The Door is Open and the Chains Are Gone!

Are you still sitting in that dark lonely pit of a dungeon, even though the door to your cell is opened and your chains are gone? Sunday the pastor at our church preached about deliverance and the idea that when something is delivered, it is removed or handed over from one grip to another. This idea has been rolling around my head for days now.

We've all been there, in the grips of that dungeon, sitting in a dark pit.  It looks different to each individual and sometimes it can change. We get fooled into thinking we're the only ones there, nobody else sees us, or even knows we're there. But Jesus not only knows, He has delivered us from that pit, the chains of our old life and actions have been removed. We've been set free! For some the pit that consumes them may be addictions, guilt, insecurities, depression, fear, and anxieties. The chains that hold them there are the labels placed on them by other people and lies spoken over them by the enemy. 

Acts 12:7-10 and Acts 16:16-38 is about Peter and then Paul and Silas's  delivery  from their prison and the chains that held them there. False accusations, which is what holds every believer who sits in the prison of depression, guilt, anxiety, shame, or any other spiritual sometimes emotional or mental ailment; it's what brought these godly men of Acts to their prison. Like Peter, Paul, and Silas, God delivered them straight out of the chains that held them there, we are also delivered from the chains that hold us down. 

While we may have been delivered we must take part in the getting out. God caused a great earthquake that loosened the chains of Paul and Silas, who were stripped and beaten, and thrown in prison with out a trial. They stayed faithful and waited on the Lord and took action at the appropriate time. In Peter's case an angel quietly came to his cell, released him from his chains, told him to get up, get dressed, and walk out. In both cases God could have just transported them from one place to another like Scotty beaming Kirk and Spock up to the Enterprise. God could have deceived the guards like Obi-wan Kneobi's Jedi mind tricks. But He didn't. Their deliverance was witnessed by others. 

We've been given the gift of freedom, but we have to accept it and use it. Stand up, walk out, and let it be a witness to others. Get out of that pit. The door to your cell is open and the chains are gone. Don't just sit there and use your past captivity as an excuse to not live out your future. There are times the devil deceives us into thinking we're still trapped and we can't do this or that, but give into it. It's hard when you have to start living out life the way God intended, it's can be full of new and never before seen experiences. God has a new and better plan for us than what we've lived while in the dungeons of life. And as many have read in my first blog post, I spent a long time in those dungeons.

For me, there was that guilt over sin already forgiven, anxiety, unfounded fears and depression. There were the labels of abused, used up, dysfunction, and disorder. There were the lies spoken about me that said I was not good enough, smart enough, or worthy.  I was crazy, unloveable, and ugly. If I allow myself I can sink back into the despair  of a that pit, that dungeon where nobody could see me or hear my cries. You see, I can allow myself return or I can walk out and live in freedom. Sometimes returning to the pit is easier, it's comfortable, familiar, and at one time all I knew. I knew how to live that way and knew what to expect. 

At times I still struggle with social anxiety, feelings if not being good enough, and the shadow of depression tries to stretch over me, but if I stand firm in the Lord, stay in HIS word, and out if the old cell deep in the dungeons of my past, I know I can stay free and victorious. I admit that sometimes it is easy for me to return and hide out there in order to keep from doing something I may be called to do, using the excuse of depression and anxiety, or listening to lies about being unworthy. In fact if I'm truthful, living as a broken down, depressed person, with social anxiety keeps me from doing the things I find difficult. I can use that pit to hide from new responsibilities. But is that what God wants for me? NO!

I've been delivered from the grip of Satan himself to the gentle but firm grip of the Lord God Almighty who has a hope and a future planned out for me! It is my responsibility to get out of my cell and walk in it! Are you content sitting in your cell, in the deep dark dungeons of life, bound up in chains, where nobody can see you, and you can pretend that you won't be held responsible for not taking more action in your life, or are you ready to step out and see what hope and future lies before you? Step out, life in Christ can be the greatest adventure!

Seek Adventure and Gain a Different View on Life

I hate that I continue to have such a heavy heart about the issues of the day. Not just my day to day struggle of making ends meet and being a productive person in society...

It seems to me, that our corner of the world has become completely upside down, very quickly! So many people have become completely blinded to truth. However, they are just as sure of their version of truth and reality as I am of mine. As I see it, there is only black or white, there doesn't seem to be any gray areas; there's only right and wrong.

Abortion and planned parenthood, gender identity and homosexuality, flags, racism, the right to bear arms, immigration and walls for protection, religion, Islam vs. Christianity, the U.S. vs. Christianity, wars, terrorism, nuclear deals, conservative vs. liberals, free health care, contraceptives, education, and housing. I'm sure there's more I'm leaving out. Each issue slapping us in the face daily. Everyone seems to stand firm with out wavering on their claim to what they believe is the only truth. 

I believe  our country is in a desperate place, it has gone too far off track. We've stepped over the line and there may be no turning back. Something has been set in motion, there has been a big shift, can you feel it?Many believe, we have always been moving forward and making progress. I ask, forward? In what direction, to where? Progress? To what goal? 

Remember the Romans 1 quote I copied and pasted in my last post? You can't tell me, none of that is today's reality. The gist of the whole passage in that post is found  in verse 28, "Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done."

What happens when a nation considered by many to be founded on the God of Christianity, turns their back on Him and does things that should never be done? You have those who care and those that don't. What is a person to do when they believe so many are going the wrong way? Continue to love and pray for those who can't see the truth, don't condone their actions, but don't condemn them either. 

It is times like these that I begin to feel so overwhelmed and worry about the world my grand children are going to grow up in. Today, it's harder to make a living, it's harder to see through the lies of the devil, it's just all around hard. That's when at the end of the week I look forward to the weekend with my Amazing Man, my husband. Each weekend we try and have an "adventure". It usually if not always consists of driving to no place in particular listening to an eclectic mix of music . We pray and ask God to join us on an adventure and show us some cool stuff, and He does!! Using only about 1/4 of a tank of gas, sometimes more. 

These adventures help us have a different perspective on the world we live in. It helps us see the beauty that still exists around us. Today I was reminded on Face Book how far I've come and how my life, while it has some struggles, it isn't quite so bad. Two years in a row, to the day I posted  Psalm 71:20, "Though you have made me see troubles many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up." Then a friend commented with, Job 8:7, "Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase." And Ya know, it really has!!! It is so important to take a step back and get a better view of the work the Lord has done and is doing in our lives and the world. "Adventures" are a great way to do it!

The pictures in this post are just a few of the recent things we've seen. We're so blessed to be able to take short breaks from the life we live and just explore with God. It restores our peace, and hope in our future and helps us reconnect with each other and God! When the world feels upside down and out of control, it's important to seek the beauty in God's creation and to be reminded of who's really in control.

 I think everyone should take time out and go explore, see what's around you, take a road you've never traveled before and escape from the day to day, if even if it's just for a few hours. 

 

Prayer

Prayer

Have you ever prayed for something for so long, you never thought it would be answered, and certainly not the way you hope? I have, in fact I prayed for about 18 out of the 22 years I was with my ex-husband for him to be the husband I wanted or needed. One that wasn't an raging alcoholic/drug addict. I prayed that my husband would be a Godly man. And if I couldn't have that I prayed that God would just make me learn to love my husband the way a wife should. I prayed for patients, peace, and understanding, and for God to just make me a better person so my husband would love me more.

Growing up, my own father wasn't around. My parents divorced when I was about 8 or 9 years old, part of it was due to the sexual abuse he inflicted on me. However, he still had visitation rights and flitted in and out of our lives with grand stories of his life to make  himself seem more interesting to my sister and I and make us want to see him. The sexual abuse may have stopped for me, so it seemed safe to my mom to allow us to visit. He really just found a way to get his fix with other victims. The emotional mind games began and kept me desperate to be that "good enough girl". However, by the time I was a senior in high school, my father was completely gone out of my life. 

Shortly after the divorce, my mom had a boy friend who lived with us off and on for 8 years. He was wonderful and caring; when he wasn't drinking. He was a Vietnam War Veteran who had been through and saw more things than any human should. While I did love him so much, his drunkin binges, verbal, and emotional abuse we (my mother, sister, and I) endured became too much to handle. I prayed that I would be good enough that he would love me, my mother, and my sister so that he would quit drinking and stay with us. Once I got older, at about 15 years old, I was fed up, and kicked him out, well at least I felt it was I who did it. After a long night of fighting and me yelling at him to leave and yelling at my mom for taking it, (not too unlike other nights) he didn't comeback. 

After all of that, my mom drank more, and withdrew, didn't really seem to know how to handle teenagers transitioning into adulthood, and was facing her own fear of being alone and not good enough. Right or wrong I felt a great responsibility for the way she felt and acted, I wanted to take care of her, but failed  miserably at even thinking I was trying. Being wrapped up in my own teenage/young adult mishaps, falling into bad relationships, drinking too much, all I could seem to do is fail at being a daughter, or person in general. Why couldn't God just fix me?

See, for as long as I can remember, I've always known there was a God, I knew of Jesus. For as long as I can remember I prayed for God to make me, a certain situation, or person better. Even though I wasn't technically saved until I was 11 years old. So I've done A LOT of praying for something in my life that needed changing. 

God didn't seem to answer those prayers. Why? I prayed for God's will, surely having abusive men in my life wasn't His will. He couldn't expect me to live alone and feeling rejected for ever, Right? Why couldn't He just make me a better person worthy of love? I grew up pleading with God to make my life better, to make me better. As you know from the beginning of this post and my first blog post, this same type of prayer followed me into adulthood. I tried doing things my way so long, to please God, to be "good", to make my life seem better, ya know trying to help God along.

BUT was I honestly praying because I wanted to live for HIM, the one who died for my sins, who protected me in many circumstances that could have been worse than they were? Did I want to live for the one who had a plan for my life that included a future full of hope and blessings? I just wanted my life better or fixed so I could go on living happily ever after and "normal". I knew I wanted the blessings part. It was all about me and, why is life on this earth so difficult.

So, again, why doesn't God just answer my prayers or the prayers of the faithful prayer? The answer is found in our own hearts. God is more concerned about cleaning up our hearts, before the things in our lives. He can't stand that our hearts and the things we harbor there, oppose HIM and separate us from HIM. Jesus wants us to come and surrender our hearts and lives to Him and receive new hearts and a life with a hope and a future.

Nothing can made right in our lives, or in the world, until we receive new hearts surrendered to God. All selfish desires of our hearts come when worship of God is absent. 

Like I mentioned in a previous post, because of Adam, sin entered the world and entangled every  area of life. We rejected the rule of The Lord over our lives. When we continue to reject God, He'll  Give us over to ourselves and our sinful desire, which brings death and destruction. Death of a relationship with God and destruction of the life that God intended us to have.

Reading the first chapter of Romans, reads like something that could have been written today about today's world:

18 But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.[19 They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

"21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. 23 And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.

24 So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. 25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. 26 That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. 27 And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.

28 Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. 29 Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip.30 They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. 31 They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. 32 They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too."

I didn't intend to copy and paste so much of the chapter, but it speaks volumes about what is wrong with the world and why prayers don't get answered the way we want. We've traded the truth of God for lies! 

Now, in the two and a half years my idea of praying has changed. My heart has changed. It changed the moment I decided I wasn't going to tell God no, any more. A new complete surrender the Lord. My heart and mind have been completed changed! I've seen more answered prayers and miracles in the past two years than in my whole life.   I've seen God work in ways I thought were no longer relevant in today's world. I gained many blessings, including a new marriage to a godly man as well as new friends and family.

What an incredibly different world with hope in our future we would live in if everyone sought to worship God instead believe in the lies if the devil!

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.(Romans 12:2)

23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;(Ephesians 4:23)