asunder in the rage of man. Their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; ... ~ Isaiah 59:7-8 Wickedness spins in that black darkness holding calculated callousness. Oblivion is covered in the whip of ignorance. ... We look for light, but there is darkness! For brightness, but we walk in blackness! ~ Isaiah 59:9-10 Blindness is a condition of darkness. ... our sins testify against us; For our transgressions are with us, And as for our iniquities, we know them: ~ Isaiah 59:11-12 A heart cannot hide from His truth as evil is a witness to itself. There is no comfort in evil. ... Speaking oppression and revolt, Conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. Justice is turned back, ... ~ Isaiah 59:13-14 They do not know, nor do they understand; They walk about in darkness; All the foundations of the earth are unstable. ~ Psalms 82:5 Those who would cause the innocent harm are blinded from the truth of God. No man has the power to protect himself from the powers of self seeking lustful greedy envious malicious darkness without the peaceful healing light of God’s own presence. The World Trade Towers destruction, though horrific, is just a small visible outward sign for heinous acts of hate that are happening everyday across this world, where darkness pounces to stomp out the light of God’s own called out for standards of truth. Truths of decency, honor, and love that rise in those possessing true faith and hope for their children’s children crumble in the face of evil’s oppression. Adults fail in raising children if not to teach crucial and critical knowledge of how to live by the nature of all that is true, and in truth over deceptions of man’s lust over all. A disrespectful culture of eat before eaten is devouring our children in ignorance where hate and revenge in envy is magnified over caring in love. Sand consumes the proud in the unforgiving dust of time. So truth fails, And he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. Then the LORD saw it, and it displeased Him That there was no justice. ... And wondered that there was no intercessor; ... ~ Isaiah 59:15-16 Truth emphatically fails where darkness turns from the light. The good of the earth are victims of the jaws of evil as it is the beastly that rule the world. Weapons cripple the use of tools. It is the small minded, who claim greatness as large in themselves, that plow over the poor and afflicted. The only true sanctuary is in the heart where the rich light of God reveals life. God Himself came to earth as He saw no man leading man to Him. To come to God, one has to leave the desires of this world’s wickedness and come to control self with understanding in Him. Spiritual desolation occurs when permanence is placed on that which is temporary. Freedom reaches into eternity. No one has the power to lift life from death other than the One who came to proclaim it as it is. He put on righteousness as a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head; He put on the garments of vengeance ... ~ Isaiah 59:17-18 Knowing man in his ignorance had not the power to bring forth justice in truth, He brought Himself to the earth to establish that standard where light would prevail over the darkness. ... The Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard ... ~ Isaiah 59:19-20 It is through God Himself that man is now able to return with a clean heart directly to Him. ... says the LORD, "this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart ..." ... "from this time and forevermore." ~ Isaiah 59:21 For all that would have Him, He is near with His revealing words. "... He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins." ~ Romans 11:26-27 He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, And light dwells with Him. ~ Daniel 2:22 Then I saw that wisdom excels folly As light excels darkness. ~ Ecclesiastes 2:13 For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light. ~ Psalms 36:9 It was foreordained that God would come in the flesh to reveal the darkness of man; so that man’s thoughts and heart might return to the good intent of creation over the evil devouring and crushing of those who would hope. It is currently a narrow slice of souls that pursue Him wholly in spirit and truth. Darkness pervades the earth in all the unyielding perversions of man. As most seek to escape in their vices, Solomon reveals that understanding has more worth to a soul than unfulfilling follies. As light is ahead of darkness, so does wisdom’s advance place follies as undesirable fading whims; actual hindrances. How powerful the redemption of a soul for all. God’s promise is to save man from himself if He turns back, striving to be more Holy, to our true nature as created for, in His image. ... The way of the wicked is like darkness; They do not know what makes them stumble. ~ Proverbs 4:18-19 It is when a heart shines over the darkness that truth come to be. "... after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people." ~ Hebrews 8:10 In the heart of man beats the truth of God if in submission to Him. This mind of God should be deep upon each of our hearts as we cherish that which has come for us to know God Himself. Salvation is found in the Light He gives ● The Lord is present before all iniquities ● The Lord sees all the evils of corruption ● Evil spawns more evil where there is no cover ● There is no peace in darkness ● Darkness has no sense of light ● The deep truth of light shames unjust darkness ● Liars deceive themselves in honor ● The world tortures the good ● God brought Himself forth revealing light to mankind ● Transgressive hearts return to God through Christ ● The Spirit of God forever remains among us ● Salvation will come to those loyal to God ● Wisdom in the light is superior to follies in the dark Hearts can only see in His light of truth. Darkness conveys all that is empty.