Light dispels darkness. Picture a dark room. See yourself walk in and light a match. The flame from a tiny match will dispel the darkness. In my high school years, I toured a cave. At one point the guide turned out all the lights. I could not see my hand before my face.

An unbeliever lives in utter spiritual darkness. We are called by the Lord to dispel that darkness through His light in us. In Ephesians 5:12 Paul wrote about those with hidden sins. Verse 13  says, “But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.”

The Greek for manifest is: to lay bare, reveal, uncover, make visible, make known what has been hidden or unknown, make clear. As I was memorizing that verse, my mind went back to George Whitfield. The light in him brought conviction of sin to those he met as he walked on the streets.

John 1:8 was about John the Baptist. It says, ‘He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.” So are we.

Jesus called His disciples to be light bearers. Matthew 5:16 says, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” What good works?

Ephesians 2:10 says they are the ones, “…prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Titus 3:8 says, “This is a faithful saying, and these things I want to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.”

Remember what King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 2:11? It says, “Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done…There was no profit under the sun.” Yet, as we yield to the Holy’s Spirit’s control in our lives, He will lead us specifically into the good works preprogrammed into our seed of conception.

A good work that is purposed for every believer is to be a light bearer in every aspect of our lives. Others are watching to see if what we say about Jesus is lived out in our lives.

As I was memorizing Ephesians 5:11, my mind kept thinking about fellowship. Years ago I read this definition of fellowship. Two fellows in a boat, rowing together, to reach the same shore. Fellowship is uniting in heart. It is aligning with others in purpose through building one another up. The fruit of the Spirit is evident in our words and our body language.

The verse says, “And have no fellowship with the fruitless works of darkness, but rather expose them.” The Amplified says, “…(let your lives be so in contrast as to) expose and reprove, and convict them.”

We are to be light bearers. John 3:20 says, “For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds be exposed.” His light dispels darkness.

The Lord delights in true fellowship around His light.  I love Malachi 3:16. It says, “Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them; so a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and meditate on His name.”

Ephesians 5:8 brings us into a right perspective when we are around unbelievers. They live in, walk in, and interact through darkness. It says, “For you once were darkness…” I think of Titus 3:3. 

It says, ‘For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.” Why then are we surprised when unbelievers lash out? It is their modus operandi. They know no different.

Ephesians 2:2 says, “In which you once walked…” When we remember what we once were, we are empowered to interact through grace ~ following the Holy Spirit ~ resisting our flesh’s prompting. We are not the Lord’s light bearers when we react in our flesh.

1 John 1:6 says, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” 1 John 2:6 is our template. It says, “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” What we are eternally is our standing which will never change.

Absolute obedience trains us to walk as Jesus walked. In John 5:19 Jesus said, “…the Son can do nothing of Himself…” John 15:5 is our key for empowerment to obey. It says, “…for without Me you can do nothing.”

I started memorizing Ephesians 5:8-21. Verse 8 says, “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.” The last part is a command. What is the result? Verse 9 starts out, “(for the fruit of the Spirit…)

We bear the fruit of the Spirit when our lives are lived under the control of the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:16 is another command. It says, “…Walk in the Spirit…” Commands in Scripture are there for us to obey. When we live under the control of the Holy Spirit, we will bear fruit for the Father’s glory. John 15:8.

We disobey when our flesh pulls us off track. The man of God in 1 Kings 13 was pulled off track by a deceiver. James 1:22 says, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving ourselves.”

In my daily reading I came to the story of the man of God who disobeyed the Lord. It always reminds me what happens when we compromise God’s word to us. In 1 Kings 13:2 he cried out against the altar by the word of the Lord.

You can read it for yourself. The king invited him to come to his house. He would reward him. The man of God clearly stated that he could not because of what the Lord had told him. Yet, he was tricked (verse 18) and he disobeyed. It cost him his life.  

Think back to Moses when he disobeyed the Lord. It cost him from going into the promised land. 

Let’s look at Jesus as our example. Hebrews 5:8 says, “Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.” Hebrews 12:11 says, “Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” Our instruction for obedience is clearly stated in His word.

I want to give you an example from one of my mentees. She dwells in her past. Read her words and feel her emotional impacts. “…having my daily crying spells and breakdowns again. For whatever reason my brain goes back to the thoughts of all the unreciprocated friendships and attempted relationships I’ve ever felt which is in turn making me feel unlovable and unlikable…”

Note how she blames it on her brain. “… I really don’t understand why my brain stores all this hurt up inside…This contributes to my self esteem issues.”

Dwelling in our hurts from the past keeps us from living vibrantly in our present. As Paul did, we exchange dwelling in the past by staying focused in our present.

Jesus is our Excellent Example. Hebrews 8:12 says, “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” That was quoted from Jeremiah 31:34. The writer of Hebrews was introducing the new covenant, because Jesus made the first one obsolete. We need to let go of our past obsolete hurts and embrace our present now.

Forgetting is choosing to not remember. Forgetfulness is an inability to remember. Huge difference. I’m still camped at Philippians 3:13 with Paul’s one thing that he does. “…forgetting those things which are behind…”

We fall into a gamut of emotions when we choose to remember something hurtful from our pasts. All memories are stored in the limbic part of our brains. I copied this from the Cleveland Clinic.

“the limbic system works together with other brain regions by processing your memory, thoughts and motivations, then tell your body how to respond.” When we choose to recall and dialogue with something traumatic from our past, our body responds as though it is happening right now. That is why Corrie froze when she was face to face with her ex-guard. She brought up the abuse in her mind and her body reacted.

It is good to be attentive to our reactions. They often reveal what is hidden that impedes our physical, emotional, and spiritual well being. When I overreact to something, I pause and ask myself, “Marilyn, what do you believe about yourself right now?”

I want to recount a story that Corrie Ten Boom told. She had spoken at a church in Munich in 1947. At the close of the service a man walked up. She knew him well. He was one of the most vicious guards at Ravensbruck. 

He said, “How good it is to know that, as you say, all our sins are at the bottom of the sea!” He held out his hand to her. She remembered him. There she was face to face with one of her captors, and her blood seemed to freeze. 

He told her that he was a guard at Ravensbruck, “…but since that time I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me…will you forgive me?”

Corrie stood there. She wrestled. She asked the Lord to help her. She took his hand and forgave him with the same forgiveness she had received from the Lord.

We cannot reach forward while still holding onto the hurts from our past. Matthew 18:35 says that God Himself will send tormentors if we do not forgive from our heart.

What do you need to let go of? 1 Peter 2:1 says, “Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking.” I have a verse taped to my refrigerator. Titus 3:2 says, “To speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men.”

People lash out at others through hurtful words or actions, because they have not laid aside their past. Jesus was sinless. He had no past. For several mornings I have woken up with these words from the hymn “It Is Well.” My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought—My sin, not in part, but the whole, Is nailed to His Cross, and I bear it no more; Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

In 1 Peter 2:23 we find our example of how to emulate the Lord when our flesh wants to rise up in self-defense. It says, “Who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously.” Revile means to abuse insultingly.