The Shadow Casters
Shadows are created when something is blocking the light. If there is something the light cannot pass through, darkness is created and we call it a shadow. Anger, lust, jealousy, fear, unbelief, worry, greed, etc. are shadow casters, because they block the light of God from shining through us. These shadows, block our fellowship with one another, they also keep us from being the light in the world which God has commissioned us to be…Satan knows that if we will just be the light, folks that are lost and floundering, will find their way. So he’s committed to blocking the light, using every means he can to keep folks in the shadows.
Light does not cast a shadow. When light shines upon light, it only intensifies the brightness. I don’t believe Jesus’ resurrection body cast a shadow, because the light was able to pass through Him. Remember, He was able to pass through the wall and enter the room where the disciples were gathered. “It says He appeared in the midst of them, the door being locked”… The bible tells us He is the light, and there is no darkness in Him.
So when Jesus rose from the dead, light was shining through light.
John 1:6 “If we say we have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. v7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, walk we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin”.
Our challenge as those who walk in the light, is to get rid of as many shadow casters as we can as His light reveals them to us..His Truth eliminates the shadow casters, and we are able to reflect His light.
Matthew 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world. 14 A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a cover. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the area”.
As a kid, I used to love horror movies about werewolves. And mummies, and monsters, and oh yeah, vampires. I would stay up late on Friday night and then be afraid to go to bed, because they were going to come into my room and eat my flesh and drink my blood…. Silly kid to choose to torture myself like that…. But one thing I learned, is that if a vampire came after me, the light would keep them back. I learned that they vaporize in sunlight. You have to fight them with the light… I never had to face a vampire with this knowledge, (thank God) but the principle is very real. You see, I stepped into a shadow world and allowed the shadows of fear to get in me and block the light of His presence and His peace…I have repented and broken the power of those things in my past.
Things that block the light, and cast shadows in our lives, are destroyed when we stand in the pure light of God! James 1:17. “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no changing or shifting shadows.”
Darkness cannot overwhelm the light, it can only cast shadows. Satan knows that God’s light of Holiness, Righteousness, Integrity, Faith, love, Forgiveness, Grace and Mercy, is far greater than anything He has to resist it with.
So we must give our permission, to shadow casters, and embrace and nurture anger, lust, jealousy, fear, unbelief, worry, revenge, greed, and doubt, so that the light which is greater than darkness, is blocked from shining through us. He can’t cancel the light, he can only block it or cover it from shining….
Putting your light under a bushel, or cover, is about secret sins, unrighteous habits, and patterns in our lives that block the light from shining there….
In one of the national zoos, there is an area called– “The House of Night.” It’s a place where creepy and crawly creatures that dwell in the night crawl and fly about. She said that one day, when she stepped into the exhibit, it was immediately total darkness. And then… a small hand grabbed hold of hers. She smiled and asked “And who do you belong to?” The little boy quietly said: “I belong to you till these lights come on.”
We don’t have to be afraid of the shadow casters that may have found their way into our lives. They are defeated by the Light of God. John 1:6 told us that If we walk in the light, He cleanses us from all of sin’s shadow casters!!
We should be able to say to all the shadow casters, what David said to the Giant shadow caster, Goliath. “I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down that all may know that that the battle is the LORD’s.
David was declaring that the light was greater than the darkness!
Daniel was in the den of lions, He was declaring that the light is greater than darkness
The Hebrews in the fiery furnace declared that the light is greater than darkness…
When Moses faced the Pharaoh, Light defeated darkness…. MARTIN LUTHER IN 1517, ONCE COMMENTED THAT, "FAITH IS A MATTER OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS." IN OTHER WORDS, IT IS ONE THING TO SAY "THE LORD IS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD"; IT’S ANOTHER TO SAY, "THE LORD IS MY LIGHT."
All the shadow casters that ever existed, cannot defeat the light of God in You!!
David simply says "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadows, (Oh, there were things that wanted to block the light) I will fear no evil for You, Oh Lord, are with me!!!
I have a GPS in my phone. If there is a place I want to get to, I just say the name and street, and BAM!!! It shows a map to get me there. My phone won’t show me, unless I give it the information it needs…. God already knows where you need to be, before you knew it. He knows how to get you there if you ask Him.
Job 23:10 “He knows the way I take, when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold. 11 My feet have followed in His paths, I have kept His way without turning aside”.
Job showed us that light is greater than the shadows which came his way…..Shadows are proof in themselves, that the light is shining….
A young mother was putting her daughter to bed one night. Her husband was gone and they were there all alone. The moon was out, the wind was howling and lightning was flashing in a frightful way. The daughter was becoming frightened and asked her mother if the moon was God's night light. "Yes, dear," the mother replied.
She asked, "Does God turn out his light when he goes to sleep”? "No honey, she said, God never sleeps." Hearing that, the little girl quietly said: "Well then, if God's going to stay up all night, there's no sense both of us being awake." And with that, the little girl turned over and fell asleep." Her trust in God’s light was greater than her fear of the shadows!
II Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound (so-fron-is-mos'…. Self disciplined, enlightened) mind”.
A lot of people are wrestling with shadows…. They have done all they know to do to be successful, yet they remain in a place of constant struggle. The promise of full life has remained elusive for them; their children are in rebellion, their marriage is unstable and sicknesses has becoming a vicious cycle in their lives. Just when they think they’ve got one thing worked out, other things get out of control. They are constantly struggling with something they cannot seem to identify. They come so close, they’re almost there, they’ve nearly got it, but it just stays beyond their reach. It’s called wrestling with shadows….
We can get distracted by these shadow casters….. and find ourselves doing things we never thought we would ever do…..as an example of this… I remember one Sunday night after a Sunday night service, we got so involved with fellowship, and closing up the church, that when we got home, someone said, “Where’s Chris”? We searched the house, looked in the car, and realized he had been left behind at the church. I rushed back, unlocked the door, and found him sound asleep in the very last pew. He never even knew He has been forgotten! We got distracted with other things and didn’t take care of the main thing.
The next scripture gives us an inside look at what causes us to get off track and over into majoring on minors….struggles that cause us to fall short in spiritual fulfillment.
Matthew 6:24 “No man can serve two masters, (who have absolute ownership and power over them) for either he will hate the one, and love the other, or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and (any other absolute owner) ”.
What is being described here is a state of mind called “double -minded”
A double minded person cannot be totally committed to anything. Because their struggle comes from the indecision about who they will ultimately serve and give the right of ownership to their lives.
Here’s another scripture which describes the source of the struggle…
1 Corinthians 10:21 “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons, you cannot partake in the table of the Lord and the table of demons too”.
This is really about light and darkness. We cannot walk in the light and walk in darkness at the same time, they are opposites and contradict one another….
We should be like plants that are drawn to the light. They will twist and bend to get to the light. They will even grow sideways in order to get in the light and out of the darkness. We should be the same way and what ever it takes, we want to be in the presence of the one who is the light of the world.
The children were doing a presentation for the church’s children day celebration. A little boy forgot his lines in the presentation. His mother was in the front row to prompt him. She gestured and formed the words silently with her lips, but it did not help. Her son's memory was blank. Finally, she leaned forward and whispered to help him, "I am the light of the world.? The child beamed and with great feeling and in a loud clear voice said, "My mother is the light of the world.?
Light can shine in darkness without being defiled by it….
So if we’re struggling and don’t seem to be able to break through or break free… we may be wrestling with things from the spiritual shadow world, which we have given a place to and these shadow casters are blocking the light. They need to be removed so we can receive the blessing and come into the place of God’ calling in our lives….
Let me give you some brief examples without getting too deep, and keep it at a very applicable level….
Scripture tells us that if we honor our father and mother, we will be satisfied with long life…. So disrespect and dishonoring our parents will create a struggle between light and dark, because this becomes a light blocker which will set up a struggle in our family and relationships…. (can anyone see this)… Once you give up territory to the devil, by eating at his table, and opening yourself to rebellion, unforgiveness and vindictive attitudes, not to mention disobedience to God’s commands.
Let’s look at another one…. Sexual perversion, pornography, lust and unnatural desires, is drinking from the cup of the dark Lord, Satan. As far as the Bible is concerned, it opens a person to shadow casters, and causes them to wrestle and struggle with shadows that keep blocking the light in their life.
2 Timothy 2:21 “Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts and passions, Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace. Keep companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts”.
Why do some people enjoy the blessing of the Lord on a constant basis, while others are constantly struggling and never coming into the blessing?
Stealing from God and man, sets up folks to wrestle with the shadow casters, who are always blocking their light. We steal from God by not honoring Him with the tithe, and we steal from our fellow man, by not honoring their possessions and their space.
People who don’t pay their bills are actually thieves. They were given credit or a loan with the promise to pay, but when they don’t, they have taken what doesn’t belong to them.
Holy Spirit spoke to me once when we were struggling to pay our bills and keep our head above water. I saw something that I wanted and was going to buy it, when Holy Spirit said, “If you buy that, you’re using money that is not yours without their permission” “WHAT?”….. Well, if I couldn’t pay my bills because I bought that thing…. Then I was using money that wasn’t mine to purchase it. I was stealing….
Romans 13:8, "Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law (or pays their vows)."
When we violate this principle, we set up a conflict between light and darkness in our lives. And those shadows will keep blocking the light from multiplying our seed, and increasing our harvest. A vicious cycle will be set up that will produce a cycle of defeat.
Our heavenly Father wants to break the cycle of wrestling and struggling and making little or no headway….
Some great news is found in Colossians 2:14-15 says, “For He has blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” It may be that folks allow self defeating patterns to continue in their life because they don’t understand the value of what the Lord offers them…and all they have to do is reach out and take it…. A man once robbed a bank in Ottawa, Canada, stealing $6,000. But the interesting part of the story is this: When they arrested him and took him to jail, they discovered he had used a 1918 Colt revolver to commit that crime. Now, anyone who knows anything about guns already understands the point of this story. This colt revolver was valued at more than $100,000, yet this man robbed a bank for only $6,000. He could have simply sold the gun he used for the robbery and walked away with more than ten times what he got in the robbery. But he didn’t sell the gun because he didn’t know the worth of what he already had.
1 John 3:8 “He that commits sin has yielded power to the devil; for the devil sinned from the beginning. For this purpose was the Son of God manifested, that He might destroy the power of the evil one”.
Where there is the fruit of pride, rejection, covetousness, envy, rebellion or anything that is a shadow caster, and light blocker, there are roots that are nourishing and feeding it. What if Jesus turned to you like He did to Peter, and said “Get thee behind me Satan”… Woah! Peter didn’t realize he was being used of Satan, but he was….
It’s not about a certain thing or sin, it’s about the power we give Satan to block God’s blessing from coming into our lives. We’re giving Satan the club he is beating us with….
As I was sharing this morning, if anything I have mentioned brought back the memory of a time when you allowed the light blockers and the shadow casters, to enter and keep the light of God from bringing His full blessing, then we’re going to pray a prayer together right now, and break that cycle, and command the blockers to leave, because their power is broken from this day on…It’s like turning on the lights and watching the darkness flee from the room.
Matthew 4:16 “The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region of the shadow of death, on them a light has dawned."
So whatever it is, if down deep inside you feel there is something preventing you from receiving and walking in the promise God has made to all His children… pray with me….We’re going to get serious here…God wants you to be free! He who the Son sets free is FREE indeed!
(Lay your hand on your chest, as we all pray together)
Lord Jesus, I repent of anything I have done which has given the enemy any power or authority in my life. I refuse to let the light blockers any longer to have power and authority to keep messing with my blessing, in the name of Jesus.
I choose to stand in the light of God where there is no darkness and no shadows. I cancel all satanic claims against me, my health, my family, and any blessing God has for me, in the name of Jesus.
I break off every addictive behavior, and any activity or pattern which is opposing me in my walk with the Lord, in the name of Jesus.
I bind the spirit of death and hell, that wants to kill my dreams, my hopes and my future, and stop my walk with the Lord, in the name of Jesus. I pull out the root, so the fruit can no longer grow. I break the power of every dark force that is trying to make a claim upon my life, I send you back where you came from, in the name of Jesus.
I crush the head of any spirit of deception, fear, intimidation and compromise, in the name of Jesus. I erase every accusation of the accuser that has been sent against me and I cancel it by the blood of Jesus. I call upon the fire of the Holy Spirit, to begin to burn in my body, and burn up every connection, every link, and every cord which the enemy has used against me, in the name of Jesus.
I break every generational curse, every dark force, every stronghold, and every net from the past that wants to entangle me, in the name of Jesus.
Now, I thank you, I praise you, and I exalt you Father, in Jesus’ name. For He whom the Son sets free is free indeed.
Jesus said “Call and I will answer you and show your great and mighty things which you cannot imagine”…
So come on, let’s give Him the kind of praise that believes things have been broken off, and things have been opened up so the blessing that has been hindered can now come and rest upon His people….
