Rise and Shine! God is not afraid of the dark. He wants to raise you up to be a lion in today’s dark world.  We are children of light to our family, our community, our church.

God’s Vessel for This Generation

Judges 3:1-10
Now these are the nations which the Lord left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan;
² Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof;
³ Namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baalhermon unto the entering in of Hamath.
⁴ And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
⁵ And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites:
⁶ And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods.
⁷ And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgat the Lord their God, and served Baalim and the groves.
⁸ Therefore the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushanrishathaim eight years.
⁹ And when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.
¹⁰ And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war: and the Lord delivered Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed against Chushanrishathaim.

God teaches warfare through failures. As instruments of His Word we live to show:
*God is able.
*If God be for us, who can be against us.
*Though none go with me, I will follow you.

God will teach us through our failures. (v2) We will be a stronger soldier and a better prayer warrior. The world wants us to learn to live with things God tells us to reject. (v5) We’ve grown content with sin. Compromise (v6) becomes mixing (v7) which becomes servitude and leads to forgetfulness. (v8)

1 Thessalonians 5:5
Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

God wants us to rise and shine out of the double darkness of our world. Stop complaining and cry out to God against the darkness. You’re meant for more. You can be an instrument of light for your family, your coworkers, your neighbors, your church.