From the pen of Brother Dennis Sampson, This past weekend I was at the store and after months of trying to remember to go out and buy a new flashlight for work I did. It cost a little more than I had wanted to pay but I needed one that was compact in size but bright in power. It is rated at 85 lumes (lumes being the fancy word for candle light, so this is the equivalent of 85 candles). I work a great deal in the dark with small writing and limited room so not just any old cheap flashlight would do the job. This morning I used it for the first time and it worked perfectly the first couple of times that is. I keep it in the same pocket that I keep my change. When I pulled it out the third time and turned it on nothing happened. At first I thought I hadn't hit the push button correctly or maybe it was already on and I had turned it off. Still nothing happened and I assumed that it was probably a combination of the battery being old and me having left it turned on inside my pocket. As I went to place it back in my pocket something fell off the flashlight and landed on my boot. Figuring it was the lens and that my brand new flashlight was broke I bent down to pick it up. What I grabbed though was not the lens but rather a shiny new penny. Immediately I once again tried the flashlight and it beemed proudly to life. Turns out the opening of the flashlight casing is the same size as a penny. The more I thought about what had happened the more I was reminded of the verse in Matthew 6:21 "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Treasure doesn't always has to be money. It can be anything from money to sex to work, or your children etc. Anything that you allow your focus to be locked onto. Whatever tou make your reason for getting up out of bed is your treasure or god. Just as that penny kept the light from shining brightly for me, whatever we put first in our lives will effect everything that comes after it. That includes the power of the Holy Spirit. If we as Christians put the cares of this world before doing God's work we hinder Him and what He can do through us. His power doesn't change just like how the light was still on but we can't see the results. In order to see the light the penny had to be removed, same thing here we must remove what we have come to treasure in order to have God's power show forth in and through our lives. By the way once you get thst useless treasure removed DON'T PUT IT BACK JUST TO MAKE A POINT! I did just that so that I could take the picture that is attached to this post. Now the penny is stuck. Now I need outside help to remove it. Probably something really sticky to grab a hold of the surface to lift it out, I don't rightly know. Same goes with our lives if we won't remove this false treasure or turn around and put it back God will have to help us the hard way (Hebrews 12:6-13). Persist problems need to be worked around. If something you will be doing will encourage you to take back the treasure find a way to avoid it. Go a little out of the way to stay away from a area that will ultimately harm you. As for me once the penny is removed I plan on altering the casing so if another penny gets stuck inside I will be able tp quickly pry it out. No I don't want to intentionally damage my new light but I must in order to use it correctly. God looks at us the sane way. He doesn't want to hurt us but He will affect changes to help us and make us useable.
Brother Dennis Sampson's blog can be found at preacherdsj.wordpress.com
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