A light in dark places

"Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you." -Isaiah 60:1 (NKJV)

This verse has recently been brought to my attention. At first, it's easy to take it at face value and think, "Yay! get up early in the morning, worship God, He's shining on me!" And there's nothing wrong with that thought, but as I have recently been made aware, that's only half of it. Let's look at it from a different version:

"ARISE [from the depression and prostration in which circumstances have kept you--rise to a new life]! Shine (be radiant with the glory of the Lord), for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you!" (AMP)

Let's dissect this. The first part of this verse: ARISE. That means, get up, dust yourself off. It doesn't matter what life or people have thrown at you or onto you. Get up from your beaten down position and MOVE. If you lay in the same spot, your circumstances will NEVER change.

The second part of this verse: SHINE. Not only is God shining on you, but He shines His light on you, so you can turn around and shine for Him! Think of it like a mirror. When you shine a flashlight into a mirror, you get an exact replica of the flashlight's light shining back onto the flashlight. But what's more, you can direct that mirror to shine light in other areas of the room to illuminate that area. That's awesome! God (the flashlight) is shining on us (the mirror) so we not only can show forth His light to others, but be an EXACT reflection of His light and glorify Him with it!!

Choose today to be "radiant with the glory of the Lord". Get up, move, make something happen. Don't let life beat you down, keep you there, and make you useless because of guilt, lethargy, depression, or anger. That's just what Satan wants, is to make you of no effect in your world. There are people out there in the dark who need to have God's light in their life. Be that beacon in the darkness and show them what you've been made of!

***Jess