We Can Light Up the World and Change the Atmosphere.
While reading the daily devotional, Finding God in the Hard Places, I learned that the Pew Research Center reported there are 2.2 billion Christians living on the planet and represent about 30% of all the Earth’s inhabitants.
To quote the author, Ashley Abercrombie, if every Christian alive today focused on worshiping God alone and loving their neighbor, we would light up every corner of the Earth!
End Times?
Many believe we are entering the End Times. The Book of Revelations states that we will experience the battle between good and evil, and it will be recognizable. There have been many periods in history where civilization thought we were entering the End Times, and it certainly feels as if this is the time we are entering now. This is also the time when Christians are called to stand.
World In Turmoil
Whether you believe we are in the End Times or not, I believe we can all agree the world is in turmoil. It’s a global dynamic, a tectonic shift of sorts. Many feel hopeless and many that do are Christians. I understand the unsaved feeling that way, but as Christians, we have power and authority through Christ to change the atmosphere. We are roughly 2.2 billion strong. We are being called to represent Christ, put God first, love our neighbors, and serve one another through servant leadership. We are the change.
Lovers of Self
Paul spoke of being lovers of self, and lounging in our own security and not relying on God’s power. Our inability to stand demonstrates that we do not have the conviction to change the world around us. This is a direct affront on God, who gives us wisdom.
Listen, you lovers of pleasure, lounging in your security and saying to yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or suffer the loss of children.
Isaiah 47:8 NIV
Paul told the Corinthians,
My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power. 1 Corinth. 2:4-5 NIV
Battle Ensues
God has equipped us with the power of the Word. He has provided armor to prepare us for battle, we cannot fall prey to the evil ones intent to destroy life as we know it. We must stand together, we are roughly 2.2 billion strong, and a force to be reckoned with.
Light Dwells In Us and Emanates Outward
We have to be the light, the Holy Spirit dwells in us. The world is observing our every move. Speech (talking) is one thing but an observation (seeing) is worth a thousand words. It is easy to claim to be a Christian, but demonstrating our spirituality is something completely different.
Changing the Atmosphere
Our task is to change the atmosphere and the only way to carry out this is to live like Christ. For me that includes minor things like being less critical and judgmental of our Nation’s leaders on FaceBook, not to ‘like’ negative, evil spirited comments, and not accept the behavioral norms defined by social media as my norms.
If you take time to check your actions, thoughts, and deeds, you will learn what you must you change to demonstrate loving God first, loving your neighbors (other people), and becoming servant leaders (putting others before self.)
Ashley Abercrombie shared:
“Friend, if we just lived out Jesus’s two simple commands, don’t you think we could abolish human trafficking, reduce inequities in education, race, gender, economics, as well as develop strategies to end global poverty, terrorism, and more?”
Note: Christianity is not something people subscribe to, it is our life. God is our father. He walked the earth as Christ, died for our sins, and now resides in us in the form of the Holy Spirit.
Images – Google Images; Bible.com/Youversion
Scriptures – Biblegateway.com; Bible.com
Resource – Finding God in the Hard Places, Bible.cm/YouVersion
I am holding to the task of Resolving and Acting on the resolve to become a stronger Christian in the face of everyday life in 2019. Join me. Each step we take should bring us closer to Christ.
Thank you for reading my Posts. God Bless.
![FullSizeRender[726]](https://lisasdailyinspirations.files.wordpress.com/2018/04/fullsizerender726.jpg)
atmosphere, the second heaven is the evil ones’ headquarters, and the third heaven is where God lives. (Derek Prince, pp 128)
enemy, like it or not. The battle is between good and evil, and we are the prize. Satan desires to keep us from all that God wants for us. He is the enemy of all people, followers of Christ or not.
It is our responsibility to learn to discern the battleground and figure out our strategy to succeed. Do we give up our time in prayer with the Lord to address the chaos the evil one created around us, or do we get up earlier, use our lunch time and go to bed a little later to maintain our prayer time? We have to learn to distinguish with our spiritual ears and eyes what is moving around us. “Discernment for the believer is seeing and understanding as God sees and understands. It is the ability to make godly judgments and right appraisals.” (Charles Stanley, pp 53)
and people lives are affected by our praying. Each of our prayers is requesting blessings and resolve to life’s situations and circumstances. The failure to pray for others and you leaves everyone prey to the evil ones’ plan for our lives, to remain slaves to him and the world.
or may take another form as God sees fit to advance you into the kingdom. Our prayers may be answered right away, sometime in the future, or not at all, but every prayer has impact and outcomes. We may see some answers to prayers and may not see others. It is all dependent upon how God sees fit to include us in the blessings.
Daily Inspiration - Lisa's Thoughts 