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Wednesday, October 1, 2008

FREEDOM


God continually shined down His love yesterday…I know He does everyday…don’t misunderstand me…I know it is always there; but YESTERDAY HE SHONE TO ME!!! I saw the sun’s rays in new ways, my kids exclaimed of His love and even brought home craft magnets of the sun that they made at school, my girlfriends cried out His love, my husband expressed His sweet love but most profound was expressions of His love found in His Word…I could post pages of what I wrote from studying from His Word in Deut 16, Exodus 12, John 10 and 1Cor….so much that I am still a little overwhelmed with His love still this morning….I am thankful for some upcoming time off to allow this teaching to soak in.
Oh to be overwhelmed with God’s Word…I woke up this morning and read with fresh eyes Isaiah 40:8
“The grass withers and the flowers fade,
But the Word of our God stands forever”

Have you ever been overwhelmed? I know in the Word it talks about people being overwhelmed with a lot of things…whether it be their sorrows or their amazement of Jesus I intend to go search that out in the Scriptures more; not to just say that I did; but because God has stirred my heart with this thought of overwhelmant (I know I made up this word J)
I don’t know if I am the only one…but I know that if I am overwhelmed it is my first innate response to shut down. Praise God I don’t stay there but when I am overwhelmed I usually tend to procrastinate which then leads to more and more reasons to be overwhelmed…it takes sometimes an act of God to get me to sit down and figure out a plan to get things organized (which is so crazy to me because I love order and organization) so that the overwhelming situation can be broken down and manageable.

My husband and I recently attempted to organize our study and that project turned into a greater mess; because you see we somehow managed to move the clutter mess from the study into another room and at the end of the day we found that 2 rooms now needed to be organized.
How does that happen? Sometimes I think I am tempted to do the same thing when accepting God’s love for me; specifically, I mean… take what I know is true about His love for me and then procrastinate. Is this makings sense? I think I jump ahead of accepting His love and think that with accepting this love that I will need to do x, y and Z for God…but I put off x, y and Z for whatever reason. I know the truth is that He loves me and died for me and saved me and that it is by His grace alone that I am saved Eph 2:8-9…I cannot do anything to earn His love…it is free! I just have to accept Him…and His free gift of love!
I was reminded of FREEDOM when listening to Nicole C. Mullen’s song “Freedom.” She sings: I’m on a journey…I’m looking for a plan, to rest my burdens, far from this tyranny….Up on Golgatha, hanging upon a tree. They say the God-man died for my liberty. He heard me crying from my captivity. And so he came down; came down to deliver me….FREEDOM!
Sometimes I wonder if we forget that with accepting His love and all that it means to accept His love for us…we are blessed with Freedom. Are we shying away from TRUE FREEDOM or….Do we shy away from His love because we know we will be compelled to love back and that means work of some kind in our puny little minds? In John 14:21,23-24 we read the hard truths that those who love Jesus will keep His Word and make our home with him. What does this mean? God speak to us….I think I know but it may be different for everyone.
Yesterday my son came home from school and shared with me some things that edified God’s hand was at work in his little heart. Just as I am teaching my boys as best I can—and I know I fail and I don’t do it perfectly—but I am so trying to instill in them a heart of obedience for our God…doing the things that we know God wants us to do and then reaping a life full of blessings…a life full of FREEDOM!!!
This picture of my son pretending to be the statue of liberty this summer while we were camping with friends reminds me that God is forever nudging all of us to accept His love, obey His commandments so that we may live full…abundant lives….LIVES FREE IN CHRIST!
So whatever I have to do Father…help me to obey; give up whatever I need to in order to accept your love fully. Help me to combat the lies with your truth…because I know a life without your love is just not what you intended for me—for it is nothing but empty. Help me to accept Your gift of FREEDOM and live out this FREEDOM in my daily life!

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