Update #166 - Lucifer

“…take heed that the light in you is not darkness.” Luke 11:35 MKJV

Mount Rainier from Three Tree Point, WA

During the pre-Christmas season I decided to read the nativity story in the gospel of Luke; its recounting is pretty short (two chapters) so I kept reading. Nights later I was in chapter 11 where Jesus compares his followers to lamps, fully lit, on display, and elevated for non-believers and believers alike to benefit from their glow, light, and effervescence.

In the middle of the simile “then watch out that the light in you is not darkness” (NASB) smacked me in the face. What???

“God, this is confusing. How can light be dark? I don’t get it.”

As I lay there in bed pondering, a thought passed through my consciousness “What is another name for Satan?” I am not that astute after 10pm so I knew it was God asking the question.

I fell asleep before I could answer – but the little researcher living inside me wouldn’t let the query die. Did you know there are over forty alternate names for Satan?!

I found two of his names connected with “light”:

• Angel of Light - 2 Corinthians 11:14

• Lucifer (which means “bringer of light”) - Isaiah 14:12-14

Whoa. Satan is an Angel of Light? He brings light? What illumination is he spreading? Scary thought.

This made me think of the time in the Garden of Eden when the serpent is chatting to Eve and “brings light” to a situation. He tells partial, twisted, prejudiced, enhanced “truth”- and as a result sin entered the world, humans gave up God-given authority and Satan took dominion (yeah to Jesus for winning it back!).

Where has Satan brought his “light”– his limited, distorted, prejudiced, agenda driven, augmented truth - into my life and I have bought it hook, line and sinker? Like a guileless fish bitten bait and held on for dear life to something actually killing me? Swearing over and over and over the lure was real (“But preacher said...”), the lure was true (“It always happens this way…”), the lure was trustworthy (“It is in the Bible…” but I can’t find it now and hopfully it is not out of context). When in reality, it was a rendition / interpretation / excerpt of the real thing vs. the real thing itself.

“Oh God!” this thought made me cry out, “What areas of my belief system aren’t actually real but renditions? What areas are lures parading as light? Do I believe any lies about you? What inaccuracies have I ingested, digested and made part of myself? Where am I wrong? How do I know when it is a lure vs. real? How do I know if I have any darkness within me?”

It was like God smiled and pulled me close in beside him; peace flooded, tears stemmed, I gained understanding. Darkness is banished with truth (John 8:32) and darkness doesn’t love (1 John 4:18).

Is your love conditional, provisional or restrained? You most likely have some darkness within you. Do you find some people easier to love than others? You most likely have some darkness within you. Jesus had no darkness and loved fully, loved freely and loved without reservation. Yes, he got angry; yes, he had choice words for select groups – but he loved and actually blessed his captors (Luke 22:51).

Where is there a lure lurking in your life; is it giving off false light? Where is darkness masquerading as illumination? Whom do you have difficulty loving fully, without reservation, freely without condition? Why? What darkness keeps you from doing it? What lie of darkness encapsulates your heart?

PS - I wrote earlier about the slippery slope of deception (Update #110 – December 2009) and how we need to know the truth so we recognize “lure light” when encountered. I don’t want to be enraptured by darkness parading as light; I want to be able to call it what it is. Don’t you?

Updates:

Travel – My boss and his wife are away on their first trip of the year. I, on the other hand, am not travelling until possibly later next month.

Personal – Back in the saddle, routine is returning (kinda), and trying to Sabbath (tech free) one day a week – harder than you think!

Work – Training KICK OFF is next weekend. We are still in the heat of recruiting and inviting and calling in those who God has picked to be here! Do you have a friend, relative, co-worker, significant other or spouse who would benefit in learning how to do business God’s way, to Repurpose their Business and/or get aligned with what God is doing in the marketplace? Contact us

Marketplace Impact – Brett spoke at the Long Beach Call2All Conference the end of last year – his talk was GOOD (yes, I am a bit biased) but it is definitely worth a view – check it out.

Requests:

Travel – Please pray for invites to solidify, dates to be determined and for us to have the discernment to know which we are to accept and deny (and for me to know which ones have my name on them). I am looking at possibly going to Nigeria (Feb), South Africa (Feb/March) and Egypt (April).

Personal – Still trying to figure out what a Sabbath looks like for me. Pretty certain it involves being tech free, but what else? Prayer while I wade these murky waters would be great.

Work – Crunch time! The buzz is great and the work load is light (thank you Jesus) but it is overwhelming at times the amount of stuff awaiting me at my desk. Please pray I would have a discerning ear to know what to put my energy toward and what to wait list; to know what is important to God’s Kingdom now, and what can hold for a bit.

Update #165: Restitution

“How wonderful it is, how pleasant, for God's people to live together in harmony!” Psalm 133:1

Tacoma Narrows, Tacoma, WA

Restitution - five years ago I wasn’t even acquainted with the word. In spring 2007 I was in a meeting where it was being discussed and defined through the conversation being held. I gleaned the word meant paying back, giving back, sacrificing for a wrong in order to make right. And, I didn’t think I had anything in my life I needed to pay restitution for.

I was wrong.

I am a native of the northwestern corner of the United States. I grew up in a middle class neighborhood, of predominately white families, but the local schools were a kettle of mixed races and ethnicity. You name it we had it – Asian, black, Hispanic, Jewish, African, eastern European, Russian, etc. My high school’s homecoming court was multi-ethnic; the student body representatives multi-racial. In my small corner of America, everyone got along with everyone else. My friends were a mix of ethnicity and most of the time I didn’t even notice that our skin colors were different - and I thought this was normal.

My thought patterns were challenged in 2007. I visited Cape Town, South Africa where restitution is not only a huge word but action. When asked about my own personal experience with restitution, I answered I didn’t really experience it until I had come to South Africa six months prior. In September I had travelled with a multi-racial team and I (as the fair skinned, tall, female) was looked at as wrong for keeping the company I was keeping (darn Asians and Sri Lankans). It was an eye opener for me. I had never experienced that kind of prejudice before.

The meetings facilitator probed deeper about where I was from. Seattle is known for its Native American roots – half the city and county names represent tribes and famous chieftains. The facilitator asked me about the Indians and how they were treated in my area. I started to describe the reservations, their location, conditions…and I stopped cold. I was describing a colder version of a township or African squatter camp.

I was stunned. How could I have been so blind? I had been surrounded by this my entire life and never recognized it. It gave me a new appreciation for the Afrikaners and what they must have struggled through in changing their mindset about their black/colored neighbors.

Indians, in my slanted view, were thought of as lazy drunkards who lived off the government. Unfortunately my viewpoint was only reinforced during my professional career. As a home health therapist I had Indian clientele – mostly on disability services. It was a very rare Indian patient willing to take initiative to better themselves after injury – they would rather have “do to me” therapy where I arrived with my electronic machine, special rubbing lotion and took their pain away for 20 minutes. Eventually, most were discharged due to lack of progress. It was depressing and I felt I was wasting my time. My viewpoint, although true to me and my experience, was slanted, narrow and wrong.

I think the white population in my hometown feels remorse about what their ancestors did to the Indians and that is why bills and grants keep getting passed providing continual aid and assistance.

The man at the meeting said steps toward restitution are twofold. One is a personal sense of repentance, a grievous heart understanding the original wrong and asking forgiveness for any part they or their family played. The second part is acting on the feeling in a way to restore the injured party. Again, I can appreciate the Afrikaners on the eve of Apartheid – I feel repentant but not quite restorative.

Where is restitution needed in your life? Are you like me and blind to an area right in your midst? Where is paying back, giving back, sacrificing for a wrong in order to make right need to be done? Is it person to person, group to group, church to church, business to business? Where are you on the restoration walkway – are you repentant, do you want to restore?

Updates:

Travel – Home Safe! We have had several people travel to our home office for our annual planning meeting – thanks Pete Stofle (Portland), Kim Wilson (LA), Thomas Stevenson (India), Kim Edwards (Marin), and others!

Personal – Made it back to the Bay Area and jumped right into our New Year’s Eve party and annual planning a few days later. It has been busy but fun with all my co-workers (except Rebecca) in one place.

Work – we are finishing our annual planning cycle today and move to implementation of what God said next week!

Requests:

Travel – None for me on the books for this month but several of my co-workers will be leaving and going all over the US. International travel starts later this spring. Please pray for invites to solidify, dates to be determined and for us to have the discernment to know which we are to accept and deny (and for me to know which ones have my name on them).

Personal – We were going through Critical Success Factors yesterday (for the business) and I discovered one of mine is a strict Sabbath. Now, to determine what does it look like? Is writing work? Is journaling a violation? Is being busy with friends wrong? Prayer while I wade those murky waters and to figure out what it means to me would be great.

Work – God has said a lot during our planning meeting (and we aren’t finished)! Now, what is for today (now) and what is for tomorrow (future). I put my name toward several items and need to form groups to assess how best to take the initiatives forward - prayer around these items would be appreciated.