 vs. 4 "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." vs. 6 "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (2 Corinthians 4:4,6 KJV)
What brought me to God? What led me to repentance; turning away from the darkness and fully walking in His light? What caused me to surrender to Him? It wasn't: Someone telling me to live right. Attending church. Following some set of rules. Condemnation. Guilt. Shame. A book on 10 steps to salvation. Someone's opinion. It was the love, kindness, and relentless pursuit of God. It was me being crushed in the crucible of my own brokenness and sin until the grace of God poured out of my cries for help. It was in loss so deep I thought I would never find my way out. It was in people walking away and in people staying, even when they knew the depths of the darkness I had touched. It was in heartache and healing. It was in a thousand detours, a thousand missed opportunities, a thousand closed doors. It was falling down and failing until I found the end of myself and looked up to see "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." Just as God spoke in the beginning of creation and light shined into the expanse of darkness and dispelled it, so God spoke into the depths of my heart, "Let there be Light!" and the filth of my darkened life without Him was dispelled. I saw His face...not the ground where I saw only the dirt of the life I had lived, not those around me pointing fingers, not my mistakes and failures that so condemned me, not the enemy of my soul who kept calling me back into the darkness...but His face. And He didn't turn away. He didn't look down ashamed of me. He didn't look up avoiding my eyes. He looked at me with such love, such compassion, such care. "The light of the knowledge of the glory of God" washed over me and into me like a mighty flood as I beheld His face. I haven't been the same since. His light exposed the depth of my darkness, it pierced through all my clouded thoughts, and illuminated every hiding place I had made. His love brought me to repentance. And true repentance changes you from the inside out. You turn from everything that is not from Him, by Him, and through Him, not because you are condemned but because you are constrained. You have seen His face as God in man coming in the person of Jesus Christ. You have seen His face on the Cross, marred, bloody, bruised, not because of anything He did but because of what you did. You have seen His face forgiving, kind, loving. You have seen His face risen from the dead, alive, and reigning forevermore. You have seen His face every time you are on your knees in prayer, basking in His presence. Once you have truly seen Him your heart longs to see Him more and more. In Psalm 27:8 we read, "When You said, “Seek My face,” My heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.” Revelation 22:4 says, "They shall see His face..." Where is your gaze today? Are you looking at your circumstances? Are you looking at an illness? A loss? Your problems? This chaotic world we are currently living in? This election? Other people? Family issues? Your finances? There are many places we can look, but only one place we can truly see. There Is A Light There is a Light that casts out darkness The confusion that twists There is a Light that envelopes Sweet untamable bliss There is a Light penetrating the secret No place left to hide There is a Light that surrounds New birth for all that's died There is a Light like a beacon Hope of a distant shore There is a Light that cascades Where fear exists no more There is a Light that mends He speaks the word, 'Restore' There is a Light that opens up Where peace reigns forevermore There is a Light that erases Guilt and shame renamed There is a Light that transforms You will never be the same There is a Light darkness can't withstand Unspeakable joyful mirth There is a Light that has a name Jesus: He of matchless worth He is the Light that never fades Eternal everlasting day He is the True Light shining He is the One and Only Way Bend your knees in true repentance Turn from all that darkness has erased Give your heart in full surrender Let the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God be found in Jesus' face... Written by Anne Marie Hawke October 2020 To subscribe to my blog or to find out more about my writing, please visit my website at hawkewriter.com
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 "He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." (John 1:10-14 KJV)
Begotten is a word we don't use much today. It means 'fathered by.' And 'only begotten' means 'being the only offspring of its father.' In these verses Jesus is called, 'the only begotten of the Father.' He is the only 'offspring' of God but not in the sense that at one point He did not exist and then was created by the Father. Jesus has always existed eternally with the Father. Verse 10 above states that 'the world was made by him.' He was present in creation. He was present before creation. He has always been and will always be present. He is the only begotten of the Father because He is uniquely God's Son. Jesus says of Himself in John 17:8, "For I have given to them the words which you gave me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from you, and they have believed that you did send me." (NKJV) Jesus was not created, He originated with the Father, He came out from God, and as such He is the only begotten Son. When Jesus came and was born of the Virgin Mary by the Spirit of God, He was fully God and fully man, the only begotten of the Father; and because of this He could redeem us, set us free from our sin, and make a way for us to become the sons and daughters of God through His death, burial, and resurrection. As Paul opens his epistle to the Romans he says this of Jesus, "Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:..." Jesus, a non-created being, Jesus as God the Son, came and took on human flesh. We are created by God and must be born again of the Spirit. Genesis 1:26, "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness..." When we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, when we accept His atoning death as our own, we are 'born of God.' We are born again of the Spirit. In John 3:3 Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Do you see the beauty of it? If you are His, if you are a true believer in Christ you have been born again by His Spirit. This means that we do not have to follow the dictates of our flesh anymore. Listen to 1 John 5:8, "We know that whosover is born of God sins not; but he that is begotten of God keeps himself, and that wicked one touches him not." Jesus was begotten of the Father, and when we are born again we are begotten of God. His Spirit fills us, His love fills us, His life fills us and by faith we can stand against the flesh, sin, the enemy, in power and in victory through what Jesus did. This is the beauty of a relationship with God in Christ and it's something that no other religion or philosophy or "energy" or "light" can give you. It takes me out of the way, and is fully dependent on Him. He is God. And I'm not. He through His Spirit keeps me as I yield to Him and all that He is. We, who are His, are now the sons and daughters of God and our heart is to please Him and to glorify Him, not because we fear judgment or some punishment, but because the love of Christ constrains us to. Only Begotten Before all that was Holy, Righteous Sent from above Lived and died As one of us To redeem, to save To show His love I bend my knee I bow my heart That I may end And He may start Not my own Purchased with blood That I may be A daughter of God I can't earn it It's all His grace Forgiven, free Face to face Jesus, Savior Of matchless worth In You only I have second birth Incorruptible seed Alive in me You gave all To set me free Have you given your life to the Only Begotten Son of God? Have you been born again? If you have been born again, are you living like it? We live in a world today where anything goes, where God has been marginalized or silenced, where we do whatever seems right in our own eyes, but we who believe are to be in the world but not of it. Our lives, who we are on a daily basis should make us different. When people get around us they should sense that there is something about us that is not 'normal.' We are now born from above, and our minds need to be renewed to that truth, and our lives should speak that truth, and our hearts should cleave to Jesus and trust Him in everything....He is enough. Written by Anne Marie Hawke October 2020 To subscribe to my blog or to find out more about my writing, please visit my website at hawkewriter.com |
qUIET IN CHAOSQuiet in Chaos is a blog about nothing, everything, and all things inbetween…it’s a space, an ellipsis, a deep pause. Life can be chaotic, and often needs more moments of quiet…So join me as I share and give through the written word, the place I find my Quiet in Chaos… Archives
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