The Light

I had a very interesting morning.   Since we'd already decided to close Living Water for the day, I got to sleep in late.  But I'd also agreed to meet with my prayer partners later this morning--come snow or high winds! So I watched a little Christian TV before I went to prayer time.  I heard a man say that we shouldn't talk about the darkness.  When we look into the darkness and speak about the darkness, we're blind and deceived.   He said we're talking about things we don't even know about when we speak about the darkness.  We're giving our opinion in pride when we have no clue what we're talking about.

So I went to prayer time with that on my mind.  And when I got there, J told me that God had been leading her to confess her sins, her faults, to us so that she could be healed.  So the three of us got on with business.  Just to give you a hint, I started out confessing my pride.  And we all agreed that we couldn't say, "Yeah, me too, God."  We each needed to confess our own sin ourselves.  And confess we did.  I think it went on for about 45 minutes.  And at the end, I was confessing pride again---that I didn't think I'd have that much to confess.  Shwew!  How awful is that??  God also directed us to James 3 where it says that if we're walking in jealousy and contention, we have superficial wisdom that is demoniacal.  (Now you know something else we confessed.)

Confessing our sins and faults to one another and then praying for each other's healing is something I believe has to be done in a safe place.  To someone you know loves you.  Why?  Because love covers a multitude of sins.  I know these friends aren't going to expose me.  They're not going to throw me under the bus when my name comes up in a crowd.  They love me and they're going to cover me.   They know me probably better than anyone---they've heard my faults and confessions.  They know I sin, but they also know I'm willing to come clean with them.  And if I don't?  They're willing to challenge me and point out my blindspots.  And vice versa.

After we confessed our faults and failures to one another and prayed for one another, Light came in.  In fact, the man on TV this morning said we should look into the Light.  If we want more light, we must be looking into the Light and speaking about the Light for more Light to be revealed.  We don't look into darkness to find the Light.  Our eyes fell on I John 1:5-10.  If we're walking in the Light, He restores our fellowship with one another.

Wow!  Some of the very things we were praying for and desiring was restored fellowship with family and church family.  We were so excited!!  God's Spirit does that---He excites us over revealed Truth!!    Do you remember the rest of the verse in James 5:16?   It says, "...The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available (dynamic in its working)."  And then it goes on to tell us to check out the life of Elijah when he asked for rain.  I can tell you that our prayer time after this spiritual exercise was powerful.  We were agreeing with God!

I highly encourage you to ask God for a prayer partner.  Someone who will encourage you in the Lord.  Someone who will seek Truth with you.  Someone who will speak Truth into your life.  Someone who will hold you accountable.  And someone who will cover your sins with their love.  Amen.