Messages of God's Abundance: Meditations by the Author of the Hiding Place - Corrie ten Boom - Paperback

Let Your Light Shine In Matthew 5:13 and 14-16 we read that the Lord Jesus says, "You are the salt of the earth," and "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." I have spoken to prisoners in many countries. During the war I experienced what it means to sit behind a door that can only be opened from the outside. Maybe that is why I am so interested in prisoners and sympathize with them so much. I think of a rough young man in Mexico, who had an eighteen-year sentence. You don't get that for just stealing a car. But something had happened in his life. The Lord Jesus had laid His hand upon him. He prayed, "Come into my heart, Lord Jesus" and Jesus came. That's what it says in Revelation 3:20, "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in." And that had happened. The man became an evangelist in his prison. When I arrived there, he had already brought half of his fellow prisoners to the Lord. I hope that you, the reader, will get to heaven and that I will meet you there. Then I am sure that I'll be able to introduce you to quite a few fervent evangelists whom I met in prisons, fellows who were serving their sentences. But not only that, we will also find many who, through them, found their way to heaven. I want to tell you something I learned from a prisoner in New Zealand. Sometimes you hear the most wonderful sermons from people who are serving their sentence in prisons. I had preached on the text, "You are the light of the world." Can you say that to prisoners? Wouldn't it be better to say, "You are the darkness of the world"? One of the men who had heard my sermon said, "This morning I was leafing through the Bible and I found the story of three murderers. One was called Moses, one David, and one Paul." Were they murderers? Yes. We know them as God's heroes, but all three were murderers. The prisoner said: "Mates, there's hope for you and me." What can God do with a murderer who surrenders totally to Him? What can God do with a completely surrendered "decent" sinner like you and me? Will you surrender to Him? Miracles will happen. You will become the light of the world and the salt of the earth. Let's pray together. "Lord, I thank You that You can use sinners. You didn't call the angels to be evangelists; they have other work to do. But You can use me. Lord, hear those who listen and are saying: 'Can You use me?' Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee. Oh, Lord, how wonderful it is that You will make them the light of the world and salt of the earth. Hallelujah. Amen." Two Kinds of Love Because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us" (Rom. 5:5). An ocean of love and light covered an ocean of sin and darkness when Jesus said on the cross, "It is finished." There are two kinds of love: human love and God's love. Human love can fall short; God's love never does. In 1 Corinthians 13 we read about divine love. In the original Bible text there are two different words for love. Human love is called philia, God's love is called agape. God's love is the greatest reality, here and now-not only if we live in a beautiful house and have enough to eat, but even if the very worst happens in the life of a child of God, the best remains, namely God's love. I experienced that love when I was imprisoned in a concentration camp during the war. Each morning they held roll call. The supervisor used that time to demonstrate her cruelty. One morning I could hardly bear to see and hear what was happening in front of me. Then a lark started to sing in the air. All the prisoners looked up. I looked up too and listened to the biten Boom, Corrie is the author of 'Messages of God's Abundance: Meditations by the Author of the Hiding Place - Corrie ten Boom - Paperback' with ISBN 9780310252917 and ISBN 0310252911.