Sowers of Light: Overtaking Darkness

God desires our hearts.  He actually pursues us and our hearts which is why, in His love for us, He gives us free will.  When I finally surrendered and gave God all of me (at least at this point I think all of me) my heart began a transformation process.

During this process I began to pray and I would find myself praying, “Give me open heart surgery and transform my heart to the heart you intended for me.”  This prayer was straight from the Holy Spirit.  As I prayed this, my heart was softened.

I found myself beginning to pray, “Break my heart for what breaks yours.”  This is beginning to happen more and more, and my heart now breaks for the lost and other Christians like myself who were walking in darkness in areas of their life.  Freedom, love and grace are my new passions.

As I am growing in maturity in my relationship with the Lord, my heart is continually being transformed. My deepening love for Him serves to increase my desire to do His will – not out of a focus on perfection, but rather from a sincere desire to do what the Father’s heart desires.  It’s truly as if He has given me a heart transplant, transplanting my old selfish heart with the heart of Jesus.

The Father’s Heart for Us

The word of God conveys the heart of our Father better than anything I can say.

~ Colossians 3:12-14

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you.  And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

~ Colossians 4:5-6

Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.  Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Social Media & Spiritual Warfare

We, “the church,” need to be very mindful of the message we are sending to the world around us. We have amazing tools at our disposal to reach our world, those God has placed within our sphere of influence.

Social Media is a tool that all-out spiritual warfare is being waged through. Click To Tweet

I’ve seen it used by both sides. It can be used as a tremendous tool for God’s messages to the body.  In my own life, I’ve God uses it to shatter lies of the enemy through simple blog posts, etc.  Short videos also express powerful truths.

I have also seen it used as a tool of division and strife. I’ve seen judgment, gloating and ridiculing abound throughout social media, especially during the political season.  Satan can have a field day through the platform of social media.

That being said, I have noticed war being waged on both sides over social media. I saw God at work moving the hearts of men and women to rise up in prayer and social media played a big part in spreading that message. Social media can be a powerful battle strategy.Click To Tweet

All of these disclaimers aside, this is what I heard the Holy Spirit say to the Body of Christ.  We, “the Church,” need to be very mindful of what the Holy Spirit desires us to speak via social media.  We need to let Colossians 4:5-6 be our guide.

Through the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, we can walk forward in our faith without compromising without judging those who are in a different place in their walk or not walking with God at all.

These people are not our enemy. We want to reach these people. We need to make the most of every opportunity and responsibly use our voice to advance the Kingdom of God.  Social media is an excellent opportunity.

God can use each and every one of us to extend open arms on social media, refraining ourselves through His grace…not judging, gloating or ridiculing others. Click To Tweet

He wants us to see the big picture.  Gloating, rubbing in political victories, etc. in the face of those in our world only serves to hurt us in reaching the world around us for Christ! It’s divisive and it’s contrary to the Word of God. We aren’t walking in love when we do this.

As we daily come before God asking for our own hearts to be transformed, His love will well up within us.  It’s that love that will transform the world around us.

Sowers of Light

God often uses His physical laws to teach us about His spiritual laws. He speaks to me often using nature and science as His examples.  Jesus taught in this way as well.

Think about this one simple truth.  At night when we walk outside with no lights on, it’s “pitch black” and we can find ourselves stumbling over things that are right in front of us.  The darkness seems impenetrable, yet it is absolutely not.

Even a tiny light can make all of the difference and no matter how vast the night seems, it is powerless against the rays of sun as they break forth into the dawn. Before we know it, the light is so bright we are shielding our eyes against it’s intensity.

We can be this light. We can make a powerful impact on the world around us. We can choose to be led by the Holy Spirit in what we speak in person or on social media. Click To Tweet

We can seek God before we forward other posts we come across. We can be bold in our faith and share our own testimonies on social media.

We can be a light that blazes out into that darkness and division that the enemy sows, sowing light which ALWAYS overtakes darkness.  Just as the night cannot hold back the rays of light from the sun, so our light will blaze forth.

Originally Posted: February 14, 2017