Light in the Depths

“And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.” ‭I John‬ ‭3:23 ‭NKJV‬‬ Jesus purchased our lives with His sacrifice and has therefore granted us access into Heaven, saving us from an eternal life of damnation. All Christians know this as truth, and therefore know that we have security in Heaven. However, what about the rest of our lives spent here on Earth? “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Ephesians‬ ‭2:10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬. God has a specific calling for each and every one of our lives as Christians. There is a purpose that God has for us, and as long as we remain obedient to His commandants, He will be able to fulfill that purpose in our lives. However, just as we can see in the life of David, it doesn't always seem like that's going to be the case. God’s promises in our lives don't always seem...

“Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.” But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭24:36-39‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ I was thinking for a long time about how to begin writing this IBS, but I think this passage will start it off beautifully. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowsh...

“Remember the word to Your servant, Upon which You have caused me to hope. This is my comfort in my affliction, For Your word has given me life.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭119:49-50‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ How often does do we forget that our promises given to us by the Lord are irrevocable? How often does the enemy attack our minds and try to twist our thoughts into thinking that what God has promised us isn’t attainable? “Why do you say, O Jacob, And speak, O Israel: “My way is hidden from the LORD, And my just claim is passed over by my God”? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, The...

“Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭30:5‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ Spiritual warfare continues to be a great mountain for me  to climb recently, and I've seen it being a mountain of difficulty even amongst my teammates. The enemy is always seeking to kill, steal, and destroy the work in which God is doing (John 10:10), and I know that is what He’s seeking to do with my life currently. He is seeking to steal and destroy the work that the Lord has been doing in me recently, and has tried to put to death the promises in which the Lord has already given me. He has even sought to decimate the joy in which Abba has graced me with through my salvation in Jesus and the fullness in which I can receive Him on a daily level. However, recently I had the absolute privilege of reading through Matthew 27 in one of my devotions, and then getting to read through Psalm 22 in a group devotion afterwards. It gave me the most beautiful picture of how propheti...

“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” ‭‭Philippians‬ ‭4:8‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ Some days it seems almost impossible to NOT think on the negative things throughout your day. Every little comment, every annoying interaction, every boring chore, every physical pain, every moment spent away from people you love, the list is endless. It seems like the cards are completely stacked against you. Your flesh is just screaming to come out and seems almost untamable. You feel like you are just losing control of yourself, and a foreign being is taking control of you. How are you to maintain victory on days like these? On days when you want nothing more than to lash out, how do you keep yourself from doing so? Every single direction you look around to seems to aggravate an...

“But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭9:36-37‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ There are so many people in this world that are trapped in spiritual emptiness or brokenness. There are so many people that are lost in the world and don't have any one to lead them to the Truth that is Jesus Christ. And even still there are so many Christians that know Christ but are stuck in their walks. They have claimed Jesus as their Lord and Savior, but have been distracted by some combination of the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. And because of all of these people’s failures to come to or remain in the Highway of Holiness that is our Lord, they are beat up, harassed, and left hurting by this earth that we live in. They are being lead down a path that leads only to death and may nev...

“The tongue of the righteous is choice silver; The heart of the wicked is worth little.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭10:20‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ It is easy to for me to tell when I am talking to a mature Christian person, as I feel it should be for any disciple of the Lord. The way in which they speak is always edifying to the Lord, and you can hear the love and character of God in their voices. Not every person has the same character traits and gifts that God has uniquely given them, but they all tend to hold the love of God inside of them, and all His wisdom that comes with knowing such love. About two months ago I was graced with meeting a couple here after church one Sunday. I met them in the cafe that we have here at church and our conversation just started out as a friendly hello. It did help that they were a white couple, being that you don't see too many here in Africa, but I just felt led to speak to them. After talking for a while with them I learned so much about their lives, the family that th...

“Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭4:10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ This battle between Jesus and Satan is most likely the best example to follow when it comes to our fight with spiritual warfare. A few days ago the Lord allowed me to be tested in my own warfare with the Devil. It had been quite a while since I felt an attack from the enemy that was so strong and that lasted so long. Unfortunately I didn't perform to well, but through it the Lord showed me how much He wants to grow me and humbled me by reminding me how new I am in my faith. Then the following day, Matthew chapter four was a part of my devo and the Lord spoke to me through this verse. When Satan was first attacking Jesus, He was speaking to Jesus in partial truths. He was trying to twist Jesus’s idea of who the Father really was and how He acts. But Jesus maintained His faith in remembering who God was and what His ch...

““Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;” ‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭7:9‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ How great is our God? The God “who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us,” II Corinthians‬ ‭1:10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬. What surety and comfort we can have in this verse. So often we think that God doesn't want to bless us, provide for us, teach us, or even come through on the promises that He’s given us. We see ourselves as the Old Testament Israelites, constantly failing to live up to the Lord’s standards, never making Him proud. But then comes God, ““He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, Nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. The LORD his God is with him, And the shout of a King is among them.” ‭Numbers‬ ‭23:21‬ ‭NKJV‬‬. Even in our failings, as long as we always come to Him in repentance, He sees us as holy and righteou...

“Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”” ‭‭John‬ ‭6:29‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ As I've been going through the book “We Would See Jesus” the Lord has been showing me so much about how I need to truly just look to Him and no one else. A little bit ago I had a person from church ask me to read through Isaiah 35 because it was something they had been reading through. And when I read through it it was such a blessing. It was amazing to just see Jesus jump off the page as I was reading that passage. The entire passage was wonderful, especially when Jesus is referred to as the “Highway of Holiness”. And how true it felt in that moment of reading it. How much joy it gave me realizing that all we have to do is just see Jesus and God’s grace is enough for us. But that's the thing, throughout my time here, I wasn't always looking to Jesus in this way, as the way. I was looking to Him as my king and savior, but I had been falling into a h...

“So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.”” ‭‭II Kings‬ ‭4:2‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ This story of Elisha has come up a couple of times in my life recently, but yesterday I finally saw what I feel the Lord has been trying to reveal to me through this message. The full meaning of the container in this story isn't just supposed to be any jar of oil, but a jar of anointing oil. And not just any jar, but a flask, something small. Uganda has been absolutely amazing and I have grown so much here spiritually. But even with all the love I have for this place, I still have been so tired and I have been dragging a lot this last month. The Lord has remained my strength through it all, but at times I'm just so drained, I feel as though I have so little left in my tank. In this story, I see Elisha’s voice as the Lord’s, asking me what I have to continue on for these next three m...

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” ‭‭II Timothy‬ ‭1:7‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ As I've spent my time here in Uganda I've come to really see the Holy Spirit working through me and overpower my fleshly instincts. I never saw it so clearly before, but for me personally, when I've been in fear about certain things or thoughts, it's because I'm choosing to remain in a fearful mindset instead of a righteous one. I’ve come to realize that fear is just an act of the flesh. Instead of thinking on the true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy, Heavenly things, and trusting in my all-powerfull God, I, in my flesh, decide to think on the things that are without light, hope, or joy. When I'm acting in the flesh, I fall so easily into those worry some moods, and if i continue to stay in that mindset, I will fall deeper into the pit of fear that Satan hopes to keep me in. And if I'm frozen in worry and ...

“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;” ‭‭Philippians‬ ‭1:3-6‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ I feel like God has really been trying to bring great joy into my life through these few verses. I've been going through Philippians a lot lately and I feel as though every time I come to this set of verses that I am driven to prayer for my fellow believers. And I am not just driven to prayer, but I'm driven there through a sense of faith and joyousness. See when I read this verse, I think of my friends, family, teammates, and many other believers that I have become acquainted with over the past year. And because I know that like me they are also believers, I know that they are saved, and that the have the same hope in Jesus Christ that I have. ...

““He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, Nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. The LORD his God is with him, And the shout of a King is among them.” ‭‭Numbers‬ ‭23:21‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ How amazing this word from the Lord is. Now this verse is from the perspective of people who are outside of the nation of Israel, and I think it is a great depiction of how I at times feel about myself. See the preceding chapters before chapter twenty-two are all about Israel’s complaining and failing to remain faithful to the Lord. Every time the Lord punished them for their sinfulness, but soon after the people would repent and God would continue to bless them, although there were consequences for the decisions they made against God, including being kept out of the promised land. From the perspective of Moses and the Israelites they seemed like such a disobedient and disgraceful group attempting to follow the Lord. But from an outer perspective looking into the country of Israel, God considers them a righte...

“Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, But a good word makes it glad.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭12:25‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ While being in Montana, the Lord has truly been growing me in understanding how He wants me to use my giftings. It has been something that has constantly been in my prayers and He has definitely been answering those prayers. Encouragement has been something that He's really been trying to grow me in. It's amazing to see how much He's been my encourager and through that I have been able to learn how to encourage others. But at times it honestly isn't as easy as it sounds to simply encourage someone. Encouragement is just like any other gift of the Spirit, you have to be Spirit-filled in order to minister with this gift effectively. It's so easy for words that have failed to be completely selfless and Spirit lead to just bounce right off of people and be completely ineffective. At times they can even impact the person negatively and sink them deeper into wha...

And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for his heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen. 2 Timothy 4:18 NKJV The fact the Paul makes this statement at the end of this letter is truly glorifying unto the Lord. This letter was written at the end of Paul’s life and at the end of his ministry. And if we know anything about Paul, we know that he suffered for the sake of the gospel. Aside from all the physical hardships that he suffered he also suffered endless issues from churches and fellow saints. So many issues that he felt responsible for and so many people that needed to hear from him. Not to mention all of the false teachers that not only tried to teach different doctrines but also tried to twist his. We also see how just several verses before this one that Paul even had fellow saints abandon him in perhaps his most desperate hour. These were Paul’s brothers, one of which was Titus, who received a letter from Paul that was placed in the...

“Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to draw, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.” Matthew 28:1 NKJV Out of all the people who had been following Jesus throughout His sufferings in His death and afterwards, the two Mary’s might’ve been the two that were the most loyal to Christ and the strongest believers of His promise. That He would rise again. Just before this section of scripture we see these two women having been witnesses of Jesus’s death and having been at the tomb when Jesus was buried. They wanted to be with their Lord. They didn’t understand why everything had happened, but they knew that Jesus’s death was all according to the plan, and they remained persistent in following Him, even when it seemed like all hope had died with their savior. However, because of their loyalty to Him they were the first to see His power displayed, and were the first two that Jesus revealed Himself to. There will be times in life when things just don...

““O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, In the secret places of the cliff, Let me see your face, Let me hear your voice; For your voice is sweet, And your face is lovely.”” ‭‭Song of Solomon‬ ‭2:14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ Ever since I was in Montana I feel that the Lord has really been trying to grow my prayer life. He has been trying to get me to expand my prayers and truly come to His throne regularly throughout my day. I am usually speaking to Him pretty often and I feel as though I have a rather decent prayer life, but He has really put it on my heart to pray much more fervently, both in spirit and in petition. Honestly at first, and even still at times, I feel like some of my prayers start out either forced, wrongly timed, or even just unnecessary altogether. Especially when I pray about things repeatedly or just go into a time of prayer not exactly knowing what I'm supposed to be praying about. But in almost every circumstance, the Lord has continued to show me how untrue that is. He ha...

“Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭9:37‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ For the past couple of days I've been reading Fresh Wind Fresh Fire and the Lord has been really speaking to me about my future. Coming here I wasn't really sure of what the Lord had for me in life, but I was pretty sure He was calling me to ministry. Now I still don't have a clue of where God is going to take me or how the Lord wants to truly use me, but reading Jim Cymbala’s book has been really encouraging. One thing that it has definitely shown me is that I don't have to be prepared for whatever the Lord has for me. Yes I should do my best to be prepared, but the Lord is going to be the one that leads my life, just as He did for Jim and his wife. It has also showed me how much that God has been working on my soul. He has been spiritually growing me so much and has been opening me up more and more every day. I've been so free to just be myself...

“Then Moses pleaded with the LORD his God, and said: “ LORD, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?” ‭‭Exodus‬ ‭32:11‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ The word is filled with promises from our God. As we got to discuss with a lot of teens at a kids camp that we were just a part of, the number of God’s promises in His word are almost uncountable. But those aren't the only things that the Lord promises us. Something that Team Uganda got to hear from Joe Focht in a teaching on Romans was how all believers, like Abraham, have personal promises from God that are only between us and Him. And these promises may at times make us feel very alone, and like no one else understands, but that is because only God understands our hearts. But even knowing that we've been given those promises, at times we may forget about them, or not remember them to be from God and think that they are just from ourselves. Abraham ha...