Let Your Light Shine in Dark Places...

I was watching this war movie and the soldiers were in the trenches when one lit a cigarette and was suddenly shot because the enemy could see the light from his cigarette burning. Wow! I thought. Just like that he was gone. But then an interesting thing happened.

When one solder wanted to cross over into another area to help someone, a second soldier (with more war experience) said, "Go ahead and I'll cover you." That second soldier started firing at the enemy, the enemy had to quickly take cover and didn't even know that the first soldier had left the trench to go help someone. While that was insightful, the really cool part was when I watched a play and made the connection about light in dark places.

In one of Tyler Perry's plays, he was dressed up as Madea and counseling someone. He said, "You have to recognize why you come under attack. That's God letting you know the blessing is near. The enemy only attacks if you're close to your blessing. So don't stop. That attack is your sign to keep going because the blessing is near". It was like a lightbulb moment. Like how bees attack when you get near their honey. I thought about the first incident, the war scene. So every time we go to help someone or pray, our light shines in a dark place - kind of like that cigarette light shining, right? It's a sign to the enemy that we're about to help someone so he tries to get in the way to stop us. It was starting to make sense!

Whatever you're going through, don't get discouraged or be tempted to give up from the attack. Recognize that you're CLOSER to your blessing. Here's how I KNOW:

I prayed and asked Father God how we could help the military with prayer cards. Our military cards were so-so but kind of blah. Not really strong, you know? I mean, I'm a woman. I polish my nails and bake cookies! I don't know anything about tactical warfare unless I watch it on TV or look it up online. So, I prayed and asked God how we could help the military, officers and specifically men who were on the front lines. Then, one day a soldier called to place an order. He started going on and on about how my cards were all wrong. He said, "No, they wear this type of camo" and "No, we need cards that say this"... The information was so powerful I kept writing everything down. But, then the attack started.

Someone I knew called at the same time and demanded that I get on the phone. She kept insisting that it was very urgent. She suddenly sent multiple emails and text messages. Then the messages became demanding and she repeatedly called and called. I realized it was a distracting demon - not the woman - trying to get me off the call with the soldier. I rebuked that spirit and spoke peace into the atmosphere. I kept talking to that soldier because I knew the wisdom he was sharing was important. It was information for the military, veterans, officers, the fire department and emergency services.