An Enlightened Life

It’s common for us to feel from time to time as if we are sleepwalking through this life of ours. We may have experienced trauma and retreated to what we deemed a safe place. Or it could be that we simply feel as if things are happening around us but we are not actively participating in any of them.

The danger is that sleepwalking can become a coping mechanism that, if left unattended, can rob us of a full life. A life that God never intended for us to live.

God wants us to live an enLIGHTened life, one where our hearts are totally flooded with His light. In order for this to happen we have to obtain an inner awareness of who we are in Him. Ephesians 1:18 (NLT) tells us,

I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope He has given to those He called – His holy people who are His rich and glorious inheritance.

He says that we are His holy people, His rich and glorious inheritance, and we should handle ourselves accordingly.

Imagine you had a sports car that you wanted to give your spouse. Yet when you gave him the keys, he immediately parked it in the garage and never allowed anyone to go near it. You would no doubt feel disappointed that he never fully enjoyed the gift you gave him.

The same applies to us in our everyday lives. We need to wake up and enjoy the enlightened life so that we can understand the calling that He has on our lives. We are never going to reach anyone with the gospel and offer them the same confident hope that we have by parking ourselves in the garage. But if we allow our hearts to be flooded with His light, then we can’t help but shine everywhere we go!

Father, allow our hearts to be flooded with Your light. Wake us up to share about the confident hope that only You provide. Thank You for calling us to an enlightened life.

This is an excerpt from Made to Shine by April Rodgers – a devotional book released by DaySpring publishing. Learn more about this book, or shop other books & devotionals from DaySpring.