Looking for True Strength and Real Freedom?

Zoos have always held a lot of enjoyment for us.  One time we were watching small monkeys and one of them had their hand caught in the cage. It seems the little animal had wanted something that was outside the cage. After grasping the item, their paw was then a fist. That fist wouldn’t fit back through the cage. Try as he might, the arm was not budging. No amount of squealing, jumping or pulling was going to achieve a thing. Only when he let go of the object he had so wanted was he able to pull his arm back inside the cage was he able to free himself from entanglement.

Traveling through the airports now, it’s a big deal to go through the checkpoint to get on the plane. You empty your pockets and get every little thing checked. There are simply some things you cannot take on board with you. If you insist on taking things that they don’t allow, you will be barred from your flight. Fight them, argue with them, demand your rights – it all turns out the same. You will not be carrying anything on the plane they consider unfit. The only way to be free to travel is to learn how to pack.

There is a freedom God desires for you to walk in that will require you to let go of what is entangling you. It may be something you desperately want to keep or have desired for some time. It could be a person, place or thing.  You want to be free, but you keep hanging on. If you will let go you will find the freedom that is best for a child of God. He doesn’t want your stuff, but He does want your heart. And it’s amazing how much stuff and hearts are intertwined.

There are places  God wants to take you that will require you to unpack some things that you’ve carried around with you as well.  You simply cannot travel the heights with the Lord while hanging onto baggage. You’ll need to drop that unforgiveness. Lose the fear. Toss out the worry. Empty the guilt. While you’re at it, get rid of the lies: you know - the things you’ve believed about yourself that are so untrue for a child of the Most High God. 

Just as we are embarking on a New Year, you are embarking on a new day with the Lord. You may have heard His call but you’ve been living with a knotted fist and insisting on your rights to carry the junk with you everywhere you go. You think a new day would be great, but what about your stuff?

God speaks to our hearts doesn’t He?  Where you are today is not where I want to take you. I have wonderful plans for your life and for your new year. If you are willing you will walk in My freedom and your load will be light. But you’ll have to trust Me to prepare you for the trip.  Don’t look at what you are losing, look instead at what you are gaining. It’s no accident that you find yourself in a quandary between your desires and My plans.  A new year will come whether you want it or not. 2013 is quickly becoming a vapor. My plans are for now. My plans are for your good. My desires for you are better than your desires for yourself. Don’t walk away from the terminal of decision and count it too much to lose. Remember that I desire freedom for my children and that freedom is found only in relinquishing your life into My loving care. You don’t have the strength to break the bars of your own entanglements. You don’t have enough weaponry of flesh to insist to carry junk you don’t need with you. It’s not about fleshly or secular strength. It’s about becoming obedient to Me that you find true strength and real freedom.

Oh beloved, what wondrous love is this, that God won’t leave us as we are. He never quits planning our lives for His glory. Our best travel and our greatest freedom is when God is in charge of everything.  Let Him take you to the next level as you lay aside the things that want to keep you earthbound. Relinquish every entanglement and watch as you learn to enjoy freedom in Christ. Oh how He loves us! So much that He refuses to leave us as we are! A better life is ahead for you as you live in the light of His Word!

John 14:1 Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in Me.

Ephesians 4:21-23 Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from Him,  throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.  Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.

Matthew 6:21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

2 Corinthians 3:17 For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Philippians 4:19 And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from His glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.

Let God Empty You of Needless Things

I bought a bigger purse so I’d have room for everything. Trouble is everything I need goes to the bottom of the huge purse! I finally got tired of digging through everything to find one small item I needed. One day I just emptied the entire contents of my purse onto the bar in the kitchen. To my amazement there was tons of stuff that came out of my purse! Receipts, deposit slips, notes, along with a billfold, a comb, a hairbrush, keys, fingernail clipper and more.  It was a mountain of stuff – no wonder my shoulder was hurting!

It was only when I completely emptied my purse that I could find what I was looking for. I decided that there was no need to put all that back in my purse and carry it around, so I left it out. Now that my purse is less full of contents, I find it much easier to find what I really need. I’m concerned though that it won’t be long until it’s all filled up again with things I just jam in there because I’m in too big a hurry or don’t have time to file it or put it away.

Life is a lot like a purse. There are many compartments and lots of room. We tend to fill our lives up with stuff and stuff our lives with things. Add another trip to the store, another ballgame to play, a date with friends, a movie, a new set of golf clubs, a new relationship, a new church, a bigger vacation.  We get so full of stuff we can’t find what we really need. We’re too busy shuffling through the mountain of activity to even enjoy the most important things in life.

It’s only when we empty ourselves of the excess that we can see the important things, what we’re really searching for clearly.  When it’s all emptied out, even though the process can be unnerving and hurtful, we find that what we really need is already there for us. We just have to be careful that when we get rid of the junk we don’t slip back into refilling our lives and losing sight of God’s best again.

Are you digging in the bag of life, searching for precious things you thought were lost? Have you been emptied out and left alone? Do you feel that there’s no hope for you and that without all the stuff you had you won’t be complete? Are you concerned that if God asks for things from you, you might be worthless, useless or less than you want to be?

Oh beloved, run to God’s Word this morning and see just how complete you are in Christ! See the magnificent jewels of His truths that are hidden beneath the junk. Pull out faith and put it on! Take out peace and let it cover you completely! Don’t fill up on junk, for it’s too heavy a burden to carry. Rather, let God empty you of needless things so that you can be filled with needful gifts and blessings from His rich storehouse. God says I AM your best choice, I AM your greatest asset, I AM your most precious item and your beloved keepsake. Let Me replace the emptiness you feel with the fullness of Me.

God loves you and He’s for you and that’s more than enough to keep you full of love joy and peace the rest of your days!

Matthew 11:28 Then Jesus said, Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

Psalm 119:37 Turn my eyes from worthless things, and give me life through Your word.

Psalm 119:92-93 If Your instructions hadn’t sustained me with joy, I would have died in my misery. I will never forget Your commandments, for by them You give me life.

Genesis 22:14 Abraham named the place Jehovah – Jireh (which means “the Lord will provide”). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

Luke 10:41-42 But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”