God made us free from the power of darkness. And he brought us into the kingdom of his dear Son.

We lost power in a terrible windstorm recently. The lights—and heat—were off for nearly 24 hours. It was a very long, dark, and chilly night in our house. When I woke up the next morning, it was a brisk 51 degrees in our house. When I said good morning to my wife, I could see my breath! The worst part of the whole thing was that I had to sleep without my fan! I’ve slept with a fan nearly every night of my life since I was just a little guy. The silence of the darkness was deafening!

There is something terribly frightening about darkness, isn’t there? Have you ever lost power at night and you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face? Or have you ever visited a cave and they turned out the lights? You experienced real darkness, didn’t you? Have you ever ridden “Space Mountain” at Disney World? There are parts of that ride that are very dark and you just cannot see what’s going on around you. Darkness can be so scary! This is especially true of spiritual darkness.

We were all prisoners of darkness at some point in our lives. We were living in the kingdom of darkness because of our spiritual blindness. But God has rescued us from the darkness by His grace through faith in Jesus. God has brought us out of the darkness and into the Kingdom of His Son. Jesus has opened our eyes and removed our blindness. We no longer walk in darkness, groping about and searching for hope. We can see clearly—not because of the sun—but because of the Son.

Friends, there are many who still live in darkness. They actively rebel against the Lord Jesus. They are darkened in their understanding of the life God desires for them (Ephesians 4:18). They need the light of the Son to shine into their hearts so that they will be released from darkness. We have the flashlight! We walk in the light as He is in the light (1 John 1:7) and now we must show others the way.

In my house the lights eventually came back on. For many, many people—people whom we know and love—the spiritual lights have yet to come on and they’re still living in darkness. Let us shine the light of the Son of God into the darkness that they might be rescued and brought into the Kingdom of the Son.

By Shawn Cornett, Bible League International staff, Indiana, U.S.