“Your lives light up the world. Let others see your light from a distance, for how can you hide a city that stands on a hilltop? And who would light a lamp and then hide it in an obscure place? Instead, it’s placed where everyone in the house can benefit from its light. So don’t hide your light! Let it shine brightly before others, so that the commendable things you do will shine as light upon them, and then they will give their praise to your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16 TPT)

The Lord surely knows how to orchestrate our steps for Him to let the Light of Jesus in us shine through us. The only qualification that He is looking for is our availability and willingness to be used by Him.

Do you know that our obedience to His voice is an expression of holiness? He called us to be holy and blameless and when He called us, He empowered and enabled us to be such. Only by the Blood of Jesus Christ, His mercy and grace is this made possible.

Holiness is being set apart for His use. That means He already set a seal of ownership upon our lives. You and I belong to Him.  Our lives are no longer our own for we have been purchased two thousand years ago when Jesus shed His blood where His every redemptive brushstroke paid for every fiber of our being that we may live our lives fully and wholly in Him and for Him.   He gave us the Holy Spirit to abide in us forever.  Where He leads us, we follow knowing that His plans and purposes for our lives are of necessity and vitality to those around us. He desires to bring freedom to His created and beloved ones and He needs our partnership. We co-labor with Him in making His kingdom, where Jesus is King, known and invade the whole earth to be filled with His glory.

But, nothing is auto-mode in His kingdom.  He gave us free will to choose whom to serve and follow.  He desires no one to be robot-like.  He longs for relationship where a continuous connectedness and intimacy is a necessity.  He delights for us to seek Him FIRST and FOREMOST!

“So above all, constantly chase after the realm of God’s kingdom and the righteousness that proceeds from Him. Then all these less important things will be given to you abundantly.”  (Matthew 6:33 TPT)

In the midst of Him speaking and leading us, there will be other voices that will compete with His. The enemy is always on a lookout to confuse us, to disturb our intimacy with the Jesus, to jack up the volume of his voice that we may not be able to tap into the frequency by which the Holy Spirit is leading us. But as we set our eyes to seek Him first and pursue Him, we silence the influences around us that brings confusion and allow the clarity of His still small voice to be heard and be yielded to. The secret still remains the same, abide in Him and let His word abide in us.

“With passion I pursue and cling to You. Because I feel Your grip on my life, I keep my soul close to Your heart.”  (Psalm 63:8 TPT)

I got a message from a good friend of mine mentioning a specific date when she will come and visit us.  Yes, I marked my calendar for that day since I have not seen her for ages.  She lives in another country and for her to have thought of visiting and including me in her itinerary, together with another friend of ours, was such a delight.

When the time came for her to come, there was a shift in schedule that she had to book herself a room in a hotel purposely requesting for two beds.  She invited me to spend the night with her before she flies out back to her country.

Knowing that I will be inconvenienced with my set ways being interrupted hahaha, I gracefully asked her to ask our other friend.  But God Who is rich in mercy and abounding in love was ready to let His light shine through me though I did not see it yet, spoke that silenced all the other voices that were trying to undermine His. As I was praying, He made me see His divine appointment with my friend.  The very moment He unveiled my eyes to see His will, as fast as I could, I said “yes” to Him.  The only remaining factor that needed to be considered was if our other friend would stay with her.  But then again, the Lord our God and our Father is a God of order.  When we say “yes”, He will never allow conflicts to come our way.  And so, when I checked my phone right after praying, I saw her message that the space was still available as our other friend could not make it.  Duhhhhh! Hahahaha!

When I got into the hotel that day, the very moment the elevator door opened, this was what I saw that made me smile and overwhelmed my heart.

The “lighted” fishes are those the Lord has called to come home to His embrace.  He so desires for all of us to be filled with the Light of Jesus that can never be put off wherever we are or whatever situations we are in.  He is in us and with us Who lights our paths that we may see the curves, the potholes, the road signs and the speed breakers along the way for us to yield and follow.

We are called to be fishers of men by the little things that we do.  He said in His word, “Don’t hide your light! Let it shine brightly before others, so that the commendable things you do will shine as light upon them, and then they will give their praise to your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16 TPT)

Because I came from work, we had late dinner at a restaurant nearby.   When we finally got into the room, she said, “Do you know that I was praying that one of you could stay with me because I have this fear of staying alone in a hotel?” In my heart I was so overwhelmed by how the Lord answers our prayers no matter how minute it may seem in His eyes.  What is most important to Him is that we ask and He answers.  That’s relationship.  In my case, He asked and I responded.  What matters to us indeed matters to Him.  In response to my friend’s statement, I simply smiled and said, “Surely, He heard you and made sure I will stay with you.”

Right before she left for her flight, we had a short but sweet fellowship early in the morning and eventually asked me to pray for her.  What an honor and privilege it is to usher in someone who hungers and thirsts for more of Jesus into His kingdom because of an encounter that touched her heart.

God is always setting us up for divine opportunities to let His light shine through us. Jesus is the Light of the world but before He left, He commissioned us to be the salt and light of the world. His passion is for the whole earth to be filled with knowledge of His glory, who He is and His goodness, as the waters cover the sea (Habakkuk 2:14).

Our divine encounters with God postures us to make those around us encounter Him through us. The kingdom of God is within us. We are carriers and diffusers of love, hope, peace and joy that world is looking and longing for. We have the answer and His name is the name above all names, JESUS CHRIST!

“Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.
For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,  And deep darkness the people;
But the Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you.
The Gentiles shall come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.”        (Psalm 60:1-3)

Prayer:  Heavenly Father, thank You for revealing Yourself to us in ways and means that we are able to comprehend how great, how high, how deep, how wide Your love is for us expressed in the very way you answer our prayers.  Thank You, Jesus, that Your light in us is always switched on that people can see.  Thank You, Holy Spirit, for always leading and guiding us that when we recognize Your voice and we follow, touching people’s lives by the power of Your presence, we give all the glory and praise to God, our Father. Amen!