You Are the Light of the World – Pushing Back the Darkness
I had an accident the other day and needed to go to the local hospital for a CT scan and some pain-relief medicine. But what the enemy meant for harm, God used for good. Here is the story of my time in the hospital and how I released light into a dark place. First some Scripture about light:
“This is the message we have heard from Him and declare it to you: God is light, in Him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1: 5 NIV).
“In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it” (John 1: 4, 5 NIV).
“Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light (1 John 2: 9, 10 NIV).
“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden . . . let your light shine before all men . . .” (Matthew 5: 14 – 16 NIV).
If you have been reading this blog you know I believe the Kingdom person’s ultimate purpose is to release the Kingdom of God into the kingdom of the world to push back the darkness, take back the territory that is claimed by satan (both geography like cities, and human hearts), and defeat the power of evil. We do this now, today — not in some far-off future. We do this is in many ways. Some of the more important ways are through prayer, especially intercession and what I call warfare prayers; through spiritual, emotional, and physical healing, which takes people from the dominion of darkness (the kingdom of the world) into the Kingdom of the Son; and being light, which is God’s love and life, to the people we meet and know.
It is this last way that I want to explore in this post – what does it mean to be light in a dark world?
I recently had an opportunity to be light to a group of doctors, nurses, and patients in the local Community Hospital close to where Judy and I spend our summers. We are in NY now to close our little cabin for the winter and say goodbye until next summer to friends and family. Here is a description of what happened:
On Tuesday afternoon I did a stupid thing. I stacked two heavy wooden folding chairs onto to the top of a wheelbarrow to take them from our lawn into the garage where I was going to store them for the winter. Then I placed a small, heavy wooden table on top of the chairs. I should have known it was a bad idea. Before I could push the wheelbarrow, it tipped over. I loaded it up again, and began to push. After about 25 yards, the wheelbarrow began to tip to the left. I tried to pull on one of the handles to keep it from tipping, but the load was too heavy. It fell to the left, I crashed onto the ground, and smashed my left elbow into my left side.
I lay on the ground, stunned and in pain, and I could tell that I had probably damaged some internal organ, tore some muscles, broken a rib, or all three. After a few minutes I went inside, laid on the couch for an hour or so, and gradually the pain subsided a little. Then I got up to pee in the bathroom. Do you know the shock of expecting one color of urine and seeing something completely different? Instead of pale yellow, it came out bright red.
Now I knew I damaged my kidney. But how badly? Only one way to find out – see a doctor. I waited for several hours thinking it wasn’t that serious. Suddenly, the pain intensified. It was really bad. Time to get to the hospital. I had two choices. A first-class medical center in Syracuse, 45 minutes away or our local community hospital 12 minutes away. I had done some research on Google about the local community hospital, about which I had heard bad things, and here are some of the comments I found:
“Nurses are rude and nasty and in a lot of cases lack intelligents.” (sic)
“If I could give this place no stars at all I would.”
“80% of the staff were extremely rude and the amount of care was minimal.”
“If I could give this place no stars at all I would. If you have an emergency . . . I highly suggest going somewhere else.”
Out of 27 reviews, 18 were one star and some of those said they wished they could award no stars.
(I suspect some of the more negative reviews were written by the same person. You might think me crazy, but I sensed a demonic power in some of those words. Social media is powerful. It can be used for good; for example, connecting friends and family. But its power can also be used for evil. A few bad reviews, perhaps written by a person intending to cause harm, can be read by 100s or even 1000s of others. The negative impact can be far-reaching – literally global. Darkness is released and our world becomes a bit darker and scarier, touching all of us.)
I decided I was not going to that hospital. Judy drove and we set out for Syracuse. The only problem was that I was in so much pain I knew I couldn’t wait to get to Syracuse. What was happening? Was I bleeding internally? I have never experienced pain like this before. Change of plan. I trusted God and headed to the emergency room at the local Community Hospital. I sensed God wanted me there.
After getting lost because of poor signage, we pulled up in front of the emergency room. Judy went in and a minute later two men (nurses I assume) came out, got me out of the car, and wheeled me through the doors into what some would describe as the ‘hospital from hell.’ It was 9:00 PM.
They took me directly into a cubicle in the emergency room. No waiting! Impressive. But in the first few minutes the computer that the triage nurse was using went down, and a young man, who I assumed was nurse-in-training, tried to get a needle into one of my veins to draw blood, without success. But after a few more minutes the needle was in, blood was drawn, somehow the computer began working, and I found myself in the hands of an extremely capable, attentive group of doctors and nurses. After about 45 minutes they got my pain under control and I began to notice the spiritual atmosphere around me.
I sensed a spiritual air of resignation, defensiveness and “I am only here because I need to be closer to home” kind of mentality. It seemed to me that in their spirits the staff had somehow absorbed the negative emotions about the hospital that I had read on Google and had heard from people in the community.
I began to pray. First, I proclaimed the Kingdom of God over the ER, including every nurse, doctor, and patient. A patient next to me (separated by a curtain) was struggling. I prayed healing over him. I asked each staff person their name and used it. I got to know the nurses a little bit – married, family, where did you get your training? I was genuinely impressed with their skill and I told them so. I valued them! Were there little things that could have annoyed me? I suppose so, but they didn’t bother me. I thanked the doctor for taking good care of me. I continued to pray Kingdom prayers over everyone I saw. And of course, I prayed for my own healing and for the pain to go. I texted some brothers in NC to pray and they began to pray immediately. I felt the power of their prayers and the pain subsided.
It was a long night in the ER. After about an hour I knew I was not going to have a Google experience. I was grateful and I told each person who cared for me how much I appreciated their efforts. The atmosphere began to change. There was more smiling and laughter in the ER outside of my cubicle (the curtain was open and I could see people passing by). My nurse was more relaxed. She smiled a lot. I sensed more joy in the work they were doing. I believe the staff who attended me were grateful to be appreciated – as I said, ‘valued’. I wasn’t really thinking about being ‘the light of the world’ in the ER, but that is what was happening.
At around 4:00 AM I was moved to a bed on the 4th floor of the hospital. Judy was still by my side (amazing woman of God!). The nurses there were just as competent but more relaxed – smiling and joking with me. Not surprising – the ER was really busy where we left and the 4th floor was quiet. I got into a bed. I valued these nurses also – I told them that I had a good experience in the ER and how grateful I was for their great attitude and care. An elderly man was in the other bed in the room. I’ll call him Pete (not his real name).
The CT scan showed no kidney damage, just some broken capillaries (why all that intense pain? The doctors didn’t know) – no real damage. My urine was clear and by 9:00 AM I was ready to go home. Now I could get out of bed. I began walking the hall outside my door praying over every room and every patient I saw. I prayed with my nurse. She said, “I am really glad I met you.” I prayed with Pete for general healing and later for the healing of one of his legs. I don’t know if he got healed, but he said he really appreciated the prayer. I got the feeling that no one had ever prayed for him in this way. I continued to proclaim the Kingdom of God over the floor and entire hospital.
In my spirit, I felt the atmosphere in the hospital had changed. Where there was heaviness, now I felt a lighter spirit. Where there was resignation, I felt life and joy. Where there was darkness, I sensed the presence of light. My spirit had changed also. Fear and anxiety had been replaced by joy and peace. I knew God was with me. I kept hearing His voice throughout the night, “I am with you. I am healing you.” I also knew that I was serving Him by being “the light of the world” in this place. I didn’t do anything dramatic. But I knew I was operating in the power of the Holy Spirit, releasing the presence of Jesus wherever I went. And it made a difference!
God did not cause my accident. He protected me and directed me to the local Community Hospital to bring light into the lives of doctors, physicians assistants, nurses, and patients there. The light I brought was more than kindness, patience, and appreciation. It was the light of Jesus, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the presence of the Kingdom of God that really made the difference. It was a supernatural outpouring of the Father’s love. The world cannot do that.
We can do a lot of damage with our negative criticisms, especially devaluing people who are trying to do a good job under trying circumstances. When we speak or write negative judgments and accusations, we can release a powerful darkness into the world, especially in the spiritual realm, where the real action occurs.
The light that we carry is the life of Christ in us. It is the type of light that the darkness cannot understand. One drop of His light, released through your words, actions, or prayers powered by the Holy Spirit, can instantly push back the darkness. This is because: 1) these words can penetrate a person’s heart, bringing healing to wounds that you might not even know are there (but might sense in your spirit); and 2) words of value and encouragement change the spiritual atmosphere around you. There is the world’s light, which has little or no power to transform hearts and change the atmosphere; and there is the supernatural, powerful light, which is the life, love, and light of God, His Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. This light can go deep into the darkness of a person’s heart and effect permanent and significant change.
We are the keepers of that light, the light-bearers. We are the light of the world because we carry in our hearts the life of Jesus. We are the city on the hill. He tells us, “do not hide your light under a basket”. Wherever you are, whomever you come into contact with – let your light shine, which is another way of saying, “let the world see the love, presence, and power of Jesus in you” and collectively we will defeat the power of satan.
Shine, brothers and sisters,
John
I have published more of my thoughts on being the light of the world. If you want to read more, go to the post, “We Are the Salt of the Earth and the Light of the World” in this blog.