3 Secrets To Seeing In The Dark
Written by Cheryl Boyce for Impact Church, Toronto
Note To Parents:
Welcome Back to Impact Church Toronto’s Week 9 in the Fighting Words Series. We are a welcoming church located in the Yonge and Eglinton area that wants to support our community both on and offline.
This week we’re talking about navigating our lives when we can’t see the way forward. We’ve included three ways that you and your family can begin to practice hearing and following God’s direction. Encourage your children to start to listen for God’s voice when they pray. We’d love to hear from you this week on Instagram to see how God has spoken to you and your family. If you have any specific needs or prayer requests feel free to email us at contact@impactto.ca or DM us on Instagram at @impactchurchto
We’re praying for you!
Have a great week!
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DEVOTIONAL
Have you ever heard of Amy Grant? No?! Then let me fill you in.
Amy Grant was the Christian queen of pop back in the ’80s and ’90s. She won six Grammy awards and 22 Gospel Dove Awards. Every little girl that grew up in church during that era had her tapes and would sing her songs. On her fifth album, she penned a song based on Psalm 119:105 called “Thy Word.”
Over the years, I’ve caught myself humming the chorus:
“Thy Word
Is A Lamp Unto My Feet
And A Light Unto My Path”
It has reminded me that when I’m unsure about moving forward in life, what direction I should take or how I should behave that I can turn to the Bible for guidance.
As we grow and mature, there are so many decisions that we encounter. Decisions like who are we going to be when we grow up? What school to go to? Where to live? How to respond in difficult situations? Who to befriend and who not to befriend? The choices are endless, and it can be so hard to know if the decision you’re making is the right one.
It often feels like we’re walking blindly in the dark and hoping that we’re doing the right thing.
God didn’t want us to live our lives like that. Over and over in the bible, he reminds us that He is the light and that He will illuminate our lives.
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never be in darkness.”
John 8:12
What a bold promise Jesus made here. The promise that if we follow him, we will live in the light.
The big question in response to this then is, how do I live in the light?
3 Steps To Lighting Up Your Future
Step 1 - Set Aside Time: In our memory verse (fighting words), God doesn’t promise to show us our future. He doesn’t promise to be our personal fortune teller, letting us know the ins and outs of all our days to come. What the scripture does say is that reading the bible will illuminate our feet, which will help us with our next step and our path, which will give us direction.
It’s important to set aside time to read God’s word and see what God has said. The bible is God’s voice written down for us so it can be applied to our lives even now, although it was written so long ago.
Step 2 - Listen To The Holy Spirit: The Bible promises that the Holy Spirit will speak to us and remind us of what Jesus had said. It’s so important to take the time to invite the Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts and show us how we are to put into practice what the Bible is telling us to do.
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.
John 14:26
In this scripture, we’re promised that the Holy Spirit will teach us and help to bring Jesus’ words to remembrance.
This is why it is important to remember the scriptures and have them tucked away in our hearts. This is why we call them our “fighting words.” When we know the scriptures, the Holy Spirit can remind us of them, and then we can use them to fight whatever battle we may be facing.
Step 3 - ACT! : A light is only useful if we use it and pay attention to where it is guiding us. The same is true of reading God’s word and hearing from the Holy Spirit. It’s so important to not only read it but to do it. James 1:22 talks about this, specifically.
He says, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”
Sometimes we read the bible, then go about our day and forget about the direction we were given. When we do this, we can trick ourselves into believing that God doesn’t really speak to us because our way forward still seems so dark. The problem isn’t that God didn’t provide light for us to see our way; the problem is that we forgot to follow the light.
It can be so easy to do what we think is right, but life will be so much better when we learn to lean into God’s word and choose to be obedient to what the Holy Spirit is teaching us.
Some of the best advice ever given can be found in Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord, with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
In the end it makes so much sense to trust the Father. He loves us, and he wants to illuminate our next steps. He wants to provide us direction. What that will require from us is to set aside time with him, listen to the Holy Spirit, act on what he teaches us and trust that he is a good Father and always has our back.
Some Stuff To Think About
Question 1: When can you set aside time to read or listen to God’s word? Make a plan.
Question 2: Do you find it challenging to understand the Bible? If so, take some time to ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand and teach you to hear his voice.
Challenge: This week, challenge yourself to make it a daily habit to read a scripture from God’s word. Then ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand it and show you how to act on it. We have included a free printable for you to use.
PRAYER
(Here’s a prayer to pray together or on your own as you memorize your “Fighting Words” this week.)
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for the Bible. Thank you that you left us with your words to study it and learn it and use it to direct our lives. God, we’re thankful for the Holy Spirit and that you sent him to teach us. We pray that you would teach us how to hear his voice. Lord, help us to remember your words and how to live by them in our day to day lives. Help us to know how to use your teachings to make the right decisions and to follow the path that you have set out for us.
We love you!
In Jesus’ name, we pray,
Amen!