Growing up with my grandma in Ake Etan Tuntun, Oyo State; there was hardly any electricity supply in our little house, so we relied heavily on lanterns and candles. Once night falls, my grandma would typically take out the lantern, light it up with a match and place it at the very centre of the room. The position of the lantern was usually equidistant from the walls. And it never happened that my grandma would place the lantern on the floor, she typically placed it on the centre table or somewhere even higher.
“No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light.” — Luke 8:16 (KJV)
No one lights a candle only to put it under a bushel. It’s not rational! And just like my grandma, most people light candles so they can give light to everyone who comes into that space. Now, the same way no man will light a candle and place it under a bushel; God did not light your spirit, so it could be kept under the dominion and control of your flesh! Your spirit is the candle of the Lord and the bushel, which is your flesh, is the shell trying to cover the intensity of the light in your spirit from shinning through.
“For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.” -Psalms 18:28 (KJV)
“The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly.” — Proverbs 20:27 (KJV)
How does God light your candle? He does that when He gives you His Life at new birth. The moment you got born again, your candle got lit! Glory to God. Now, God did not light your spirit, get it saved and sealed, only for your flesh to still dominate its expression. He got you lit so He could place you in a position that maximizes the light in you. He wants to reap as much glory from your life. A lit candle under a bushel is just as ineffective as an unlit candle under a bushel. Whoever sees the two of them only sees the bushel. A believer who is not transformed by the renewing of his mind to God’s Word is just as ineffective in expressing the life of God as a person who isn’t even saved at all. A lot of believers are simply lit candles but covered glories. Lit because they are saved, but covered because their bushel still prevails over their lights. How powerful is your bushel over your candle? Remember when the Scripture says that the Spirit can be willing, but the flesh is weak. What that simply means is that the Bushel is dominant over the Candle.
How do we ensure that we carry the light of our candles and set it upon a candlestick? How do we break away from the power of our bushels?
I’m glad you asked! It’s by Meditation.
When you look into the natural glass, what you see is your natural face. Now, when you look into the perfect law of liberty, which is the glass referred to in 2 Corinthians 3:18, you are looking at your spiritual face in the face of Jesus.
The Word of God is the substance that puts dimensions to your spirit. That is why James said if anyone does not do what he hears from The Word, he is akin to a man who beholds his face in a mirror but immediately forgets what he looks like. And since Meditation according to Joshua 1:8 is incomplete without doing, a lot of people simply see their possibilities in Scriptures but refuse to walk in the light of those possibilities because they don’t Meditate to do! They leave that encounter with The Word, forgetting what manner of man they were. Therefore, their truest essence (spirit) never truly finds expression.
“They live their whole lives betraying themselves,” — James 1:22 (AMPC).
What a shame!
Too many people are more familiar with their bushels than they are with their candles. Too many people take care of their bodies and souls, many times at the expense of their spirits. You can take care of your bushel all you want, but its best use is to stand as a platform for your candle to be hoisted, not as a covering for your spirit-man. Now, the more we look into the perfect law of liberty and are not forgetful hearers but doers of the work which we see in The Word, the more we receive empowerment to be blessed in a way that people will see our good works and glorify our Father in Heaven.
The glory is in our spirit (candle), not our bushel (flesh) and meditation is what helps us place that candle in a position that blesses others.
“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” — 2 Corinthians 3:18 (KJV)
This is what Peter was referring to in 2 Peter 1 when he mentions the light that shines in a dark place. That dark place is the darkness beneath the bushel where the candle starts to shine from. But Peter says we should take heed to that candlelight by meditation, until the day dawns and the daystar arises in our hearts. Which means we should keep meditating until we place our candles on the hill top. This is what Paul also mentions to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4. He admonishes Timothy to meditate on these Words so that his profiting (shinning) will appear to all men and they will see his good works and glorify his Father in Heaven.
Now, the brighter the intensity of a source of light, the higher it needs to go. For two reasons; first is so that it does not hurt those closest to its source and secondly is so that it can be useful for many other people. Imagine the Sun was just a few million miles closer to the earth that it is right now, it could melt us all into wax in seconds. The intensity of the brightness of the Sun demands that it be placed far higher than the terrestrial. The brighter your light shines through Meditation and acting on The Word, the more God is compelled to raise you higher and higher for all men to see. Before long, beyond Gentiles, Kings will come to the brightness of your rising (Isaiah 60:1–3).
Let me close with this thought.
There are 3 things fire requires in order to burn; Heat, Fuel and Oxygen. The absence of any of these elements is enough to put out fire.
When you light a candle and keep it under a bushel, after a while, the supply of Oxygen will be limited and that candle will eventually go out. A flesh dominated life, can stifle the manifestation of the spirit and even extinguish its light.
Don’t ever stop fanning to flames your light. Don’t stop growing in The Word via meditation. Don’t stop placing your candle on candlesticks. Because you don’t only bless those who come into the room with your light when you shine, but by the Help of the Holy Spirit, you keep yourself from falling and being extinguished by an opaque bushel.
God bless your heart.
Have a productive week ahead.