Set Free

You have been set free. If, you are a believer, you have been set free from your guilt, shame, sins, desires, worldly pleasures. So, if you have been set free, why does it feel like you're not free sometimes? Because you're not. Don't worry, I know that's contradictory or seems to be so, but let's unpack it, and hopefully clear this up so we can be on the same page. You HAVE BEEN set free. I emphasize have been because that means it has already happened, it is not saying you are being, or will be, but have been. As a believer, you already have been set free of these things once. Well, what? Am I saying that God re-chained you to these things? No. But if you're not free, you need to be chained, or slave to something, because there's not a kinda free or kinda slave. It's one or the other. Here's what I am saying. Yes, you have been set free from your sins, desires, worldly pleasures, because Jesus died exactly for that, for you to be free from sin, from guilt, from shame, He died for you to be able to live with Him, and live free from those things. So, you have been set free, but are you still set free? Well, you may be wondering, how does that change? Shouldn't it be an everlasting freedom from these things? Yes and it is. But it is our choice to choose freedom from these things or to chain ourselves to these things. You see God offers freedom and He died for it, but we take our chains. Instead of us allowing God to remove the chains, take them off of us, and throw them away... we let God take it off of us, but then walk to Him, take our chains, and place them back on ourselves. You place yourself in a cell which you have the key to. You have the key to freedom, but you choose the cell. Why? I think one of the biggest reasons, especially in our generation, is because we feel we are being told "you can't do it." When told I cannot do something my very first instinct is to say "oh yeah? watch" or "let's see." You're not allowed to tell me I cannot do something without me showing you whether I can or cannot do it. But, hear me out, don't reject this, stay with me. Sometimes you can't and it's ok to not be able to do it. Read that again. We aren't told this in society... we are told we NEED to do it on our own and if we can't we are irrelevant, insignificant, unworthy, a disgrace, etc. Rest in knowing you can't, but there's Someone who can. Why would we reject the option of being free, reject the Person who set us free, reject the Person who knows you better than you know yourself?

"God will not bring you to something He cannot empower you to do."-Matt Chandler.

You see when we say we can't, we are only looking at ourselves, not God inside of us. If God brings you to something STOP SAYING YOU CAN'T, START SAYING HE CAN.

If God knows you better than you know yourself, He will bring you to things He knows you can do, but He knows you can do it only because He knows He is in you. Remove God, you can't, include God, you can, only because He can. I have said before "I can't." I mean we all have, I've said it to friends who try to get together, sorry I can't. People who asked me to babysit, sorry I can't today. But, I know we have also all said it to God, whether it was verbally, or internally. We said "I can't." You see when we say 'I can't" we are saying He can't because if He is living inside of us, and He knows us better than we know ourselves, and He brings us to an event or situation in life, and we say "I can't" we are saying He can't. If He brings you to it, He will empower you to do it.

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”  He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” Exodus 3:11-12 ESV

Moses is saying ummmmm... who am I to do this? Me? Really? Why? And God's reply is so gentle, so real, so sweet... "But I will be with you..." He says yes you! But I will be with you. The fear of messing up needs to be thrown out of the window and the joy of success, especially for and with Christ needs to be the forefront of your mind. Stop saying I can't, start saying He can. No matter how inadequate, how irrelevant you feel, start feeling how adequate He is, how relevant He is. I promise you, if He brings you to it, if it's part of His plan, it'll all work out, I'm not promising easy, but I'm promising a Guide, a finish. He will use it for good, whether you understand how He used it for good, or you don't, He sees the full picture... you don't. Listen. Carefully.

You can't. He can. It is ok to know you can't on your own, but you need to know you can because of Him. I can't seems like a really active excuse for backing away from what God is calling us to. We need to change and stop that today and rather say He can, even if I can't, He can. We not only choose the cell instead of freedom because of "I can't." But also because of control. We desire control, to know something, understand something. We choose control over freedom because we feel powerful with control. It goes like this...

God: *Takes chains from you, removes you from the cell*

You: Wow, thank you so much

Also you: Hey, God... I don't really like not having control soooo if I can just take those chains back, yep thanks, and then I'm going to lock myself in this cell with the key in my hand.

Well.... at least we know we are chained up... we quickly realize how terrible it is to be chained and locked up, but we also forget we have the key to the cell and the chains literally IN OUR HANDS. But, hey, at least we know we are chained to something, at least we know we have guilt. We say I don't want to be free because when I'm free I don't know. Since this blog is getting a little lengthy I'll wrap it up here. But remember it's ok to not know and you can because He can. Take yourself out, you make it negative.

I don't know-He knows

I can't-He can

Switch the mindset, the perspective on it, stop looking at yourself, and look at Him.