Messages like the one I wrote last week, “The Right Way,” and this one today, do not generally get much response, but the intent is to challenge us to spend more quality time with Jesus, seeking clear directions from God and understanding our true identity in Him. (Note please: The Weekly Focus will be on hiatus for the next two weeks, until Nov. 6th, as Betty and I will be on travel. Please pray for us as we explore the far east.)
“Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra-long tassels” (Mt. 23:5 NLT).
True Colors!
At the annual festive agricultural fair in Enfield, my four-year-old first cousin, Edith, sat on one of the largest pumpkins I had ever seen, and her picture appeared in Enfield Progress, the town newspaper. It was the time of year when our crops were harvested, and potatoes were plowed up and buried in earth beds near or under the house for sustenance during the winter. To this day, the smell of burning leaves in controlled fires in the evening, the crisp coolness of the air, and the brilliant colors of the fall foliage surrounding our fields, barns, and little farmhouse are among my most treasured memories.
Now, the green color of the leaves during the spring and summer is really a façade concealing their true colors. As we learned in science classes, the green appearance of the leaves is the result of sunlight contacting chlorophyll in them and inducing the photosynthesis process. As the long days of summer give way to the shorter days of fall, there is less sunlight, and photosynthesis can no longer sustain the green color. So, the green fades and bright orange, gold, red, amethyst, etc., colors appear!
Those are the true colors of the leaves! The leaves had been masked in the bright limelight all spring and summer. As long as they cling to the spotlight, they stay green—false, not genuine. When they are forced into the shadows, their real colors emerge. Now, as my Uncle FG would say, “There is a sermon in that!”
If we spend all or most of our time seeking to be in the spotlight, rather than spending more time serving behind the scenes, in the prayer closet—the war room, we will always be green, masked in the limelight! We may appear one way to people, but who we really are, our true colors are concealed.
Six times in Matthew 23, Jesus called the pious religious leaders of that time, the Pharisees and teachers of religious law, hypocrites. Everything they did, he said, was only for show. If we would spend more time promoting others, working behind the scenes, and in our prayer (war) rooms with Jesus, we may not sit on a giant pumpkin at the fair like Edith, but in due time, God will expose our brilliance, our bold, true colors to the world and we will shine! Somebody will know that we have been with Jesus! That is a promise from the word of God!
Focus Quote: “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.”
–Acts 4:13 (NKJV)
Speaking of promises, please click the link below to see how to obtain a copy of my book, Standing on the Promises: Defeating Fear and Breaking Barriers
Note please: Please continue to join us at 5:14 p.m. each day as we pause to pray. Please see the attached prayer list. Just pause and pray wherever you are. There is no call line or zoom link that you need to remember or retrieve and connect to. Just connect to God and pray! I will also be praying with you. There is power in agreement! The 5:14 Prayer List for today, Oct. 16, 2025, is attached below:
Blessings, Peace, and Love,
Alton
Dr. Alton E. Sumner(301) 921-6060
Listening to the Soul! Lightening the Heart! Lifting the Spirit!
