Praise the Lord, Grace & Peace great people of our “Great God”…JESUS!

As I look at this dark and dismal world due to the lack of a desire for real spiritual knowledge in Jesus Christ, my heart yearns to have more impact on this great harvest! But I do understand that we are to do our part individually, with the hope that others who are in Christ Jesus will do it collaboratively.

Many of us in our walk with Christ have allowed our light to dim! As I evaluate further, there is an abundance of scriptures that prove that there is a definite separation between light and darkness, e.g.,  Gen 1:3-4 : “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. John 1:4-5: “In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.“

 I ask the Lord every day for Wisdom!  Many of us are losing the opportunity to win souls and encourage souls in Christ because we do not walk in the wisdom of God. Now, by Scripture’s definition, Jesus is the Wisdom of God! 1Co. 1:23-24: “But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.”

Hence, for this Golden Nugget, I would like to expound on the excerpt “God, Please Help ME to walk in TRUE Wisdom so I can SHINE through You.”:

 Jas. 1:5  If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

Mat 5:14-15 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

Dan 12:1-3  And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.  And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

In the Epistle of James 1:5, it states, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” This was the testimony of an old man  and prophet, by the name of Daniel,who had the richest and deepest experience of any man living on the face of the earth during his time; which started when he was taken to Babylon as a young man; some Bible theologians calculate that Daniel was not more than twenty years of age during the exile of Judah. But even in exile this young Hebrew man had the hand of God upon him while in captivity, and eventually he being a slave, (A light that shined in darkness) outranked all the mighty men in Babylon of that day!

My brothers and sisters, for 500 years, no man whose life is recorded in history shone as brightly as this man. He outshone Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Cyrus, Darius, and all the princes and mighty monarchs of his day.

We are not told when he obtained his knowledge of the true God, but through my studies, chronologically, I have good reason to believe that he had been influenced by the teachings of Jeremiah the prophet, who taught him how he was to serve God. It is obvious that this earnest godly man, and not a secular intellect, had made a deep impression upon him. Hence, someone had taught him how he was to serve God.

Saints, we hear people nowadays talking about how hard it is in the delegated field where they have been called to labor; they emphasize that the work they are doing in the gospel is intense and arduous. But just think of the environment in which Daniel had to minister. He was not only a slave, but he was held captive by a nation that detested the Hebrews. The Chaldean language was not known to him. He was among idolaters; yet he commenced at once to shine. He took his stand for God from the very start, and perpetuated his stance in God. He gave the dew of his youth to God, and he continued faithfully right until his pilgrimage journey ended.

Please note, my brothers and sisters, that those who have made a deep impression on this world and shone brightly have been men and women who have endured tests and trials during dark times. Look at Joseph; he was sold as a slave into Egypt by the Ishmaelites; yet he took his God with him into captivity, just as Daniel did. And he remained true to the end; Daniel did not give up his faith because he had been taken away from home and placed among idolaters. He stood firm, and God stood by him.

Look at Moses, who turned his back upon the beautiful palaces of Egypt and identified himself with his despised and downtrodden nation. If a man ever had a difficult environment in which to minister, it was Moses; yet he shone brightly and proved to be intentional and faithful to God.

My brothers and sisters, the prophet Elijah lived in a dark day, just as we do today. The whole nation was turning to idolatry. Ahab, Jezebel, and all the royal court were throwing their influence against the worship of the true God. Yet Elijah stood firm and shone brightly in that dark and evil day. It is because of his stand that his name stands out on the pages of biblical history!

Saints, look at John the Baptist. When I first got saved, I used to think I would like to have lived in the days of the prophets, but since then I have given up that idea. You may be sure that when a prophet appeared on the scene back then, everything was dark, and the professing church of God in the wilderness had given over to serve the god of this world, Satan!  So it was also when John the Baptist appeared. See how his name shines out today! The twenty-first century is upon us now, and yet the fame of that wilderness preacher shines brighter than ever. John the Baptist was looked down upon in his day and generation, but he has outlived all his enemies as a light; his name will be revered, and his work remembered as long as the Church is on this earth. For Jesus said, Matt. 11:11:  “Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

Talk about your environment being a hard one! Have you read how Paul shone for God as he went out, the first missionary to the heathen, telling them of the God whom he served and who had sent His Son to die a cruel death to save the world? Men reviled him and his teachings; they laughed him to scorn when he spoke of the crucified One. But he went on preaching the Gospel of the Son of God. He was regarded as a poor tentmaker by the prominent, elite, and mighty ones of his day; but no one can now tell the name of any of his persecutors, or of those who lived at that time, unless their names happen to be associated with his, or were brought into contact with him.

As a pastor, I have observed and know that all men and women like to shine! Come on, my brothers and sisters, we may as well acknowledge it at once. Go into business circles, and see how men struggle to get into the front rank. Everyone wants to outshine his neighbor and to stand at the head of his profession. Go into the political world, and see how there is competition concerning who will be the greatest. If you go to a school, you find there is a rivalry between the boys and girls. Many want to be at the top of their class.

When a child reaches this position and outranks the rest, the parents are very proud. They will make a concerted effort to tell all the neighbors and friends that their child has achieved it. Go into the military, and you will find the same thing, many trying to outstrip the other; everyone is very anxious to shine and rise above their comrades. Go among the young men and women in their games, and see how anxious the one is to outdo the other. So we all have those desires in us; we like to outshine our fellowman.

Last but not least, look at the members in the church of the living God. People want to shine for good and bad fruit, not knowing that if it is against God’s will, their glimmering shine will become dull, null, and void! This is why it is imperative that you watch those who labor among you who spread seeds of discord (to render works of the flesh). I thank God that he has given me the gift of discernment through the Holy Spirit to know who really glimmers and who does not! Glory!

That said, please understand that very few can truly shine in the world. Once in a while, a person will outshine all their competitors. We experience this every four years: a struggle goes on throughout our country over who will be the President of the United States, and this battle rages for six months to a year. Yet only one person can obtain this position. Many struggle to reach this place and are disappointed, but only one can attain this coveted position. 

But thanks be to Jesus Christ, that in the kingdom of God the very least and the very weakest may shine if they desire to do His will. Not only can one obtain the prize, but all can have it if they strive lawfully.

It does not say in Daniel 12:3 that the statesmen are going to shine as the brightness of the firmament. The statesmen of Babylon are gone; their very names are forgotten. It does not say that the nobility will shine. Earth’s nobility are soon forgotten. My father in the gospel, Pastor Claude Allen Sr., outlived the whole crowd of those who were of nobility in his day. They lived for themselves, and their memory is blotted out. He lived for God and for souls, and his name is as fragrant now as it ever was in my life and the lives of others whom he touched!

We are not told that the merchants will shine. Who can tell the name of any of the millionaires of Daniel’s day? They were all buried in oblivion a few years after their death. Who were the mighty conquerors of that day? Only a few can tell. It is true that we hear of Nebuchadnezzar, but we probably would not have known very much about him if it had not been for his relationship with the prophet Daniel.

How different it was with this faithful prophet of the Lord! Centuries have passed away, and his name still shines on, and on, and on, brighter and brighter. And it will shine while the Church of God exists. “They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.”

Saints, please observe this despised and hated Hebrew prophet. They wanted to put him into the lion’s den because he was too sanctimonious and too religious due to his prayer life; yet see how alive the memory of Daniel is today! His name is loved and honored because of his faithfulness toward God.

In Pro.11:30 we read, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.”  If any man, woman, or child, by a Godly life and example, can win one soul to God, their life will not have been a failure. They will have outshone all the mighty men of their day, because they set a stream in motion that will flow on and on forever and ever. As I always say, “What is it to live in this life and not have IMPACT!” Stop dwelling on your perceived negative situations and circumstances with a Socratic mindset, and look to God for wisdom to help someone, not deter them! GOLDEN NUGGET!

God left us down here to shine. We are not JUST  here to buy, sell, and gain, nor to accumulate wealth and worldly position. This earth, if we are Saints, is not our home; it is above! God has sent us into the world to shine as lights in this dark world. Christ came to be the Light of the world, but men strove to put out that light. They took Him to Calvary, and God blew it out for a moment, but prior to Jesus Christ’s ascension, He said to His disciples: “Ye are the light of the world. Ye are my witnesses. Go forth and carry the Gospel to the perishing nations of the earth.”

So God has called us to shine, just as Daniel was sent into Babylon to shine. Let no man or woman say that they cannot shine because they feel that they don’t have the same influence as some others may have. What God wants you to do is to use the influence you have. Daniel probably did not have much influence in Babylon at first, but God soon gave him more because he was faithful and thus made the most of what he had. Remember, a small light will do a good deal in a very dark place. Put one little tallow candle in the middle of a dark, large hall, and it will give an amazing amount of light.

I remember hearing a story of a man at sea who was very seasick. If there is a time when a man feels that he cannot do any work for the Lord, it is then, in my opinion. While this man was sick, he heard that someone had fallen overboard. He was wondering if he could do anything to help to save the man. He laid hold of a light, and held it up to the port side of the boat (the left side). The drowning man was saved. When this man recovered from his illness, he went on deck one day and was talking with the man who had been rescued. The saved man gave this testimony. He said he had gone down the second time and was just going down again for the last time when he put out his hand. Just then, he said, someone held a light on the port side of the boat, and the light fell on where he was. At that time, a sailor caught him by the hand and pulled him into the lifeboat.

It seemed a small thing to do to hold up the light; yet it saved the man’s life. If you cannot do some great thing, you can hold the light for some poor, perishing sinner, who may be won to Christ and delivered from destruction. Let us take the torch of salvation and go into the dark places, and hold up Christ to the people as the Savior of the world. If the perishing masses are to be reached, we must lay our lives right alongside theirs, and pray with them and labor for them. I would not give much for a person’s salvation if they are saved and they are not willing to try and assist in the salvation of others. It seems to me that this would be a serious ingratitude not to reach out our hands to others who are down in the same pit from which we have been drawn out! GOLDEN NUGGET!

My brothers and sisters, please get this down in your spirit: when one person reads the Bible, a hundred read you and me. That is what Paul meant in 2 Co. 3:1-2: Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men. I would not give much for all that may come from a preached sermon or Bible Class, if we do not preach CHRIST by THE LIVES WE LIVE! If we do not commend the Gospel to people by our holy walk and conversation, we cannot win them to Christ. That’s why small acts of kindness will perhaps do more to influence many than any number of long sermons. GOLDEN NUGGET!

Let us embrace this warning. God keeps the upper lights burning as brightly as ever, but He has left us down here to keep the lower lights burning. We are to represent Him here, as Christ represents us as our High Priest in the third heaven. I sometimes think if we had as poor a representative in the court above as God has down here on earth, we would have a pretty poor chance of making it to heaven. Let us have our loins girded and our lights brightly burning, so that others may see the way, and not walk in darkness.

I believe this is TRUE WISDOM and gratitude, because this is what God wants us to do. If He has rescued us and brought us up out of the horrible pit, let us always look to see if there is someone else whom we can help save.

Let us keep our lights in the proper place, so that the world may see that the Doctrine of Jesus Christ is not a sham, but a reality. It is said that in the Grecian sports, there was one game in which the men ran with lights. They lit a torch at the altar and ran a certain distance; sometimes they were on horseback. If a man came in with his light still burning, he received a prize; if his light had gone out, he lost the prize.

How many are they who, in their seasoned walk in the Lord, have lost their light and their joy! They were once burning and shining lights in the family and various areas in ministry in the church, i.e., Christian Education, Outreach, Deacon Board, Foreign Missions, Trustee Board, Choir, etc.; they have allowed something to come in between them and God, that being the world or self, which caused their light to go out. My brother and sister, if you have had this experience, may God help you return to the altar of the Savior’s love and light your torch again. So that you can go out into this society and let the light of this glorious gospel shine in dark places.

Hence, my brothers and sisters, please understand some simple rules of multiplication, which are basically this… if you turn one to Christ, that one may turn a hundred; they may turn a thousand, and so that stream, which was small at first, perpetually broadens and deepens as it rolls toward eternity.

I end this Golden Nugget quoting the book of Rev.14:13:  “And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.” My brothers and sisters, let us continue to focus on the main thing that we have been chosen for: SOULS and keeping a fervent testimony, while perpetually inquiring, “God, Please Help ME to Walk in TRUE Wisdom so I can SHINE through You.” Have a “Jesus Day“