Sunday 7/18/21 – FREEDOM!

God, you are so good! I do not understand why You have been so good to me. Some of it make sense like “those who seek shall find” and “if we being evil know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will our perfect Father in Heaven give us gifts of the Holy Spirit.” Not to mention that if we “abide in You and Your word abides in us, what ever we shall ask shall be given to us.” While I claim these verses, I still don’t understand all of it but I am so thankful for everything You have done. Everything You are showing me and everything You are doing in my life is slightly unbelievable and very surreal. I mentioned in a previous post that I was given the urge to pray for the enemy, that his eyes be opened, that he realizes his defeat and lets all of God’s people go. I pictured it as a Moses vs. Pharaoh setting. During my prayer time this morning, I realized that while I may have been on to something, I had several components of it wrong that hadn’t been revealed to me yet. I believe that the truth is that satan already knows he’s been defeated but he doesn’t let that stop him. The theatrics begin when we are very young, he sets the stage, he entices us (similar to the way described in the garden of Eden) to make our own choices, without consulting with God. The enemy then uses those choices to shackle us, or so it appears… I believe that when we are so young and naive, that it doesn’t take much more than a piece of rope to hold us in his prison. During my time this morning of meditating on God’s Word, His promises and my prayer time with Him, I was given the idea regarding something I’ve heard more than once in the past. When there is an elephant in captivity, the trainer does not need anything more than a rope tied around the full grown elephants leg, attached to a stake in the ground. I would look at that and say, that rope is the only thing keeping that elephant from walking away? The story that has been told to me several times over the years goes something like this; when the elephant is young and much much smaller, they tie the rope around the elephant and that is all that is needed to keep him from running away when he tries because he’s so small and weak in comparison to what he will become. The elephant continues to try running for freedom and gets hurt, tired, exhausted, burned out and finally gives up trying, he is now programmed to not try, even when he is much larger and could easily escape the rope “holding” him in captivity. What I was shown this morning, was that I’m supposed to pray for all of God’s people, for all of their eyes to open and to realize they are not really in shackles. I believe that Jesus broke the shackles and chains when He defeated satan, when He died and was resurrected. I believe we have nothing but ropes on us but they can feel like shackles because we may or may not have tried to escape when we were younger and did not have the knowledge and wisdom to do so yet, so we gave up hope. I had given up hope and settled for “this is just the way it’s going to be,” everybody has a “thing,” this is just my “thing” and I’m going to have to learn to live with it. I’m going to have to learn how to conceal it, so I’m not found out. My story was not and certainly is not over though… Jesus opened my eyes and set me free. The freedom I’ve experienced so far is hard to describe but it has been an incredible year, I can tell you that much. My God is so good, I believe He wants me to share the prayer that started it all for me. “Give me eyes to see and open my ears that I may hear You.” It’s not an easy journey but from what I understand, Jesus never promised any of His followers that it was going to be easy, only that it would be worth it. -A humble warrior in God’s army

“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” -Galatians 5:1, ESV

Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed by Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil, for Thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever, Amen. -The Lords prayer

Dear Lord Jesus, thank You! Thank You for not only being present but showing me Your present. Thank You Lord, praise You Lord, bless You Lord. Whatever I do, as long as You are not only with me but leading the way, I know that even if I don’t succeed, I will never fail. Please lead me to the scripture that goes along with what you placed on my heart today. In Your holy, mighty and precious Name, Amen.