Sometimes it is easy to get so fixated on ways in which I go awry, off the path, fall off the wagon, wander astray…that I fail to realize how much God has done in my life. I feel that he sometimes gives, as a gift, a reality check to remind me of where I would be apart from him.
This morning, I awakened just before the alarm went off and my thoughts went to “Oh, no! Re-entry! I can’t do my life this week.” I turned it to a prayer, “Lord, please help me to be able to know what is from you to do, what to let go of and to truly be able to simplify my life as you have been leading me to do.”
Then, I eagerly wanted two things…1.) A shower 2.) my quiet time.
Before my feet hit the floor the Spirit whispered to my heart how far He has brought me that my first thoughts were these. While I am someone that God has wired to depend on my quiet time and to love it first thing in the morning, often in the past, my first thoughts upon awaking would be 1.) What will I eat? (no regard for hunger) and 2.) Gotta have my diet soda!
I don’t think about those things any more when I wake up. This is HUGE. Today was a great illustration of this and I must rejoice at what the Lord is accomplishing. He IS at work. He IS doing a new thing. He IS completing that which He began…just like His Word promises.
What can you see in your life as outward evidences of His work in your life? Take a moment and ask the Lord to help you to have eyes to see how far He has brought you. Ask to see yourself and your life with HIS eyes and take a moment to praise Him. Even if you feel you come up empty, can you–in faith–praise Him that even now He IS doing a new thing in you? That He IS completing that which he began in you? 🙂
Beth referred to 2 Timothy 3:1-7 for session 9. Beth Moore turned the focus just a bit from captivity of habitual sin to the fact that relationships can often become strongholds. Or that is how I interpret the gist of it…and it definitely applies in my own life.
Just some short thoughts that came of this session for me…
* Relationships can be toxic. There are typically red flares that the Lord will give us–checks in our spirit–to let us know that something is up. That something is potentially toxic or just not right. We need to refuse to be taken into captivity. We must flee at times like these…or often enough.
* Healthy relationships grow. Beware of instant intimacy. (I would add that this is potentially true especially with internet “relationships.”)
* My “soulmate” is Jesus Christ alone.
Session 10
* If I am struggling with breaking free, ask the question, “What am I afraid of?” Perhaps there is also a stronghold of fear. God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of love, power and a sound mind.
* I am a “warrior princess.” This is a battle and I have divine weapons to DEMOLISH strongholds.
* Evaluate which fight is really the right fight. Don’t expend energy on the lesser things, but some things are worth fighting for…my children, my marriage, for example.
* When people are still in bondage and I feel an agitation in my spirit because they refuse to be free, I need to extend them grace and truth.
* I must take heed when I think I stand, lest I fall.
* Freedom is NO sin ruling over me habitually.
* I must keep in the battle with the double-edge sword in my hand.
Quick note…the power was out…in the sanctuary this moring. On in the adjoining building. Just after Lisa had finished sharing some wonderful worship with us and we had been praising the Lord together all the power went out.
The LORD was glorified, however! What the enemy meant to derail us, was used by the Lord to exalt HIM and to delight HIS people! We prayed in small groups, shared together about what God is telling us through this week’s material. We then praised him and Beth came out and asked for testimonies of freedom! WOW!!!! It was amazing.
The power came back on and we finished both sessions 9 and 10 only 90 minutes later than planned (I think it was).
I will share thoughts on those tomorrow. At the airport now, waiting to fly back to my man and my children! PRAISE GOD!
Beth pointed out the value of loving the Lord…that it motivates our obedience, motivates perseverance, provides protection and empowers love for others. She also pointed out that so often we think love for God is going to be different than love we have, say, for our dearest family members. She asked us to consider why? If we love our child or grandchild, for instance, how do we know? We feel it deeply. She asked us to question why we expect our love for God not to be a feeling love and challenged us to ask God to give us that kind of love for him…a love that acts, yes, but a love that feels as well.
She pointed out that we can pray asking God to give us a heart-felt, zealous, passion for Him…a love for him that is unrivaled. He WILL answer that prayer as it is a prayer prayed in his will.
We love him at all because he first loved us. I was moved when she asked us to consider instead of saying “I love you, Lord,” to say for a season, “I love you, too…” as it reinforces the vital truth that I love him because he first loved me…there is never a time when I will say “I love you, Lord,” that he hasn’t first said, “I love you.”
The “punch line” that I came home with from this session is a familiar one to me, but it is time once again. Beth spent this session speaking to the “Captivity of Activity.” We trade our yoke of slavery for another yoke–Jesus’ yoke–the yoke of liberty. He is our master. He is kind, gentle and humble.
She pointed out that when we are tired and do not come to him for rest, we are disobedient and surrender ground to the devil. That was a powerful truth to share. (Isaiah 28:10-13)
God has such a sense of humor! Last summer, during the Summer Siesta study and home grown videos that Beth Moore did for those of us joining her through Kelly Minter’s No Other Gods workbook, Beth mentioned that of all the places checking in for study, her favorite American name of a town was COOL, California! WHOOO HOO! (I live there.) Her favorite international town name was one in Canada, called Moosejaw!
Guess who I met today? My siesta from Moosejaw!!!!! In the picture above we are enjoying lunch at the Camelia Grill. Julie, from Moosejaw, is on the left, me, Jan from Tulsa, and Meredith from Michigan is on the right.
How cool is that? They are staying in the same condo place as us!
