Walking as Children of Light

John Paul Jackson

As followers of Jesus, we need to develop a heightened sensitivity to the Lord and abide in His Word. When we do, we will hear God’s voice just by walking with Him. We will see, hear, know, and understand God’s ways and His heart.

Scripture tells us that as we abide in Him, we are transformed into His glorious image little by little (2 Corinthians 3:18). In fact, we become agents of transformation that advance the Kingdom of Light in the earth.

Although we carry the light of Christ within us, many of us fail to recognize the exciting spiritual impact we have on others. We become distracted by the little things in life, unaware of how God’s light within us challenges the darkness around us.

Much of the time, we are focused only on those things which are seen (2 Corinthians 4:18) and limit our thinking to what is logical, rational, or tangible. This is a two-dimensional mind-set that originated with Aristotle and that ignores the reality of the spiritual universe. In life, there are actually seven dimensions of reality: height, depth, width, soul, spirit, time, and light. To have a seven-dimensional mind-set is to embrace the reality of the supernatural.

As children of the light, the Lord allows us glimpses into the supernatural arena. Such revelations often motivate us to live holy lives and restore our understanding of how awesome God is.

A few years ago, the Lord allowed me to “see” into the life of a young lady as she was moving from one apartment to another. I not only saw what was going on in the natural realm, but I was able to “see” what was going on in the spiritual realm where I saw both the hordes of hell and the heavenly hosts. For several hours one day, I watched God’s angels and satan’s demons interacting in this woman’s life. The Lord opened my eyes to “see” the Holy Spirit leading and guiding this young woman, placing thoughts and feelings into her heart and in her mind, although she was totally unaware of His presence.

In this vision, the young woman made a decision to sign an apartment contract and began moving from one apartment to another.  As she turned the doorknob and walked inside, I heard screams of fear from demons because light was entering the darkness.

Then, the young woman walked next door to use her neighbor’s telephone. When the neighbor opened the door and saw the young woman, light entered into the neighbor. The Spirit of God within this young woman was impacting the neighbor.

The young woman wasn’t thinking, “I feel the Holy Spirit’s anointing on me.” She wasn’t even considering thoughts of evangelism or wondering if her neighbor was a Christian. Instead, she was embarrassed about knocking on her neighbor’s door and she was grumbling under her breath about how much she hated moving. She was totally unaware of the spiritual impact she was having on her neighbor. She was simply going through the chores of everyday life, feeling more of its drudgery.

Later, I watched as the young woman drove to a grocery store. Passing by one store, she became frustrated with herself and wondered why she didn’t see it in time. She began to look for a place to make a U-turn, but she saw a sign that prohibited U-turns. So she continued driving until she found another grocery store.

Entering the store, the young woman grabbed a shopping cart and began walking down the isles, oblivious to the angels who were walking beside her. They were directing her shopping cart down the isles in a haphazard pattern. However, the young woman felt “lost” in the store. She couldn’t seem to find the things she needed and began to feel disoriented. Suddenly, an angel whispered to her, “Here we go. Keep on walking.”

Blinded to the reality of an alternative spiritual universe, the young woman had just walked past demons who were sitting on shelves screaming out in fear and panic because they were overcome by the light.

Once she had filled her shopping cart with food and cleaning supplies, the young woman steered the cart toward a checkout lane. Suddenly, another shopper edged in front of her. Frustrated, the young woman became irritated, unaware that several angels had actually shoved the shopper ahead of her.

The angels were eager to steer the young woman over to a different cashier whom they had been preparing for a “God encounter”. On that day, the young woman was the fourth Christian who came through the cashier’s line—the fourth time God’s light had hit her that day. What the young woman didn’t realize was that five more times, and the cashier would become a Christian. By then, the cashier would have encountered the light of God so that she would be able to realize her need to change.

The young woman, however, was unaware of heaven’s strategy. In fact, she was still irritated about the rude shopper who cut in front of her. Tired and frustrated, the young woman looked at her watch. She was behind schedule and felt an urgency to get home. “I would have been home a lot quicker,” she thought, “if that person hadn’t pulled in front of me. I can’t believe that I missed that first grocery store.”

Sadly, the young woman was ignorant to how God was using her to advance His Kingdom. Nor did she realize that one day she would receive a heavenly reward for what happened in the cashier’s life, simply because she carried God’s presence and walked with Him.

As children of the light, these sorts of things happen to us every single day, but often we are unaware of them. Our spiritual sensitivity is dull. Focused on the natural realm, we concentrate on simply existing and surviving. Sadly, we miss savoring the exciting adventures God has prepared for us.

Scripture says that God is light (John 1:89; 8:12; 1 John 1:5) and we are children of light (Ephesians 5:8). Light always exposes and expels the things of darkness (Ephesians 5:13).

Many of us think we have to “feel” spiritual to “be” spiritual, and thus to have a spiritual impact on other. But in reality, it has nothing to do with how we “feel”.  It has everything to do with our relationship to Jesus Christ and that He comes to live in us. We are simply earthen vessels that carry the presence of God. As the Spirit of the living God flows through us, we have a spiritual impact on everyone and everything around us.

God called us into His marvelous light in order to proclaim His praises (1 Peter 2:9). Everywhere we go, He will go with us (Matthew 28:20; John 14:20-21). He will live in us. His light will emanate through us. His power and anointing will flow out from us, touching and changing everyone we come in contact with.

Remember, “It is God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

(2 Corinthians 4:6)