Sometimes you get a word from God so timely that it’s almost eerie. This word I received about a month and a half ago has been being played out in my life, unraveling before my eyes like a ball of yarn. It’s such a wake up call for me of how real God truly is. He really is present in our lives and sovereign over them. Aren’t you grateful?
Well, I am. And today that’s why I write, to recount the faithfulness of God to His word and His promises.
“He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.” -1 Thessalonians 5:24
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” –Hebrews 10:23
“If we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.” -2 Timothy 2:13
For the past couple years, Craig and I have been walking through some very difficult, painful wounds of our past— recognizing them for what they are, giving them to Jesus and letting Him heal us. This hasn’t been easy or even fun, but it has been good. I seem to have these two or three reoccurring lies that really do hold me back from walking in abundant life. And that breaks God’s heart. So I’m on this journey of surrendering these lies at the feet of my Father and letting Him speak His truth over me in return. It’s changing me, slowly but surely, it’s changing me. “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Doing this on a daily basis is setting me free. What thoughts and lies need to be taken captive in your life?
For me, it’s the following reoccurring lies: You are not enough. You have to prove yourself. God is mad at you for your sin. You must work to gain His approval.
Now, the enemy is subtle. Most of these are on repeat somewhere in my subconscious. I can go days hearing, accepting and receiving these lies without even knowing it! Taking my thoughts captive to obey Christ is active, and I tend to live passively regarding them. (Hence, that’s why it’s taking years.)
So, on to the word. It’s been hard and tedious uprooting these lies that hold me captive in fear. You could even liken it to slavery. “Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?” (Romans 6:16). Well, I am sick and tired of being a slave to fear, a slave to working for validation, a slave to these questions in my soul.
The word came unexpectedly. “I see the Red Sea splitting before you both. And you are about to step out of slavery into freedom.”
So, be encouraged. The promises of God are real. His word will not return void. He is faithful; He will do it. You know, sometimes I get bogged down with the weight of my little world and overwhelmed by my busy schedule, and I forget to remember what God is doing and has spoken. I’m learning the importance of remembering His word. Abiding in His word. Really processing it, and understanding in my heart and mind all that God is doing and wants to do in me. The process is real, but we have to submit ourselves to His process. In the submitting of myself to Him, I am being really changed. His word is bearing much fruit in my heart, and I am walking in more freedom now than ever before— deep abiding freedom.
I am challenging you, and myself to take some time to sit and think about what God has spoken. What is He currently trying to do in your heart? Take time to remember and write down what He is promising you right now. And then ask Him how you can submit to His process. How can you really engage with Him? How can you actually see His promises come to pass? What does that submission to Him look like for you right now—today.
I’m sure you’ll keep hearing from me on this process because it’s currently what God is doing in my heart. But let’s not forsake the process; let’s be diligent to contend for what God has spoken in our own lives.
“He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.” -- 1 Thessalonians 5:2
