I continue to think and pray about how to use this blog for God's glory and our encouragement. Here is what I have come up with. I will post twice each week, God willing, and will look forward to your comments each time. No pressure to comment on your end, however, it is an encouragement to me to hear your heart on the subject matter at hand on a given day. Remember to comment, you must sign in. There is a button on the top right hand corner of the blog page for sign in. Then, after you do, what you post will be for the benefit of us all.
Deal? Deal! So here goes.
God impressed on me the issue of the disconnect I sometimes find between the freedom that I know Christ died for and my walking in it. It is where the Breaking Free study leaves off. I have been studying in Isaiah 54, a chapter where Isaiah foretells the coming freedom for captive Israel. If you read the chapter you'll see that it is rich in hope in the Lord Almighty, counting on His compassion. But, how do we access this hope? How?
Remember the verse we memorized in Breaking Free: Isaiah 43:10? "You are my witness," declares the Lord, "my servants whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe and understand that I am He. Before me no god was formed nor will there be one after me." God has chosen us as witnesses and servants. Why? So that we may know and believe and understand that He alone is God Almighty. That is the key! Knowing God and believing Him! I remember learning about the obstacle of unbelief blocking our road to freedom. We need to dismantle that roadblock by getting to know God and believing Him.
I wanted to see what Jesus said about this so I went to the New Testament and reread the story of Mary and Martha. Jesus had such patience with Martha's complaint but He is clear in His teaching: "Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things but only one is needed. Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her." Luke 10:41 Mary wanted to sit at the Master's feet and hear and know Him. It was what Jesus said was the better thing. We need to be focused on knowing the Lord.
Knowing and believing go hand in hand. Pressing in to know our Maker, Redeemer, Husband, Holy One of Israel, God of all the earth, the Lord Almighty is the sure ticket to believing He is for us.
"And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him and who have been called according to His purpose." Rom 8:28
"If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave Him up for us all, who will He not also along with Him graciously give us all things?" Romans 8:31,32
Feeling condemned? Romans 8:34 "There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because He has set us free from the law of sin and death by His death." Romans 8:1 says He is sitting at the right hand of the Father interceding for us RIGHT NOW!
Feeling separated from His love by hardship, persecution famine, nakedness, danger, sword? "No is all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."Romans 8:37
Conquerors! We have divinely powerful weapons to demolish our strongholds! 2Cor 10:4 We have armor to defend ourselves and fight with. Eph 6:10.
We have to get excited about the arsenal we have. We have to KNOW the Provider of all our defense and BELIEVE He will do a thing, whatever it is. We have to believe His character never changes. What He did for Abraham, Moses, David, Mary, Martha, Rachel, Rahab, Ruth….He will, in consistency with His eternal, unchanging character, be and do for us! Oh Halellujah!!!!!
For some thought, take a look at the names used for God in Isaiah 54 and do a bit of study on each name. Let me know which nourishes your heart's need most right now. I will look forward to hearing from you. God wants us to walk in freedom; He died for it.
Love and blessings on this Monday.
Lisa
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