A Lighthouse in the World

Last week I shared about the sense I had that the Lord is calling some of us away from the intimacy of the prayer closet and into the marketplace.

It’s not as though He is saying that He does not want us to be intimate with Him anymore. It’s more like a walking out of Song of Songs 1:4, which says “Draw me after you, and let us run together.” (NASB)

The rhythm of our life needs to alternate between “drawing” and “running.” We will always need to have regular personal time with the Lord, during which we are “refueled” or “refired” to go back out into the world with Him in the partnership of ministry to others.

And yet, the balance of time we spend in the prayer closet vs. in the world changes in different seasons of life.

During the very time that I was writing last week’s message about re-entering the marketplace, I was receiving an email that contained a job offer. I knew from the nature of that offer that this was something the Lord would have me accept. So I did.

And that brings me to today’s topic. Since late last summer I have found myself drawn to lighthouses. It began when a stranger prayed for me at a seminar I attended and asked if there were a connection between me and lighthouses.

I knew of none at the time, but in the months that followed, I found myself increasingly aware of lighthouses. I began to see the lighthouse motif in a lot of gift stores. I went on the Internet and began researching lighthouses in the Great Lakes area, where I live.

When I set goals for this year in late December, I had a strong witness in my spirit that this year I should try to visit a different lighthouse each month.

Yet I did not know what the concept of a lighthouse signified for my life. In the Word of God there are no direct references to lighthouses. So I couldn’t just run “lighthouse” through a concordance and see what scriptures might apply.

As I have visited lighthouses since the beginning of the year, I have also visited lighthouse gift shops. At one of them I purchased a small lighthouse, about 3 inches high, that I now keep on my computer and I look at it often.

But until this week I have not known why lighthouses are such an important theme for me this year. Now indeed I could say that “lighthouse” is a prophetic theme for me this year.

Just a few days ago as I was looking at my little lighthouse and preparing to visit an old lighthouse in Milwaukee, I thought about the light shining out as a beacon from the top of a lighthouse. And suddenly these words of Yeshua came to my remembrance:

Let your light so shine before men,
That they may see your good works
And glorify your Father in Heaven. (Mt. 5:16 NKJV)

Wow! That really connected with my heart. I could see that in this new job, I will be anointed and graced by God to be His ambassador, doing good works in such a way that it draws attention to my Father in heaven.

I will be a lighthouse. The words that precede verse 16 add even more meaning:

You are the light of the world.
A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.
Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket,
But on a lampstand [in a lighthouse!]
And it gives light to all who are in the house.

Yeshua is saying to me here that I need to let the light that is in me shine wherever I go and not hide it. Because of the presence of God in me, I will do good works that will show others the glory and power of God, my Father.

What about you? Are you one of those I wrote about last week, who like me are being sent by the Lord to minister in the marketplace? If so, don’t mourn—rejoice! And be that lighthouse that shines even in dark places, showing others where the rocks and reefs are that can tear up their lives.

Let the light of God within you show you the souls in trouble out in the darkness, the ones that need your prayers and your encouraging help. You and I are the hands and feet of Messiah in the earth. We are the means by which He most commonly expresses His love, especially to the unsaved or to the afflicted.

He has lit the lamp of His love in each of us and now bids us to let that light burn. You know, the old lighthouses of the 19th and early 20th centuries were not electrified. The light literally burned. It was a fire fueled by oil, and it had to be tended by a faithful lighthouse keeper.

Nowadays the old lighthouses have been replaced by automated navigation lights. But you and I are not like an automated navigation light. We have the fire of God’s love in us, which brings the light of revelation. We must tend this fire by fanning the flame of it in prayer and in the Word.

We must be faithful lighthouse keepers.

We have spent time in intimacy with Yeshua. Now is the time for us to run together with Him into the villages, into the fields and vineyards as His partners. Now is the time to let Him shine out from us like a beacon of safety, drawing others to a new kind of life.

So now that I will be working several days a week outside of my home, I will not be able to continue writing this column at this time. And I have enjoyed doing this.

But on Monday I will be taking the little lighthouse perched on my home computer to a new location. Even so, Lord, let it be done to me according to Your word.

Omayne!

Scripture marked NKJV taken from the New King James Version. Copyright ©1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Emphasis added.

Scripture marked NASB taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Emphasis added.