D2L - Darkness To Light

I Peter 2:9
.......that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

That's kind of weird isn't it?
According to the verse above, there are only two places for a person to exist in.
Darkness....
Or light.
These aren't physical places but rather "states of being."
Forces inside of us....influenced by forces outside of us.
The place of darkness is birthed in each of us when we enter this old world. As we grow and we learn the differences between what is right and what is wrong, this old nature begins to flex its muscle. This nature has gone by many names, but I refer to it as The Sin Nature.
We all walk around with a longing.....a need to find fulfillment in our soul.
Because we are under the influence of the devil and his kingdom of darkness (Yes, Virginia, there is a devil) we leaned toward following the urges and cravings we were receiving from him.
Little by little we sank deeper and deeper into sin and even more darkness.

We had this need to be accepted and loved....
But because we were being influenced by the darkness, we could not see or hear God.
We gave ourselves to the darkness and the influence in our lives grew stronger and stronger.
We cast aside what morals we had and began that slow descent into spiritual death.
The lies grew larger and larger....
We began to steal from family and friends....
We looked for love from anyone who would sleep with us....
We left everything that was familiar to join a community of misery and pain.
All the while, hating ourselves with a hate that just beat us down and created a thirst that could never be satisfied.
Bottle and pill....
Needle and rock....
Prescription meds....
Synthetic weed.....
Crystal meth...
You name it...
We took it..
Because the darkness demanded our allegiance and we were hurting so bad that we gave it freely.

In desperation of the worst kind, we cried out to God..."Oh God, if you will just save me and make the pain stop....."
We weren't even really sure that God existed. At least that is what the darkness told us..."There is no God!" But we cried out any how in hopes that someone or something was truly out there who could hear us.
But the darkness kept beating us down and down and down....
We felt isolated.
The problems piled up and up...
Court troubles....
Legal troubles...
Financial troubles....
Relationship troubles....
Health troubles.....
Mental troubles....
I could go on and on but you get the picture.

All the while we were feeling isolated and beyond the reach or help of anyone...
God was there.
He had never left us...
We were that one sheep who had gone astray. Wandered away from the safety of the flock and now found ourselves lost and at the mercy of every beast roaming the hills.
Jesus left the 99 other sheep to find us and bring us into His fold for safe keeping.
Only Jesus can break that power of our old nature and give us a new one.
He alone possesses the authority and the power to free us from addiction.
I would not say it if it were not true.
I have seen men and women who had given up hope, transformed and changed by the saving grace and power of Jesus. Men and women who are living free from the tug of that old life style of pain and darkness.
That is why I do what I do.
God as called us to minister to a "Sin-specific" problem. Addiction.
A problem that manifests in the lives of men and women to the point that they become defined by the darkness.
This "defining" causes them to see themselves as having no value what so ever to themselves, their family or society at large.

My call is to invite the Kingdom rule and power of God to be manifested in the lives of those trapped in addiction. To lead them to the place where they can have an encounter with this God I am writing about.
I'm not talking about making a decision for Christ. I don't believe such a thing is possible.
You don't decide one way or the other to accept or reject Christ....
You Surrender!!
It is about giving up...
And it takes a power encounter with God's Holy Spirit to awaken us out of this darkness.
So for what ever reason you may be reading this posting...
If you are living in that darkness...
If you are in pain and misery...and hate yourself times ten..
Just know that there is a Power greater than you and all your ability that can bring healing and restoration to your life.
That Power is as close as a cry from your heart..."Save me!"
That Power has a name....
Jesus.

God on you....
mb