This little light of mine

Darkness and Enslavement. 

They have a tendancy to hold hands.

I've been following these words through the story of Scripture.

It's beginning to feel a little bit like a "which came first?" riddle.

Enslavement or Darkness?
Freedom from oppression, slavery, blindness, corruption, confusion--whether in reference to a mental, spiritual, physical, social, or moral prison--involves not just a coming out of but a coming unto. 

Another "which comes first?" riddle.

Coming into light, coming unto Light.

Those must hold hands as well, right?

Except I'm not sure I really own that. 

The question I find myself asking is can we really come into light if we don't come unto Light?

In my own spirit I can feel the hesitation. 
The temptation to go half-way.

The temptation to grasp for answers instead of intimacy.

The temptation to find security in religion rather than relationship.

To pawn off freedom management in exchange for social respectability.

Like passing out candles in a windstorm.

Providing flashlights with nonrechargeable batteries.

 

What I keep seeing over and over is that when God frees, He doesn't just desire to free captives out of a Kingdom of Darkness.  His desire is to gather us into His Kingdom of Light--where He is not only the provider of light but the very source of light. 

Here is the application point for me.

Am I brave enough to ask for it all? 

If I'm honest, it would be easier to do one or the other.  Give me a social justice platform.  God--I want to free these people from human trafficking.  It's wrong that they are enslaved.
OR
Give me a spiritual ministry.  God--I want to help these people to find healing from their wounds. Let me build them an oasis where they are invited to come and meet with Jesus.

But what if God wants to do it all?

What if God wants to free these girls and women and boys and men from this bondage of human trafficking and sexual slavery?

What if Jesus wants to be their healer?

What if God wants to come against the corruption and darkness behind all that drives this horrible practice?
What if God wants to uproot it politically, socially, morally, mentally, and spiritually?
What if God wants people to know that He did it?
What if an overwhelmingly pervasive process of redemption could really happen?
What if God wants to set people free from darkness and bring them unto Himself? 

Unto the Source of Light?

What if God wanted to make Himself known in a really big way?

Am I able to believe God can do it all?  That He wants to do it all?

That He has the power and the desire to tear down strongholds in the kingdoms of the political world and the spiritual world?

That He wants to bring the world into an understanding and relationship with Himself where all things are made new?

It's all so far beyond me. Beyond all of us.

Laughable, right?

 

Yet, sometimes it feels like it is the very substance of my existance.

Because it isn't about what we can do.  It's about what God wants to do.

It's about people crying out.  It's about God answering.
Does God want to do this now?

Do you want to use me?