Freedom

Searching...searching...searching.  So many people are always on the search for freedom - in whatever that looks like for you.

Often we feel that if we can just break free from this one thing, then everything will fall into place and I will finally be happy. If I could just find a different job, if I could just make more money, if I could just be divorced, if I could just find someone to love me, etc.  Then I could finally be happy, then I could finally free, then the truth of my guilt & shame will finally go away.  But did you ever notice that when you finally get one "if only", it doesn't take too long and there is another "if only".  That the one thing didn't actually bring you the freedom that you were so determined that it would.  Do you ever wonder why that is?

Because we all seek the wrong things to set us free!  We are falling into one of satan's biggest lies.  That something else or someone else is the answer.  Satan wants to keep our eyes from seeing the light of the truth because it is the one and only thing that can set you free.  Jesus said in John 8:32 "and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free".  We get all messed up in the world's versions of truth: well, that may be true for you, but that's not true to me or the law says this, so now it is my definition of truth.  Truth has become so relative and it's sad to watch, and sad when I fall into the sin of buying it myself!

The amazing truth is that God's word IS THE TRUTH.  No matter what you think, or feel, or what the law says, in the end, the only truth that matters is God's truth.  And we were blessed with a whole book telling us what those truths are.  When you stand before your maker and give account for your actions - you will have no other "truths" to defend yourself with.  Your knee will bow and you will confess Him as Lord "for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” Romans 14:11 and you will be judged accordingly by the only judge that matters.¹¹ Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. ¹² And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. ¹³ And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Revelation 20:11-13 

Do you really want to be free?  Then stop chasing the lie! Today you still have a choice to believe the lie of your relative truth & the world's truth or receive the only truth that will really set you free.  You can stop searching - choose the only source of freedom today.  Rest in Him who came to save you.  If you choose anything else, you will search for the rest of your life.  If you wait until you are standing before Him, it will be too late for you.


Ignoring God's truth doesn't make it not truth.  It won't relieve you of any guilt or shame. Believing the world's truth will only bring you death. Defining your own truth will not set you free. It only keeps you in more bondage.  I learned this all the hard way.  But I am eternally grateful that God allowed me to see the light of His truth while I still had the option to confess & repent.  I pray that God does the same for you today.  Your freedom is right there.  Choose it and receive it.

My Kingdom

It's been a rough couple of weeks for me.  I have a lot on my plate and sometimes all I want to do is throw the stupid plate and maybe it will hit someone who deserves it.  But God has been gracious in using His word and loving friends to help me process so many things that God is bringing to light.  The journey is tiring but I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! Philippians 4:13

One thing I'm learning is that following Jesus does not mean that life is easy or that all of my flesh doesn't go away.  On one especially hard day this week I was mowing the lawn, with tears streaming down my face, realizing that I don't want to die to myself!  I don't want to count it all as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ. I want what I want and I don't want to accept anything less than that.  I was not only unable, I was unwilling, to believe that God has plans for my future that are for my good - if they were different than mine.  My sins of pride and stubborness and thinking of myself as more knowledgeable than God broke my heart.  That's not where I want to be.  It's something that I have to choose to lay down everyday, every hour, every minute.  And when I don't, it snowballs so quickly.  It makes me immune to the sin welling up inside of me.  Ignoring that sin hardens my heart to God's truths.  For me, ignoring that makes my husband my goal, not God as my goal.  I had to get to a place of honest confession and then follow it up with repentance.  By the power of the Holy Spirit I must change if I want to move forward with Christ in this journey.

God gave me a verse about it "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness" Matthew 6:33a.  I can't seek my plans.  I can't seek my husband.  I can't seek my family.  I have to lay it all down as rubbish.  My goal must be to first seek the kingdom of God.  It is so easy to get off track, and apart from Him, I will loose focus.

Does that mean that I give up on my marriage & my husband?  Nope, not at all.  It means that I need to constantly renew my mind and my focus to seek God first!  Otherwise, Jon becomes a goal, not a blessing.  And that's not what I want, and that's not how God works.  And this speaks to so many things...kids, home, work, family, to-do lists, ministries, hobbies, and so on and on and on.  God must be first over everything.  In prayer I will stand for my marriage until death - I'm not going anywhere no matter what circumstances throw at me, but the only way that is even possible is through Christ.  To Him be the glory alone.  By His grace, I will always strive to keep Him alone as my goal.