Freedom

Imagine yourself free. Totally and completely free. Free the pain of your past, or your present. Free from your shame and from the sin that so easily besets you. Take a moment to really picture it. I know it’s hard, I know it’s not easy to hope, especially after long seasons of suffering, but I want you to try, just once.

How do you feel? What does freedom look like to you?

One encounter with the Lord can change you. One encounter with Him and His annointing can completely change the trajectory of your life; how you are feeling, and what your life can look like going forward. One moment is all it takes.

Matthew 11:28-30

²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

I recently went to a Sean Feucht praise and worship gathering in Texas. They gave an alter call for people who were in need of change in their lives. If you read my recent post Bubble Gum and Bailing wire, then you know that I’ve been struggling for a while with pain and discouragement. But one night, one encounter with God has changed me.

I went up to the front and a woman prayed for me. I told her just a couple of details about why I was at the alter and she prayed about those items, but then she went further. She began to pray for me about the deepest pain that I’ve kept buried inside of me. My anger at God for allowing me to go through so much pain, my disappointments that I’ve faced throughout my life. She had never met me before and never would have known how to pray for me, but God did and He knew what I needed that night.

I don’t know if you’ve ever met a complete stranger and they begin to pray for you like this, but I know that this was God speaking to me and encouraging me that He can see me and that He knows exactly what is going on inside of me. The deep, hidden, pain. And in that moment, I felt so much comfort hearing her words of encouragement and strength. Afterwards, I joined the crowd and Eddie James in singing the song Freedom. It was the best I’ve felt in a really long time. I felt free again, I felt like the weight of my struggle was behind me.

If you’ve never heard the song before, the chorus says:

I wanna clap a little louder than before
I wanna sing a little louder than before
(Ooh)
I wanna jump higher than before
I wanna shout louder than before yeah

Freedom (freedom) REPEAT

No more shackles, no more chains
No more bondage I am free
Come on, lift your hands to Jesus
No more shackles, no more chains
No more bondage I am free

FREEDOM: The state of not being imprisoned or enslaved. The power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.

I made a decision to get baptized at the concert. It was a watershed for me. I was going to put my past pain and discouragement behind me. I made a decision to let go of all of it…I wanted to be free, to be free from the weight of all of it. And it was such a beautiful night.

ONE MOMENT WITH THE LORD CAN CHANGE EVERYTHING

For further reading I would recommend Hebrews 12: 1 – 12

The Race of Faith

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every weight that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

God Disciplines His Children

⁴ In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. ⁵ And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
    and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
⁶ because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
    and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”^[a]

⁷ Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? ⁸ If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. ⁹ Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! ¹⁰ They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. ¹¹ No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

¹² Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. ¹³ “Make level paths for your feet,”^[b] so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.