I have an interesting word to share that God has been showing me for a little while in little glimpses. It finally all came together yesterday, and I wanted to share it with you!
I recently had two incredible experiences that are near and dear to my heart. Not too long ago during the night, I had woken up from a deep, peaceful sleep. I had been spending a lot of time with God and enjoying the time in his presence. I had been listening to worship music on the radio and taking in all the beauty of it. Well, this night when I had awoken, it wasn't because I was restless. I heard a noise around me. I opened my eyes and waited for my vision to clear. All around me I heard singing, and it wasn't just any singing! I hear the words from Chris Tomlin's song, Good Father! Sweet, beautiful voices were singing ".....the tender whisper of love in the dead of night." I called out "Hello?" and the singing stopped. I looked all around the house, but could not find any source of the music. No stereo was playing, and everyone else in the house was still asleep. Then just this last week, I had the strangest dream about Michael W. Smith. He was there in my dream, and he was singing. However, when he started singing, the Holy Spirit was there, and it's like it was singing over me while I slept. Both of these experiences were truly special for me because I knew that God was watching over me while I slept. It reminded me of a passage that I read just a couple weeks ago from Psalms. "By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me." Now, as I was thinking about this last dream I had, God started reminding me of all these amazing Christian songs that talk about the stars: A Million Lights by Michael W Smith, Stars by Skillet, The Promise- by Plus One... I couldn't figure out why He was placing these songs on my heart so strongly. Then God reminded me that my name means "a star." I was getting all of these little puzzle pieces from God but couldn't quite put them together or figure out what He was trying to show me with this. So I began to look up scriptures about the stars, and found that there were numerous scriptures!
Psalm 147:4- He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names.
Psalm 136:7- He made the great lights; His love endures forever.
Psalm 148:3- Praise Him. Sun and moon. Praise Him. All you shining stars.
Psalm 19:1- The heavens declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Job 22:12- Is not God in the heights of Heaven? And see how lofty are the highest stars!
So I asked God again, "God, why are you showing me all these things? Even though they are seemingly connected, what is it you are trying to tell me? Now, yesterday I was watching a video on YouTube called What You Lost Will Be Found by Dephne Madyara. I decided to watch this because of an experience that my mom and I had been going through over the last ten plus years with my family over an inheritance my dad had left us. I was listening to Dephne talk about the donkeys of Kish and how what was lost will be returned to you just like the donkeys were returned to Kish. I kept thinking about how this whole experience was hard on my mom and I, and how my family was hurting us by doing this. Then, BOOM! The last puzzle piece fell into place! In the middle of this video, God showed me this little bitty clip from one of Tyler Perry's stage productions. In this clip, this woman was dancing across the stage singing "What's done in the dark comes to the light." As I put all the pieces together of what God was telling me, it all made sense!
Guys, the world has taught us to fear darkness...that darkness is bad. If you look this up online, you will find a word for it: Nyctophobia. When you look on Wikipedia, it defines Nyctophobia as a phobia characterized by a severe fear of the dark. It is triggered by the brain's disfigured perception of what would, or could, happen in a dark environment. I can relate to this because I have a fear of going outside at night after several bad experiences. Shady things tend to happen after the sun goes down. So, why do you suppose people fear the dark? What is it about the dark that makes people pull out their flashlights or take someone with them to be safe? The answer is simple: Because we can't see clearly in the dark and sometimes walk completely blind. It's not the dark that scares us. We simply fear what we cannot see. This is the same in our daily lives. We all too often refer to the trials we go through as "dark times." We give those trials a name, "darkness," and then we turn it into our own personal prison cell. We give power to something that has no power over us. It's like our own "Spiritual Nyctophobia." I was listening to a clip from Pastor Steven Furtick of Elevation Church, and he said that he used to give credit to the devil for things that God was trying to do in his life, and he would try to pray them away. There are things that we will experience in this life that are the works of evil. No one is immune from them, BUT we can bow down to it and give into the fear, OR we can call it out and we can say "I see you for what you are! You are trying to mess with my life, but I am a child of God! As long as I have God, you will never be in control."
A great example of this is Paul and Silas's journey.
16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.
19 When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”
22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. 23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”
29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. 34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.
35 When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer with the order: “Release those men.” 36 The jailer told Paul, “The magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released. Now you can leave. Go in peace.”
37 But Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out.”
38 The officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed. 39 They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city.
Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown into a literal prison! However, instead of going into a place of fear and despair over their situation, they sat in the jail cell, giving praise to God and worshiping him! Then at midnight, in the literal and spiritual darkest hour, God set them free from their prison!
So guys, why do you think I have been telling you all these things! I started out talking about the stars and songs, and my experiences, but what does that have to do with all of this?
This right here is why!
John 1:5- The light shines in darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it!
John 8:12- Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
Guys, God gives us all of these physical and spiritual examples to show us that we don't need to be afraid. We can stand upon the word of God, but God also shows us the moon and the stars... The moon and the stars are there to show us that even though it may look like we are surrounded by darkness, we will be lights in the darkness and it will not overcome us! My name means "a star" and it reminds me that if God an hold all these stars in place, he certainly has a hold on me! Those experiences I had during the night show us that God sings over us in the night to comfort us, protect us, and let us know we are not alone! We don't have to be afraid!
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