Lighting Up Your Life

Desmond Tutu said “Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.” So, how do you find that Hope? That Light?

Jesus said “I am the Light of the World. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” What did he mean? How can he claim that? How can that be relevant to what we are experiencing here and now?

Many people, whether they have any faith background or not, find great hope and peace in prayer and trying to relate to God through Jesus and his words. Many find that God sometimes speaks to them with comfort or wise guidance. It is a most wonderful feeling to know that God has spoken to you. You realise that you are not on your own and that He loves and cares for you. The ideas in this leaflet can help you to experience God speaking to you.

This is not someone else telling you what to believe or setting out religious rules for you to follow – this is an opportunity to read about Jesus for yourself, to discover whether Jesus really does bring light into the darkness.

This is our suggested approach. You can read it by yourself or with someone else you think may be interested. It can help to discuss what you think with others.

• Read a section at a time. The first story (Chapter 1 up to verse 25) is about the birth of Jesus' cousin, John the Baptist.
• What do you notice from the story? What strike you as odd and what aspects appeal to you? Here are 4 questions which can be helpful:
  1. What does this story show us about what people are like?
  2. What does it show us about Jesus, or about God?
  3. What can I take from this? Or what might God want to say to me through this?
  4. Do I have a friend whom it would be good to share this with?
• You might like to ask God to help you hear whatever he wants to say to you.

Here are some additional tips:

• It’s best not to rush and it’s often a good idea to read the same story more than once until you feel ready to move on to the next one.
• Some passages are difficult to understand, or you will just find them not as interesting. You can skip over any bits like this. You can always come back to them later if you want to.
• Don’t worry about whether you have understood the story “correctly”, or if you have different ideas to others about what it means. The point is to see what it means to you and to see what God might be saying to you as you read and think about it.

We would love to hear from you. You can leave an anonymous note on our website. If you would like to discuss anything or would like a volunteer to pray for you, you can request a meeting in a public place.