What is the Light?

One thing I always despised was when the adults at church would make statements like, “Be the light on your campus!” Although they meant well, it created a pressure for me and other christian students to “act right.” What they didn’t realize was that they were placing a responsibility for us to be something that we had not yet fully experienced, understood, or developed into.

What that does is pressure people into acting like a christian, which in reality encourages religion and prohibits one from being able to authentically go to God as a sinful person in need of God’s grace daily.

As I began my journey I realized that a lot of people spend so much time trying to act like the light instead of developing it. So it left me wondering, what really is the light and what isn’t it?

Simply put, the light is God. Every part of God is pure light; God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit are all light and provides light. Wherever the presence of God is, light is also present. God’s light is displayed through His power, anointing, holiness, and His word of truth.

“When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5)

“The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life — of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1)

Once you come into the full knowledge of who Christ is and accept Him as your Lord and savior, the Holy Spirit immediately begins to dwell on the inside of you within your spirit. The Holy Spirit is simply the spirit of God, or God living on the inside of you. He is a real being with a mind, will, and emotions that helps guide you throughout your life and reveal to you who you are in Christ and what you are called to do. The Holy Spirit is the light living on the inside of you, which makes you a carrier of light.

When the Holy Spirit comes to live on the inside of you, your spirit is born again and you are now a new creature. (2 Corinthians 5:17). You are made one with Christ, and carry the same anointing, power, authority and light that Jesus did when He walked the earth. Your spirit is immediately made perfect and wants to do the things of God.

“Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God — truly righteous and holy.” (Ephesians 4:23-24)

“You have come to the spirits of the righteous ones in heaven who have now been made perfect.” (Hebrews 12:23)

Isn’t that exciting? As long as you are a born again believer of Jesus Christ, then that means your spirit is absolutely perfect and has been made righteous through Christ. You now have the identity of Christ which means that you are an overcomer, you have the faith to move mountains, you have more power and authority than anything in this world because you accepted the spirit of God.

Now you may be wondering, how is all of this true when I don't feel powerful and I still struggle with wanting to indulge in sin and darkness? How do I activate the light that's on the inside of me?

Although your spirit has made you new, your flesh hasn’t been born again, therefore it still has a sinful nature. Your flesh, or your physical body wants to rebel against God and run from the light.

Therefore, who you really are is a spirit, that has a soul and lives in a body. I need you to really get this part. The real you is a spirit that will live forever. We (spirits) live in this flesh body here on earth. We possess a soul which is where our mind, memories, will, and emotions are stored up.

With that being said, we have to renew our minds, or our soul, to learn and want to walk in the light. Remember our spirit is pulling us towards the light and our flesh is tugging us to the darkness. It’s our responsibility to make a decision to renew our minds with the word of God (Romans 12:2) so that we can prove, or make manifest, to the physical senses what was already there.

This process of renewing our minds and making the truth that is within us known to our flesh is the process in which I call, developing your light.

Developing our light is an ongoing process for the rest of our lives. The Bible says we will go from faith to faith and glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18 & Romans 1:17). In order to reach new levels in God, we must go through a development process in our soul so that what is in our spirits can begin to shine. Once we have developed in an area, we will then have to maintain (to sustain against opposition or danger : uphold and defend) that truth in our life against the enemies tactics, our old ways of living, and from any temptations that want us to compromise what had been revealed to us through the spirit of God. Finally, when you have successfully managed to maintain the light that's been developed in you, you have successfully renewed your mind in that area. This means that your light will begin to shine without you even having to try. You won’t have to force it, or pretend, you will just begin to naturally shine the light that’s been deep within you since the day you accepted Christ.

The point of developing, maintaining, and shining your light is so that you can live a life of victory here on earth in a way that is pleasing to God. The second reason is so that you are in position to be used by God to be the light in this dark world so that those who are lost in the darkness will experience Christ through you and their hearts will be turned back to the Father. With that being said, let’s develop so we can shine.

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)

“For this is what the Lord has commanded us: “I have made you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 13:47)