Many things happen in this world that are not in the will of God. It is not His will for anyone to live in darkness, because in an environment of darkness, a fruitful life cannot exist. As the world's midnight hour approaches, there is a darkness settling in across the land, bringing great fear, anxiety and depression into the lives of people of all ages. There is only one way out of this darkness, only one solution for all people. Regardless of whether the darkness is physical, spiritual, emotional, mental or any other kind, the remedy is the same: Darkness is eliminated by the entrance of light.

The earth was once covered with total darkness. There is no way to place it in a time frame because this was back in eternity before time began. The earth was a cold, dark, formless, empty place where life could not exist. The Bible says, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep" (Gen.1:1,2). God knew what was needed; He turned on a light! He said, "Let there be light: and there was light" (verse 3). This magnificent development marked the beginning of the recording of time, a kind of time that we cannot begin to comprehend.

The Bible says, "And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day" (verses 4,5). That was not anything like the day with which we are acquainted. These Days or periods of time when God was creating could have been an instant or billions of years! We can understand very little about it with our finite minds. Neither can we comprehend the significance of light, except to say that it is vital for life.

The second day God separated the sky, earth and sea (verses 6-8); then, on the third day, He covered the earth with vegetation (verses 11-13). On the fourth day or what could be called the fourth unmeasurable period of time, He brought another form of light into the world by creating the sun and placing it in the sky as a lamp for the earth (verses 14-19). He used that light to divide the day and night, which began the kind of time in which we now live. The light and heat from the sun prepared the earth for the creation of man.

Then, on the sixth day, not the twenty-four-hour day but the other one that we cannot gauge, the Lord God ". . . created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them" (verse 27). And for an unknown period of time, this man and woman walked and lived not only in the light of the sun, but in another Light that God gave them. It was a spiritual Light, and in that Light they enjoyed fellowship with God.

But man, influenced by Satan, sinned by declaring his independence from God and going his own way, which ushered a deadly spiritual darkness into his spirit. This is the worst darkness that could be experienced. God, being so good and so merciful, could not leave mankind in this horrible state. This darkness, just as all darkness, would be abolished by the entrance of light. But for this kind of darkness to be eliminated, it would take a different kind of light, one that was brighter than the sun and perfect in every way. This Perfect Light was none other than the Son of God.

The Bible says, "Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the Day spring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace" (Luke 1:78,79); and, "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined" (Isa.9:2). That was when the Light to drive out the darkness in the lost souls of mankind came into the world. The Son of God took on the form of a man: ". . . the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth" (John 1:14).

When Jesus came and placed His footprints on the earth, the light shined to reveal the true nature of God: "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (Cor..4:6). When He hung on the cross, the light shined and abolished sin with all its darkness. When He rose from the dead, the light shined and abolished the darkness of death and revealed the glory of eternal life. It is not enough just to see this light; it must become a part of us. We must experience having it within our hearts.

This is the same Light that lights the Temple of God (the New Jerusalem, the Bride of Christ [Rev.21:9,10,23]). Christ is the Light that shines in the inner being of everyone who belongs to Him. How utterly ridiculous it is for us, who have the light of Christ shining within, to not walk in that light, but to grope along in another kind of light, causing us to stagger and stumble in darkness. How foolish it is for us to walk according to the darkness of the flesh rather than by the light of the Spirit, to walk in the darkness of the old man that was crucified with Christ rather than by the light of our new creation. Trying to see by the artificial light of man's wisdom that shines through his religions, philosophies, traditions, etc., is like trying to walk by the light of a flashlight during the day when the sun is shining brightly.

The Bible says to us who belong to Christ, "Ye are all the children of the light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness" (Thais.5:5). But even though we are children of the Light, while we are still here on earth we often live our lives as though we were in spiritual darkness. When we do that, it does not mean we have lost our salvation. When we received Jesus, God gave us eternal life; that is His promise and He cannot lie (Heb.6:18). Even though the Light is in us (the new creation), we can still walk (live) in the darkness of the old nature. If we allow Satan to speak to us directly or through some legalistic preacher to convince us that God's promise is not enough to secure our salvation, we will certainly get sidetracked onto a road of darkness--but we are still the children of the Light. If we believe that lie of the devil, we will be miserable, but nothing can change the promises of God. The Bible teaches, "If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful: He cannot deny Himself" (Tim.2:13). Unbelief in the promises of God is the worst affliction that can come upon us, and it is what leads us into spiritual darkness.

The Light is shining in the Temple, that new creation within us who are born again by the power of God (John 1:13). Living in the new creation is walking in that light. Walking in the light and not the darkness is vital to our physical, mental and spiritual well-being. It is not always easy to know whether we are walking as children of light or darkness, because sometimes the darkness has an appearance of light. Often what appears good to the natural understanding is a form of darkness. If we believe something is light when it is darkness, oh, how great is that darkness!

It is frightening to think that darkness can appear as light, and that we could be caught in it while thinking we are walking in the light. However, there is no reason for us to be caught in darkness. There is a way for us to know exactly how we are walking.

The way to walk in the light is to have a single eye. The way to walk in the darkness is to have an evil eye. Jesus said, "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" (Mat.6:22,23).

The direction of our lives is determined by the kind of spiritual eye that we have. If we have a single eye, we will walk in the light. If we have an evil eye, we will walk in the darkness. We need to understand what it means to have a single eye and what it means to have an evil eye. This is more important than having good physical eyesight. A person can be completely blind physically and still see clearly to walk in the light.

The condition of our spiritual eye- sight is totally based on how we view God. If we have a true concept of God, we have a single (clear) eye which causes us to walk in the light. If we see God as other than being totally good, we have an evil eye that causes us to walk in the darkness. Some Christians cannot understand why they have such severe times of depression, why their lives are so dark; they do not realize that their eye is not single, that they have a poor concept of God.

The next time you hear a preacher saying that it is your performance that determines if you will make it to Heaven, beware, for he is trying to control the light switch of your life. He may think he is turning on the light when he is switching on the darkness by causing you to have an evil eye.

This is a warning, a vital alert: Beware of the evil eye, which is having a false concept of God! Satan is unrelenting is his efforts to give you an evil eye. Often his attack will come upon you when you least expect. Sometimes he will take a punch at you through a preacher whom you love and trust; one who thinks he is helping you by placing you under the law rather than in God's grace; one who may, unintentionally, try to give you his or her false concept of God.

The Bible cautions you to, "Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats . . . The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words" (Prov.23:6,8). If anyone tells you that God is not good, and you take it in (eat it), you will become sick in spirit and then you will "throw up" on others by telling it to them. You will become bitter within and lose your sweet words and not be able to share the lovingkindness of the Lord with others. Beware of letting anyone give you a black (evil) eye!

I heard about a conference speaker who really took a swing at his congregation and gave them a black (evil) eye. I don't think it was intentional; he was just preaching in the flesh rather than the Spirit. Just after describing some trials that he was going through (which he blamed on the Lord), he said, "If God treats His friends like this, I would hate to see what He does to His enemies!" The congregation responded with a roar of laughter; few realized, including the speaker, that Satan's hand was on the light switch, turning on darkness in the lives of the people by giving them an evil eye (wrong concept of God).

There is a teaching by evil eye preachers about the dark side of God. Don't let anyone give you any of that kind of bread, for it is deadly! The bread to eat is what the Holy Spirit serves to you. He states that, ". . . God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all" (John 1:5).

The parable Jesus told about the laborers in the vineyard in Matthew, chapter 20, gives a clear illustration to show that an evil eye is having a wrong concept of God. Some of the workers in the vineyard were complaining. What bothered them was that the owner of the vineyard had paid some other workers, who had been hired at the eleventh hour and had only worked an hour, the same amount as they who had worked all day. They thought that they should get more and that the owner was being unfair and unjust because he was rewarding someone who did not deserve it. The owner replied, "Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil because I am good?" (Mat.20:15). To have a concept of God that He is one who would have you earn from Him, rather than receiving freely what He gives, is seeing evil in God and is having an evil eye.

Usually, when a child of God complains, it is a sign of walking in the darkness because of an evil eye in the way they view their Heavenly Father. The elder brother of the prodigal son complained that his father was being unfair to him, even though his father told him, ". . . all that I have is thine" (Luke 15:31).

Recently, I was talking to a sister in Christ who was about to purchase a battery for her car, and she was concerned that the man at the garage was going to overcharge her. She said, "If he does, God will get him!" That day she did not have a single eye. If she had a better concept of God, she would realize that God does want to "get" that man--not to punish him, but to love him.

Sometime ago a brother in Christ was quite upset with me and began to rebuke me because he thought I was becoming too friendly with the Lord. He said, "It really bothers me that you do not fear God!" It really does bother some people when they see someone becoming more comfortable with the "God of all comfort" (Cor..1:3).

I spent the first thirty years of my life being afraid of God. This was before I knew the Lord as my Savior. I thought He wanted to punish me for my sins, which were many! My eye was evil. I had a bad concept of God so I was afraid to draw near to Him. Then a crises came up in my life that made me run to God for I knew no one else could help. It was when I learned that my infant son had cancer. One night I cried out in prayer, "Oh God, I have lived thirty years but my son has lived only three months. Take that cancer from him and put it on me!" Then I heard the voice of the Lord; He said, "I am not like that!" I then changed my prayer and said, "Oh Lord, please heal him!" and fell asleep. The next morning both my wife and I woke up with a great peace and from that time on no trace of cancer was found in the child. My concept of God had changed drastically, and soon my wife and I received Christ as our Lord and Savior. Needless to say, the last thirty years have been just great and keep getting better as we grow in the true concept of God, and use that single eye to walk in the Light.

The Bible says, ". . . the just shall live by faith" (Hab.2:4; Rom.1:17; Gal.3:11; Heb. 10:38). To walk in the Light is a walk of faith. There are days when our feelings will try to make us stumble. There are times when our human reasoning tries to detour us onto a dark road. But if we believe that God is good and realize how much He loves us, we will want to draw near to Him and walk in His Light.

Some people think that God is not completely good because of all the bad things that He allows to take place in this world. That is not the way it was in the beginning when He created it. He did not make the mess that is in the world. We did! What He did was give us a free will to choose right or wrong. Should we contend with our Maker for not creating us as robots?

The Bible says, ". . . the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord" (Ps.33:5); King David declared, "I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living" (Ps.27:13). There are many things to convince us of the goodness and the love of God, even though it is too much to comprehend fully. We can look at all the wonderful things He has made and given to us; such as, food, clothing, the water we drink, and the air we breathe. We can look at our families and friends that He in His goodness and love has blessed us with. We can look at our abilities and talents that come from Him along with all of our material possessions. We can look at all the spiritual riches from Him that are ours; such as, faith, joy, peace and righteousness. If, after seeing all of that, we are still not convinced that God is good and that He loves us . . . well . . . there is just one more thing to look at: it is the cross of Calvary. There is nothing more that God could give

Only Begotten Son for the purchase of our salvation is not enough to convince us of His goodness and love, we have just chosen not to be convinced, for nothing can top that!

The bottom line is that to walk in the light is to have a single eye by seeing that God is good. The cross makes it so clear that God is good that there is no excuse for anyone who has heard about that sacrifice to think otherwise. The light from that sacrifice shines upon us not only while we are here on earth but throughout our eternal life in Heaven. There Jesus is called "The Lamb" (Rev.22:1). Whenever we hear that title, we are reminded of the love and goodness of the Lord by what He did for us at Calvary.

After we, who belong to Jesus, cross over to Heaven, we will not have to be concerned about not walking in the light, for there it is all light. There is no darkness there for darkness cannot be in the presence of the Light that brightens Heaven. The Bible says, "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof" (Rev.21:23).

That Holy City, the New Jerusalem, that is lit up by Jesus not only refers to Heaven but also the Bride of Christ. And while she is here on earth, she must live in her new creation to walk in the light.

Jesus said, ". . . I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12). The Light appeared to the children of Israel in the form of a pillar of cloud and fire for them to follow through the wilderness on their journey to the Promised Land. Two thousand years ago the Light came to earth as the Son of God for us to follow while we are here on earth and to guide us to Heaven. It is a glorious thing for us to follow the Light, which will keep us from walking in the darkness. But now, after the death and resurrection of Christ and the sending of the Holy Spirit, we have the blessed privilege of some- thing even more glorious than following Jesus--it is walking with Him! Not just following the Light but living in the Light! He is the Light in the Temple.