Comfy Couch of Chaos
Last night I had trouble going to sleep despite being so incredibly tired. I’ve been so burdened for several people in my life who are hurting, struggling, living in bondage, in chaos. I love them dearly but my heart breaks as the words are on the edge of my mind, my prayers crying out to God for them to be free, to choose the freedom Christ has given them! I can’t do it for them, they’ve got to choose it for themselves. Why is it so hard to do that? Why do so many of us allow ourselves to keep living in this bondage we’ve essentially put upon ourselves? There is a Name above every other name, Jesus, and He came to seek and to save the lost, to redeem and restore us! So why do we come together on Sunday and find out way to the altar after pouring out our most recent drama to someone, and then turn back around during the week and let ourselves get weighed down, pulled into the next drama? I don’t understand, and I try very hard to find a consistently loving and firm way to live out the freedom Christ has given me so that others would choose to live the same way.
God spoke into my heart and mind last night about the image of the Shepherd taking care of His flock, and the realization in Isaiah 53:6 that we have all gone astray, turning to our own way. But….
The Good Shepherd knows His sheep….even though we are scattered, wandering (Ezekiel 34:6)….He knows His sheep. He knows me. He knows you. He will take loving care of His flock (Isaiah 40:11), gather all of them in his arms, carry them, lead them. He is always there, never far. We are never alone!
So what has you sitting in your misery, your chaos today wondering where God is? That right there my friend is a lie, deceit that the guy downstairs would love for you to embrace, sink into like a comfy couch that will turn out to be a whole lot harder to get out of the longer you sit in it. Misery loves company, hate to say that phrase but it’s true. Conversation tends to flow a whole lot easier and longer when we have something to complain about and a group around us willing to listen and stand by and not say anything different.
How’s your relationship with God? Are you a believer, saved by Grace and yet you find life just hasn’t been fair, things just keep turning out badly for you, you can’t figure out why? Here’s a news flash for you my friend: Life is not fair most of the time, but you have a choice to live it like Christ in spite of that! As your sister in Christ, I am compelled by the power of God to implore you to get up out of that pit that honestly you have dug for yourself, and stand firm! You are a child of the Most Awesome and Powerful God and He lives in you so get up, get out and get a new perspective! The next thing you do is what is hardest I think….keep it up.
Choose to step out and live like Christ, live in His freedom every single day! I can’t imagine how heartbroken God is when He sees us acting one way on Sunday, maybe early into the week but by Tuesday night we are slumped back into that pit, that comfy couch of chaos. You don’t deserve it, and for goodness sake our great big God doesn’t….He has compelled us, empowered us to live life better and bigger! It doesn’t come naturally for any of us to live life in Christ, because we are human. But because of Christ living in us, we can choose to live life in Christ by drawing our strength, shaping our focus around that which does not come naturally to us.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full,” Jesus (John 10:10)
The guy downstairs is always going to find a weakness in you to play upon, dig a little deeper, bring more chaos, more strife, more division into your life, your marriage, your family and especially in our churches! If we let him have the power he doesn’t deserve, he will most certainly do what he is here to do…steal, kill and destroy. But we are better than that because we have Christ in us. We are overcomers because of the blood of the Lamb!
We can do all things through Christ who is our strength! (Philippians 4:13)
So what are you going to do about it? How are you going to choose to live daily in the freedom of Christ? Don’t go to the altar on Sunday if you don’t mean it. By mean it, I mean that you are truly leaving it at the feet of Jesus. If you are bringing it back the next week, and the month after that, and the year after that, then you haven’t really let it go to the Father. I can’t do it for you, nobody can. But let’s get real okay? He has promised to be with you, to care for you, to carry you when you can’t take another step. He is faithful, even when you don’t feel like He is there. He will never leave you, He is always with you. So, I’m praying without ceasing, it is my daily prayer with my Father God to be better than I was yesterday, to love without hesitation, to speak words of kindness, to reflect Christ in every single thing I do because my life is going to leave some sort of mark on someone else’s life today whether I realize it or not.
I’m choosing to live like Christ even when I don’t feel like it. What about you?
Wrapping up this blog entry with words from an inspiring song I am listening to now by Bryan and Katie Torwalt called “Shores”. I hope it resonates for you today as you consider your choice to live in Christ, live in His freedom.
Freedom, take hold of my heart
Spirit of God, come fill this place
Jesus, You're all that I want
Have your way
God spoke into my heart and mind last night about the image of the Shepherd taking care of His flock, and the realization in Isaiah 53:6 that we have all gone astray, turning to our own way. But….
The Good Shepherd knows His sheep….even though we are scattered, wandering (Ezekiel 34:6)….He knows His sheep. He knows me. He knows you. He will take loving care of His flock (Isaiah 40:11), gather all of them in his arms, carry them, lead them. He is always there, never far. We are never alone!
So what has you sitting in your misery, your chaos today wondering where God is? That right there my friend is a lie, deceit that the guy downstairs would love for you to embrace, sink into like a comfy couch that will turn out to be a whole lot harder to get out of the longer you sit in it. Misery loves company, hate to say that phrase but it’s true. Conversation tends to flow a whole lot easier and longer when we have something to complain about and a group around us willing to listen and stand by and not say anything different.
How’s your relationship with God? Are you a believer, saved by Grace and yet you find life just hasn’t been fair, things just keep turning out badly for you, you can’t figure out why? Here’s a news flash for you my friend: Life is not fair most of the time, but you have a choice to live it like Christ in spite of that! As your sister in Christ, I am compelled by the power of God to implore you to get up out of that pit that honestly you have dug for yourself, and stand firm! You are a child of the Most Awesome and Powerful God and He lives in you so get up, get out and get a new perspective! The next thing you do is what is hardest I think….keep it up.
Choose to step out and live like Christ, live in His freedom every single day! I can’t imagine how heartbroken God is when He sees us acting one way on Sunday, maybe early into the week but by Tuesday night we are slumped back into that pit, that comfy couch of chaos. You don’t deserve it, and for goodness sake our great big God doesn’t….He has compelled us, empowered us to live life better and bigger! It doesn’t come naturally for any of us to live life in Christ, because we are human. But because of Christ living in us, we can choose to live life in Christ by drawing our strength, shaping our focus around that which does not come naturally to us.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full,” Jesus (John 10:10)
The guy downstairs is always going to find a weakness in you to play upon, dig a little deeper, bring more chaos, more strife, more division into your life, your marriage, your family and especially in our churches! If we let him have the power he doesn’t deserve, he will most certainly do what he is here to do…steal, kill and destroy. But we are better than that because we have Christ in us. We are overcomers because of the blood of the Lamb!
We can do all things through Christ who is our strength! (Philippians 4:13)
So what are you going to do about it? How are you going to choose to live daily in the freedom of Christ? Don’t go to the altar on Sunday if you don’t mean it. By mean it, I mean that you are truly leaving it at the feet of Jesus. If you are bringing it back the next week, and the month after that, and the year after that, then you haven’t really let it go to the Father. I can’t do it for you, nobody can. But let’s get real okay? He has promised to be with you, to care for you, to carry you when you can’t take another step. He is faithful, even when you don’t feel like He is there. He will never leave you, He is always with you. So, I’m praying without ceasing, it is my daily prayer with my Father God to be better than I was yesterday, to love without hesitation, to speak words of kindness, to reflect Christ in every single thing I do because my life is going to leave some sort of mark on someone else’s life today whether I realize it or not.
I’m choosing to live like Christ even when I don’t feel like it. What about you?
Wrapping up this blog entry with words from an inspiring song I am listening to now by Bryan and Katie Torwalt called “Shores”. I hope it resonates for you today as you consider your choice to live in Christ, live in His freedom.
Freedom, take hold of my heart
Spirit of God, come fill this place
Jesus, You're all that I want
Have your way
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