​When I was in Sunday School a few years ago (how about six decades!) my teacher taught us a little song that went like this.
 

• This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine. This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine all the time.

 

• I will not let Satan poof it out, I’m gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

 
Ah, some of you are humming the song, aren’t you? You have matured too!
 
The point: I was taught that Christians are lights….and they should always shine. In Christ, you and I, are to shine all the time and never let Satan blow our light out.
 

• Full-time shining is what Christian living is all about.

 
In I Thessalonians 5:5-6 the apostle Paul writes that believers in Christ are “sons of light and sons of day.”
 
“For you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do but let us be alert and sober.
 
Christians are not of the night or darkness. That is what Christ’s followers came out of. You and I are now light…. and should be light 24/7. That is why Paul exhorts us to behave better than some who sleep in the darkness instead of shining in the light of day. Christians are to be alert and sober, aware of darkness and always shining for Jesus Christ.
 

• Shining as lights for Jesus is full-time business.

 

• Our soul-weary, sin-sick world needs to see consistent Christian witnesses. Believers who are sober in spirit, alert to what is going on and shining brightly during spiritual darkness are the need of the hour.

 
There is no doubt we live in dark, perilous days (Read II Timothy 3:1-15). Spiritual darkness is getting darker and darker. This is biblical in light of end time scriptures. But I also know that light is greater than darkness. Light always dispels darkness. Darkness never dispels light.
 

• The only light that pushes back and prevails over the darkness of hell is the light of God that shines all the time. Think about it. Darkness does not turn off and on. Dark is dark. Light is light and should always be lit and shine!

 
If we are not of night or darkness, and our verse says we are not, then let us not go dark, but keep our light shining in dark places. Too many Christians have let Satan poof out their lights. Less and less lights are shining brightly on the high places pointing the way to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
           
Some professing Christians are like light switches. They turn their testimony and witness off and on like a switch on the wall.
 
ON when they want to be like Jesus, and OFF when they do not want to be like Him. When it is convenient or profitable to be a believer they TURN ON THE LIGHT, and when shining is inconvenient and not personally beneficial, they FLIP THE SWITCH OFF.
 
As a committed follower of Christ who cares deeply about winning the lost to the Lord, I have a real problem with on and off Christians. Jesus did not suffer, die, rise again, and fill us with the Holy Spirit so we could be part-time lights. Satan, sin, and death never take a day off. Neither should God’s redemptive people.
 

• The times demand that we believers take stock of our light and how we are shining for Christ. Believe me, God knows, Satan knows, the world knows, the church knows, and deep down inside we know if we are part-time or full-time lights.

 
Here are a few questions that might shed some light on our light.
 
Light Shining Questions
 
v Does your Christian light shine consistently no matter who you are with?
v Is your Christian light the same in public and private?
v Do you think it is all right to turn your Christian light off and on?
v How do you feel about on and off Christians whose lights shine inconsistently?
v What do you think the unbelieving world thinks about inconsistent Christians?
v When darkness comes, does your Christian light chase it away?
v Would people say that you are always shining brightly for Jesus Christ?
v Do you know anyone that is turned off by your on and off Christianity?
v Does your Christian light light the way for people to find and follow Christ?
v Does your light encourage other Christians to shine brighter for the Lord?
v My fellow Christian and friend, how is your spiritual light switch? Permanently ON? That is where it should be if you are serious about your Christian life and witness.
 
v Turn your light on and turn it up to BRIGHT! Then searching people, who are trying to find their way out of the darkness, will turn to the light of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ.
 
v That is why Jesus leaves Christians here to shine and turn people from darkness to the marvelous light of God! So be it.
 
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”                                                         I Peter 2:10  
 
 “But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”            I Thessalonians 5:8-9
 
A Word For Your Week: Shine full-time, not part-time
 

​We think that a few will not do.
 
Could it be that we have bought into the world system surrounding us that subtly dupes us into believing unless you have mega-dollars, large staffs, sprawling headquarters and campuses, massive networks, or vast numbers of “likes” and followers on Facebook and YouTube you cannot be successful?
 

• Sad to say, even some Christians and churches/ministries have accepted that “bigger is better and the bigger the better” if you want to accomplish something great for God.

 
Biblically, a bunch and big is not always better.
 
More and bigger is better can cause the average, little guy to wonder if he can ever accomplish anything significant with his solitary life. Comparing and competing with the big guys on the block can cause regular folks to struggle with feeling low self-esteem, useless and like a failure.
 
Big is good. But small can be good too. Zechariah 4:10 declares “Do not despise the day of small beginnings.” I love this scripture. It tells me to not feel bad about starting small.
 
I wonder if you and I should start small, think tall. Everything in life starts small! Absolutely nothing on earth begins big!
 
Jonathan, David’s friend and King Saul’s son, shows us what a few (just two) can do). “Then Jonathan said to the young man who was carrying his armor, ‘Come and let us cross over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; perhaps the Lord will work for us, for the Lord is not restrained to save by many or by few.”                  I Samuel 14:6
 
With confident and courageous faith, Jonathan and his armor bearer slipped into the enemy’s territory and took out their adversaries. The Lord “worked for them.” God Almighty was not restrained by “a few.” Two committed guys annihilated an army because The Lord was with just a few (two!).
 

• God does not have a minimum number He must have before He acts. Most often in the Word he used ONE, TWO OR A FEW!

 
Biblical Examples Of How A Few Will Do
 

• Abraham left his comfortable, wealthy family to seek the Promised Land.
• Moses singlehandedly delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt.
• Rahab, a prostitute, protected Joshua from his enemies.
• Noah, his family, a big old Ark and a zoo of smelly animals secured mankind another chance to obey God.
• Gideon and three hundred committed warriors conquered 100.000 adversaries.
• Daniel in a lion’s den turned a pagan king’s heart to the Lord.
• Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego’s fiery furnace experience taught an evil nation a faith lesson.
• Jonah, a wild ride in the belly of a whale brought a city to repent and serve the Living God.
• Elijah called holy fired down from heaven, consuming eight hundred prophets of Baal.
• A shepherd boy David slayed a gigantic Goliath with stones and a slingshot.
• Jesus spent three years with a small company of twelve disciples.
• An unnamed boy’s lunch of five loaves of bread and two fish fed thousands of hungry people.
• 120 Spirit-filled believers started the church at Pentecost, winning souls to Christ.
• Paul established churches in Europe and the Middle East on three missionary trips.
• John saw into heaven by the Holy Spirit and gave us Revelation.

 
There are many, many other examples in the Bible of a few men and women, who, banded together by strong, committed faith, turned the world they lived in upside down for the Kingdom of God.
 
My fellow followers of Jesus Christ, our current world needs to be turned right side up! Humanity is in great peril, facing God’s judgment, if we do not reach folks for the Gospel. People are dying in sin and headed for an eternal hell. The Bible says so.
 
Years ago, the United States Marine Corp’s advertising slogan was the Marines were looking for “A few good men.”
 
The Lord is constantly looking for a few good men and women to serve as good soldiers of Jesus Christ in the battle for souls.
 

• How about you? And a few. What if God is looking for you and a few to do something new and utterly amazing for His glory and the good of mankind?

 
Please be encouraged in the Lord. Get fired up! Report for duty. Sign up. When God is with us, we are never outnumbered. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).
 

• To put it another way, if God is for us, everybody else might as well be!
• A few is me. A few is you. A few is us! With God we cannot be stopped!

 
“But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen, the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before God.’   I Corinthians 1:27-29
 
“Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord.” Zechariah 4:6
 
A Word For Your Week: You, and possibly a few, are all God needs to do what He has called you to.
 

​The American people are being dumbed down.

• Dumbed down means everyone must be the same. No one is unique, special, important or significant. Everyone has to be equally plain old vanilla.

Being dumbed down means you don’t think for yourself. You drink the Kool-aid of someone who thinks for you. The elitists (the dumb downers) must think for you because they do not think you can think for yourself. In other words, they think you are stupid. So, they dumb and numb you down to keep you stupid.  

• Dumbed down people are mindless, non-thinking puppets whose every movement is controlled by the puppeteer.

People who have been duped and dumbed down blindly hop on whatever hyped-up, popular, trending, sensationalized band wagon passing through town, surrendering their personal freedom to choose for themselves. Those who are dumbed down are force fed whatever politically correct meal those in power positions whip up for their consumption in the dumbing down kitchen.
It is sad that increasing numbers of Americans are so deceived and dumbed down that they are riding on a stupid train that they have no clue where it is going. What is frightening is that individual people, contrary to all the “matter” hashtags out there, really do not matter anymore.  
Surrounded by a dumbing down culture, as a follower of Jesus Christ, I have good news for all of us who have no desire to be dumbed down.  

• God, according to His word in the Bible, never dumbs anybody down.

On the contrary, GOD CELEBRATES EACH PERSON! He empowers you and me as a unique person who has God-given potential to so something significant for the Kingdom of God and the good of humanity.
The Bible declares that every person is created in the image of Almighty God (Genesis 1:26-27).  “In His image” means likeness. You and I are like God, who is not dumbed down!  According to Psalm 139, you and I are one of a kind. “Fearfully and wonderfully” made, there will never be another one of us. You and I are not vanilla. More like 31 Flavors!
God saw us in our mother’s womb before we were there. Only God could do that! Every single day of our lives was planned out before we lived it. Amazing! David also assures us that God surrounds us. We cannot escape His holy presence (who would want to?).  God’s thoughts are innumerable toward us. He cannot get us off His mind! That is incredibly good for you and me. Psalm 139.   
And speaking of mind, I Corinthians 1: 14-16 states that believers in Christ have His mind. Having “the mind of Christ” means I can think God’s thoughts. I can think for myself as God’s son or daughter. Nobody gets to dumb me down by thinking less of me!
Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, came to lift people up, not dumb them down. John 10:10 says “I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.” An abundant life does not sound like dumbed down living to me! 

• Bottom line: you and I are not dummies in God’s eyes!

By faith we choose to believe, to think, to decide, to behave for ourselves. Feeding on God’s holy word, we reject being spoon fed by those who would have us to conform to an atheistic, anti-Christian culture.
How You Can Avoid Being Dumbed Down By Anyone

• Search the scripture. Know your Bible.  Meditate on God’s Word. Memorize the truth. Realize how special and precious you are in God’s eyes. Speak the Word over your life and loved ones.
• Affirm daily your uniqueness and significance in Christ. Never allow any man or system to conform you to their image. You are a child of the Living God! Rejoice in your relationship with the Lord every day.  
• Stop drinking the world’s Kool-aid. That’s right. Do not believe everything you see and hear in the media, read on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or whatever is out there. 
• Check out facts for yourself. Do not depend or rely upon biased, agenda-driven, sensational reporting of events that turn out to be more fiction than fact. 
• Compare what Satan and worldly men say with the holy Word of God. If it is not in the Word, it will dumb you down and numb you to the things of God.
• Resist the herd mentality. Keep your distance from emotionally charged feeding frenzies whipped up by someone who wants to control and enslave you.
• Never, never, never, I will say it again, never allow anyone to brainwash you. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, your entire life, body, spirit, and soul (mind, will and emotions) have been washed in the blood of the Lamb! This is the only “washing” you and I need.  

Only dummies who do not think for themselves can be dumbed down! 
Settle it now.  In Christ you and I are more than smart enough to resist being dumbed down.
A Word For Your Week:  Being dumbed down is never smart.  

We humans tend to look downward, not upward, when life crashes in.
 
If you do not believe this, just look around. These days, people from all walks of life are walking through their days with heads hanging down.
 
Life for many has turned topsy-turvy. People’s heads-down posture reflects the confusion and frustration they are feeling in their hearts. Tossed about by the winds of negative cultural, political and economic change beyond their control, many heads are spinning in disbelief. Disillusioned and discouraged with the way things are heading, discouraged people hang their heads in despair.
 

• Discouragement simply means lack of courage. When life’s challenges confront us head on and can overwhelm us, it is tempting to lose courage and hang our head down.

 

• But life gets hung up when our heads hang down.

 
I see a number of difficulties with head down living.
 
1.     Head down means I cannot see Jesus! The Lord is up, not down. His throne is in heaven, not on earth (see Isaiah 6:1-6, Romans 8:34, Philippians 2:9-11). We will not find Gods’ help by looking around, heads pointing to the ground.
 

• The up look is the outlook of victory!

 
2.      Head down means I cannot see where I am going. Proverbs 4:25-27 exhorts us to keep our eyes looking directly ahead. Why? Because the future is forward, in front of us. Head down means eyes are grounded. Dag Hammarskjold, former UN Secretary General said “Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step; only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find his right road.” 
 

• Head up means eyes are fixed on God’s next steps to success.

 
3.     Head down means I cannot keep a lookout for the enemy. Satan will bushwhack us when we are looking down instead of up. The devil delights in destroying people who hang their heads in discouragement and defeat.
 
It is a fact of battle: soldiers cannot fight off an enemy they cannot see. Neither can good soldiers of Jesus Christ crush Satan under their feet if they cannot see him. We can identify Satan and his deceptive strategy when our heads are in the up position.
 

• So, keep your head up. Always be on the alert. Wide awake in the Spirit. Scan the spiritual horizon for the enemy. When you spot the adversary of your soul, submit to God, resist the devil and the evil one will flee from you (James 4:7) 

 
4.      Head down means I cannot encourage someone else. How can I lift somebody up when my head is hanging down in discouragement? It is not possible to lift up others if we are not uplifted ourselves! There are people around you who need encouragement. Encouragement always chases away discouragement.
 

• Head up means you are encouraged. So, keep your head up. People need to see you looking up with the glory of God on your face!

           
Here is a heads-up for success in life: KEEP YOUR HEAD UP!!
 
Tough, challenging times call for courage. It takes spiritual and emotional “guts” to choose to keep our head up when our heart tells our head to hang down.
 
David declares in Psalm 28:7 “Lift up your heads, O Gates and be lifted up ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in!”                                                                
 
Our verse is a reference to the Temple gates and doors. When God comes to His holy house, He expects the gates and doors to be wide open. Gates are to be up, in proper position, and operational---open for the King of glory to enter.
 
The welcome mat is out when the gates are lifted up.
 
Christians are the temple of the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 6:18-20). Our Heavenly Father, Almighty God himself lives in us. You and I are to lift up our heads and open the doors of our heart for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords to enter. When the King of glory indwells us, we are filled with divine glory that puts a smile on our face, a bounce in our step and a holy boldness in our daily life!
 
How To Keep Your Head Up When It Wants To Hang Down!
 
Ø  Dwell upon the truth that the resurrected Jesus is holding His head up high in heaven, not hanging it down on a cross.
Ø  Decide to live life head-up, not head down.
Ø  Determine to keep your head up no matter what is happening.
Ø  Discipline yourself to keep your head up when other’s heads are hanging down.
Ø  Dedicate yourself to helping others keep their heads up in tough times.
Ø  Delight that the devil is defeated when Christians hold their heads high in Christ.
Ø  Dance for joy knowing God helps those who keep their heads up!
 
Need some help holding your head up? Look to the Lord for help. “But Thou, O Lord, art a shield about me, my glory, and the One who lifts my head.” Psalm 3:3. The Lord Himself will help you keep your head up and teach you how you can keep your head lifted up on your own.
 
My fellow Christian heads up! Look to Jesus. Expect Him to visit you with fresh power for victorious Christian living! Allow the Lord to renew your heart. Then keep your head up to meet life head on with faith and power in Jesus’ name.
 
 “And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you only shall be above and you shall not be underneath, if you will listen to the commandments of the Lord your God which I charge you today, to observe them carefully.” Deuteronomy 28:13
 
A Word For Your Week: