Surrender is Freedom

For so long, I thought freedom was being able to make my own choices, do my own thing, have my own way, and have absolutely no one over me telling me what to do. Completely unfettered and free to be me! I am slowly, but surely learning, that is not freedom at all. It is the exact opposite. It is actually bondage to self. It is self serving and self worshipping and it leads only to death. True freedom is happening for me as I come to a place of total surrender to the One who made me. It is no longer asking "why me" or trying to make sense of why I am the way I am. It is no longer fighting against the voice of the Holy Spirit in my life. It is simply saying "Ok. I am ready. Have Your way in my life." It is listening closely to the voice of God and obediently following that voice. Not out of religiosity, but out of surrender. Some might say, "NO! That is not freedom. You are having to do certain things, follow rules, regulations, and be under the rule of someone else. You can't have fun and enjoy everything this world has to offer." And there it is. See, I don't want what this world has to offer anymore.........and before I go on and anyone thinks I have somehow arrived and don't get sidetracked and tempted by the things of this world.......let me quickly correct you........I do. But, it really is not the true desire of my heart. See, I have found, the more I follow my own ideas, my wants, my desires, my dreams the sicker I become. I become sick of heart, mind, body and soul. Why? Because my heart was not made to follow me, but to follow HIM and when I stray away from what my heart really needs sickness sets in. I am learning to embrace, more quickly, the voice of my Father. He does not rule me with an iron hand. He is not ready to squash me with His thumb every time I screw up. He is not here to condemn me. He is here to love me. He is here to teach me. He is here to lead me and guide me along paths of righteousness. He is here to speak gently to my spirit and offer me freedom in Him. Freedom from what this world has to offer. Freedom from darkness. Freedom from death. Freedom from never being able to quite be good enough. In Him there is no darkness, in Him there is life, and in Him I have already been made good. Freedom is surrender. Freedom is embracing the love of a Heavenly Father who cared enough for me that He would send His ONLY SON......yes ONLY, BELOVED, PRECIOUS SON to become sin, to carry the weight of my guilt and shame, so I could be free. Freedom is listening to His voice and out of love, adoration, and absolute trust, obediently following His voice. Because I love Him. Because I know He knows what is best for me. Because I trust Him. Because I recognize His voice and His instructions are protection in my life. It is protection from all this world has to offer. It is true freedom. The struggle is gone, because I am no longer fighting against the one who loves me with an everlasting love.

I challenge myself and I challenge you today to stop fighting. Surrender to Jesus. Recognize His voice and follow His instructions. He knows what you need and what is best for you. After all, He formed you. He knit you together in your mothers womb. He knows you perfectly. In Malachi 3:8-12 it says,

Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse-the whole nation of you-because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit, says the Lord Almighty. Then all the nations will call you blessed for yours will be a delightful land, says the Lord Almighty.

I realize this is talking about tithe, however a couple of weeks ago God spoke something differently to me through these verses. Apply it to our spiritual lives. We rob God all the time of our hearts, our souls, and our minds. We do not give Him all of ourselves. We keep little bits and pieces of ourselves and we do not let Him have what already is His. We are His. He wants ALL of us. He wants the WHOLE tithe. God says, test me and just see what will happen if you surrender it all to me. Watch me open up the floodgates of heaven and pour out on you blessings like you have never seen before. Just watch and see what happens if you give it all to me. That is my challenge. Give it all to God and watch......watch Him pour out blessings on you and me that are so many we will have no idea what to do with it all. It will be overflowing in our lives and pouring out, oozing out of our every pore! Watch Him open the floodgates of heaven and let it rain down on you and me as we begin to totally surrender every area, every nook, every cranny, every part of ourselves to Him. Surrender and begin living in His freedom today!

Jahoash and His Arrows

This past week I have been reading in 2 Kings. I often get stumped by things I read and have to stop to look things up so I can better understand. Such was the case when I came to the account of Elisha and King Jehoash in 2 Kings 13. Elisha told the King to get a bow and some arrows. The King did as he was told. Then Elisha told the king to shoot an arrow out of the East window. When the King did this, Elisha said, "The Lord's arrow of victory,the arrow of victory over Aram!....You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek." Then Elisha told the King to again take the arrows. So King Jehoash did as he was told. He was instructed to strike the ground with the arrows. He struck the ground with three arrows and stopped. Elisha became angry and said, "You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times." This is the part that stumped me. I thought, How was the King supposed to know how many times he should strike the ground with arrows? The King was not a mind reader. How could he know what Elisha expected him to do? If I had been King Jehoash, I would have been extremely frustrated with the prophet for becomeing upset with what I had done. Why did Elisha get upset? So, I started digging a little bit. I wanted to find out why the King had stopped shooting arrows. Had he run out of them? I discovered that quivers hold different ammounts of arrows depending on the size of the quiver. Some hold three and others can hold up to twelve. A common amount of arrows, though, was 5-6. I found this to be quite interesting as Elisha said to the King, "you could have struck the ground five or six times." And then it dawned on me. King Jehoash did not stop becuase he ran out of arrows.....he just stopped. He had done what he had been told to do right? He had struck the ground with some arrows. Good enough right? Maybe I am reading into this too much, but this is what it spoke to me. I could see the King being nonchalant about this thing that Elisha had asked him to do. What was the big deal anyway? Why would it matter how many arrows he used or how many times he struck the ground. He did it three times. That should be good, right? WRONG! He still had arrows left. He still had weapons available to him, at his disposal, to win and claim the victory that God was ready to give to him. But he chose not to use them all. He chose to stop at three. He chose to be content with good enough. That is why Elisha became angry. He became angry, because he knew what God had in store for the King if the King was willing to pursue it, all the way, 100%, using every weapon available to him to claim the victory and defeat the enemy. This spoke very directly into my life as I have been struggling with a heaviness that has been over me for a couple of weeks. It has brought with it depression, tears, some despondancy, doubt, and an overwhelming desire to quit a lot of things. This section of scripture spoke loud and clear to me. Am I going to settle for good enough or am I going to lay claim to the victory that is mine? Am I going to use every weapon available to me to defeat the enemy or am I going to choose to stop halfway through and quit? Am I going to open myself up to the victory and the blessings God has in store for me? I wondered how many times I miss out on God's desire, gifts, and blessings He has in store for me simply because I decide not to take those last few arrows and strike the ground with them? It is a lot easier to settle. It is a lot easier to quit. It is a lot easier to say, "good enough". Elisha had good reason to be angry! He stood before a King who had victory that was already his. All he had to do was claim it. Can you hear Elisha yell at the King? I can! "What did you quit for?! You have more arrows! You have all the weapons you need! You have a God who is waiting to bless you and give you the victory! What are you quitting for!!??" And I can hear that for myself as well. Don't settle, don't quit, the victory is yours! Pick up your weapons and claim the victory that is yours!