The following is an excerpt from our devotional series Desperate for Change.

“Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.” –Ephesians 5:11

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It seems that most of the serious political scandals have involved cover ups. It wasn’t always the misdeed that was the worst, so much as the lying and manipulation of trying to hide it from the public. Cover ups always try to keep things in darkness, away from the light where people can really see what has happened.

Who is praying on the wall?

Followers of Jesus ought to really hate cover ups. We are called to be children of the light, avoiding the deeds of darkness. I think we have often misunderstood what it means to be light. Light by its nature shines. Darkness simply flees. It disappears when light appears. If our nation is in darkness, why? What has happened to the light?

Darkness doesn’t push back light. It is simply the absence of light. It’s time to shine, church. It’s time for the light of Christ to be lived out in our neighborhoods, schools, and cities. We don’t need to rail against the darkness; we just need to shine. The Light of the world lives within us, and our nation desperately needs His light to shine in every dark corner.

Prayer Points

• Ask the Lord to forgive you for hiding your light.
• Ask the Lord to shine so brightly through you today that others will see Him in all that you do.
• Pray for an explosion of light in the church, bringing transformation to our communities.

My Prayer

Thank You, Light of the World, for coming to live in me. Shine brightly in me today. Forgive me for hiding Your light. Forgive me for the times when I preferred the shadows to the brilliance of Your presence. Shine through Your church in America. Help us to live and to love as You did, so that the darkness in our land will flee and Your light will shine.

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David Butts is the chairman of America’s National Prayer Committee and the president of Harvest Prayer Ministries. Photo Credit: PonyWang/Getty Images Signature via Canva Teams.