Romans 12:2, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

When we think of normal, a lot of things come to mind; but what really stands out is, to me at least, that being normal dictates conforming to what the world says is normal. This is especially true of our faith versus the world. We in our faith to Christendom are seen as abnormal by sects and populations in the world. They want us to conform to their standards and not the Bible’s. They want us to bend and twist our faith to the world’s beliefs or break us completely.

Being conformed to the world is wrong. The world doesn’t offer what faith in God does. What the world offers is simple pleasures and selfishness. False idols abound, our children are being brainwashed in public schools to conform to the world, and anything closely related to Christian thought is being erased bit by bit.

God doesn’t want us to be conformed to this world. He wants us to be an uncommon people, conformed to His ways, the right ways. If this makes us abnormal, then I welcome this. I want what God has to offer and not man because the world says that freedom comes from humanistic beliefs, the common thought and norm of the world, while God offers true freedom in and through Him.

Satan is the orchestrator of this false doctrine, of course. Man is not smart enough to do this on their own but need a leader to follow down this destructive path of unrighteousness and hate of real Christians; and they found this in Satan, the father of lies. He is using weak vessels who profess his false doctrine we see today in pulpits around the country to do his bidding to destroy the Church from the inside out.

These false teachers and professors of faith will twist doctrine and teachings to conform to the humanistic beliefs of the world. They teach and preach without the backbone of biblical teachings as their foundation. The teachers of this false faith are employees of the Devil and are dedicated workers for him to bring havoc, so sinful living and actions are viewed as valid and normal practices.

Believers of the true truth need not conform to the attempts of Satan and his followers. It takes strength to hold fast to the truth of God. It takes strength to not waiver in our faith. It takes internal fortitude to stand up to those that want to destroy our faith, and, in the end, will make us more empowered in our faith and relationship with God.

While living in this world, we need to be strong. Our godly strength comes only from God Himself. Yes, we can garner support from others, but true strength comes from the Lord. He is our strength and shield against the world; and when we face adversity, it is God who protects and strengthens us to endure and overcome.

The world does not buy into this. They have other gods, such as left-leaning personalities and politicians, godless entertainers, and material goods. To submit to God is unfathomable to them because their gods have such a grip on them and offer them the worldly pleasures that they believe give them happiness. Satan, of course, is the perpetrator and is the god of their gods, but to follow the true God? Unthinkable.  Those of the world are so entwined in their worldly lives that they believe they have no need for the true and living God.

True happiness comes from God, not the world. The world will try to persuade otherwise by offering worldly pleasures and treasures, but our true treasure is in God and His ways, not the world’s. The world wants us to abandon our faith to conform to what they think is normal – things like abortion, gender confusion, unholy unions, etc., to lead us away from God and into their grips of disillusioned beliefs and values.

Because of this, we are hostile to them and their false foundational beliefs. We, as believers, stand for ideals that they cannot conceive as the right way to live. They frown upon us and mock us to try to silence us from speaking and living our lives in and for God. It’s as though we are being forced to hide our faith; but with God upholding us and giving us strength, we have nothing to fear from man because they don’t provide us with a way to heaven and have no power over our salvation.

Part of being outside the norm is the lack of acceptance of us outside the walls of our churches and homes. Because of our faith, we are uncommon to the world; and because of such, we are subjected to diverse trials and tribulations brought upon us from Satan and unsaved men and women. They want us to fall and fail so they can point out and mock us of our shortcomings to keep us at bay.

What we have and they don’t is hope in the true and only God. We cling tightly to the hope in God and the future we have with Him while the world’s hope is in worldly ideals. The world does not recognize the hope we have. They deny God and, therefore, are doomed to hell while we are heaven-bound to eternity with God.

Being outside of the norm gives us an unspeakable joy and peace through the Holy Spirit that the world just doesn’t understand, as stated in Romans 15:13, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” So, what about the Holy Spirit?  He separates us from those who do not believe.

The Holy Spirit does not lead us down the path of destruction, but points us up towards heaven. In the middle of this world, trusting in the Holy Spirit’s ability will bring us a peace and a joy so that, even in the midst of a storm, the assurance of God’s love surrounds us like a warm blanket on a cold winter’s day.

The world just can’t understand the peace and joy we hold. With the Holy Spirit being with us, we don’t have to stress out like the world does. We don’t have to worry about the unknown that the world does, and the Holy Spirit will uphold us in adversity so we can have an attitude of love that Jesus had towards those that came against Him.

Our faith takes us out of the norm of the world. We are abnormal to the world. We are marginalized by the world. This is awesome! Who, in their right mind as a Christian, would want to be considered normal to the world? I don’t, and you shouldn’t either. We are set apart from the world, and it’s okay to not be accepted by them. We shouldn’t desire or seek the approval of the world but should only seek and hold dear the approval of God Himself.

johnflysaught@gmail.com

John 8:12, “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

The world is trying to extinguish the light of believers. At work, in the media, in entertainment, and in society in general, believers are being set aside for worldly morals and values that are getting more contrary to God’s light and into darkness quickly. We have to maneuver this world and shine the Light of God into our lives and the lives of others. There is darkness all around and the battle is here; and many people are turning from God and trying to destroy believers.

It is sad to see the depravity of man do this. Those opposed to God want to force-feed us their beliefs. They want to cover our light and place us in dark places to not be seen or heard. They want to change us, but will take silencing us as the alternative. Is this working? Yes, it is. If it weren’t, we would not be in the middle of this mess, and I’d be writing something else. But here we are, in the middle of the storm of the prelude to the coming of Christ. Until then we must be strong and never give up in our faith.

Jesus tells us He is the light of the world (John 8:12). Do you believe this? I do. I wholeheartedly believe this. I also have the light of His life by following Him and so do other true believers. The world makes this hard sometimes, but I hold fast to Him nonetheless. The world wants believers to feel like outsiders in society, and you know what? I’m glad they do. If they accepted us as one of their own, then something is wrong. They walk in darkness and believers walk in the Light of Christ. Because we walk in the light, people despise us and turn their anger and wrath our way.

Just like a compass will tell us in what direction we are heading, the Light of Christ guides us through the wilderness of the evil world we live in. We are strangers in a foreign land, and we need to follow the light in the darkness that surrounds us each day. The way we do this is to look up. We look up to Christ and follow His ways, not the world’s. The light is always in front of us, so there is no need to look elsewhere. We need to stand strong and stable in our walk with Christ to ensure we can resist the Devil and his minions of demons and unregenerate man. If we take our focus off of Christ, we can stumble into sin by succumbing to temptations.

When we do stumble, we have no one else to blame but ourselves. When we lose sight of the Light of Christ, this is when we fall to sin. And we will.  We are rebellious by nature and will fall on occasion. Yet, when we turn and look forward again, the light is still there, bright as ever, never diminished, and always strong. We can have the faith and trust that the light of Christ will always be there for us to look to as we follow Him through this hard life.

Jesus says in John 12:46, “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.”

The world is covering itself in a blanket of utter darkness, void of any hint of light of any sort. Believers see this, but those that are blinded cannot. They believe it is the norm. They see darkness as how the world is supposed to be and needs to be. They see evil as good and good as evil. They are backwards in their thinking and beliefs. They worship and cling to anything, anything that is ungodly in place of worshiping the true God of the universe. It befuddles me why this happens. It is so hard to fathom that one can expend so much energy and effort to turn to anything and anyone else but God and His love.

What goes through the mind of people? They have been fooled and blinded by evil.

It truly is a battle of light and darkness; and as a whole, the darkness is taking over like in the days of Noah. The Lord will tarry for only so long before He has had enough. The world hates us; and even though we don’t know the day or time of Christ’s return (Mat. 24:36), we know until then we will have to stand our ground in our battles.

There is no doubt that the world is trying to squash the Light of Christ in us. A chip here. A chip there.  Attempts to murder us through a thousand little cuts. This is the battle we must stand against. We are being cut down, little by little, piece by piece – this we must stand against. We must hold our heads high in our faith and walk with Christ, the Son of the Most High God. No excuses, no bending.

We must stand strong. We are in battle. Each day, we face the enemy through others or through the temptations of the world that Satan has crafted through society. We cannot let our guards down. We can’t take a break, and we can’t take time to rest. If we do, we open ourselves up to being devoured.  This isn’t so much of a physical battle as it is the spiritual battle we are encompassed by.

To live in the light, we must be on guard at all times – no rest for the weary. We are on the battlefield of spiritual warfare, and souls are at stake. Yes, we may be saved but that is no excuse to hide and cower in the shadows. Light is meant to shine, not put under the bed. We turn on the lights when we arrive home when it is dark, and we need to do the same in darkness of everyday life.

To be the light of Christ is to follow Christ. We may do so in our personal circles of influence, but what about outside of that circle? Are we “praise Jesus” on Sunday mornings, only to berate an employee at the place we go after church during the week? Do we live in the light of Christ at all times, or only when we need God on our side? I’ve seen both sides of this.

When we follow the Light of Christ, we too must be the Light of Christ. Not just on Sunday mornings, but at all times, each and every day.

2 Corinthians 4:6 says, “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

Isn’t that awesome that He has shined in our hearts? Isn’t it awesome that we can share that light to others?

Through acceptance and faith in Christ, we have the Light of Him in us – to be loving, to discern good from evil, to know that we are Heaven-bound. We are the children of God, adopted into His Glory. The joy and peace of knowing this is unfathomable to explain.

Words cannot express what we have in Christ; and yet, His Light can shine forth from us to others in the minute facets of our lives to the momentous events we encounter from the joyous times to the trying times.

All glory and honor to Him.

Johnflysaught@gmail.com