I have been preparing for a “wildman” Saturday retreat. This group of men are very open to dealing with the masculine soul. Saturday we will be reflecting on the healing light of Jesus’ presence in our hearts. The greatest healing has come to my soul and many other men I have walked with when we can visualize the light of Christ coming to those dark places of our souls. As you read this devotional, allow yourself to embrace by the healing light of Jesus, as he invites you to come forth from your darkn places of hiding.
When a man trusts Christ as his Savior, the Lord Jesus comes to dwell in his heart (soul). The presence of the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit enters to live within his heart. “And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us” (I John 2:24 NLT). Paul reminds us that this presence is first and foremost the presence of love. “How dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love” (Rom 5:5 NLT). Love fills our deepest being. God comes to live and breathe in the soul of a man. “It stands to reason, doesn’t it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he’ll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be alive as Christ’s!” (Rom. 8:10-11 – The Message)
The reality is that the presence of Christ in the soul of a man makes him alive to the loving presence of God. This is a startling awareness for a wildman – “Wow, God is alive in me,” bringing the very creative, healing light of his presence. “For God who said, ‘Let there be light in the darkness,’ has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ” (II Cor 4:6 NLT). God’s glory is his presence manifested through Jesus in the deepest recesses of man’s soul. So, men keep your focus on Jesus. Attention needs to be given to this inner light. Peter reminds us, “We couldn’t be more sure of what we saw and heard – God’s glory, God’s voice. The prophetic Word was confirmed to us. You’ll do well to keep focusing on it. It’s the one light you have in a dark time as you wait for daybreak and the rising of the Morning Star in your heart” (II Peter 1:19 – The message)
I encourage you men, from my own personal experience, not to shy away from the light of Christ shining in your souls. He sees everything. He simply waits for you to come into his healing presence. Remember the light is first and foremost the loving presence of God. There is nothing to fear. “Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love” (I John 45:18 NLT). In running away we run from loving reality, to live in denial and illusion. “This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure” (John 3:19-20 – The Message)
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