Separate Light from Darkness

I was led by the Lord to begin a 40-day journey of prayer, scripture and fasting specifically for Lake Point Church.  This would start on January 1, 2013 and would take me right up to the day of the official launch on February 10.  But God wanted me to invite others to join.  So, I did.

We are launching 40 Days of Prayer on January 1.  We invite others to join us as we seek the Lord to show his power, his provision, and his plan for Lake Point Church.  Prayer is one of our five core values, so we take this challenge very serious.  You can find the prayer guide on our website at www.LakePointOnline.com.  You can also submit a prayer request on our prayer wall located under the "Connect" tab on our website.

These are my thoughts on the first day of our prayer guide.

Our assigned reading for January 1 is Genesis chapter 1.  The word, "light" was mentioned about a dozen times in this chapter.  I imagine huge explosions of light bursting onto the scene, all from the words of God.  There is great emphasis on light being separated from darkness.  This was God's first action, to separate and to cause a distinction between light and darkness.

This should challenge us to do the same this year.  It's no mystery that we live a dark world.  Darkness surrounds us.  By God' power, we need to separate the light from darkness.  How can we do this?  What are some practical ways to make this happen in our lives?

Personally
First, we must look to the darkness that's inside us.  There are dark rooms in certain areas of our hearts. These have to be exposed by God's light.  Some of these dark rooms include gossip, arrogance, un-forgiveness, anger, greed and lust.  (Colossians 3:1-9) We must expose these rooms to the light of God's word.  (Colossians 3:12-17)  Sometimes we need to enlist others to help us shine the light in these areas by asking a trusted friend to pray and watch for these areas creeping around.

Family
We have a large family with six kids (and a big dog).  We are convinced that the more people who live in the home, then the more chances of darkness entering the home.  Our family is constantly trying to separate the light for darkness.  We can't have enough spiritual flashlights.  We are still learning, but here are some practical steps we've taken that deal mostly with defending our home from invasions of darkness.

• Be very selective about what kids come into your home on a regular basis.  The kids who regularly hang out in your home will have the most influence on your own kids.  Our home is open to a variety of people, but we are intentional about allowing kids hang around more often who exhibit values we are trying to teach.
• Slay the dragon that's in the room.  You've heard the phrase, "There's an elephant in the room".  But in most homes today, there's also a dragon.  That dragon makes his way into our homes through the media corridors we've allowed.  If you lock up your castle, this dragon will fly away.  You can do this by cleaning and canceling.  Clean what comes into your home through internet filters such as www.k9webprotection.com or www.opendns.com.  Clean what comes into your TV.  I know services like Hulu and Netflix are great, but they also offer a lot of trash that's very easily acceptable.  I'm not only talking about these being acceptable to your children.  I'm also talking about adults being able to access them with very little to no accountability.  Clean your your video game console.  The games your kids play will affect them down the road.  If cleaning does not work for any of these areas, then cancel.  Try canceling that cable or Hulu account.  You might be surprised at how little it will be missed and how much you can save.
• Set up values for your family.  This can have the most effect in separating the light from darkness.  Right them down and post them.  A great place to start is Colossians 3:18-21.

Socially
As Christians, we should be a light in a dark world (Matthew 5:14-16).  If our actions and speech take on different shades depending on who we are around, then our light is in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58).  I often wear a Lake Point Church T-shirt or sport shirt.  It's sad to admit, but I've noticed that I'm more cautious about what I say and where I look when I wear the shirt.  Let me remind you of something.  You wear the shirt of Christ everyday.  More people know who you represent than you think.  And if they don't know, then you might want to check if your relationship with Jesus is legit.   

It's interesting to note, as illustrated in this first chapter of God's word, that his creation could not grow until light was separated from darkness (Genesis 1:11-12).  You want to grow?  Then expose the darkness with God's light.  Start this new year with a commitment to separate the light from the darkness.