Welcome to Facets of Faith! We pray you meet God across the pages of this blog, and His message reaches each person as He intends. We pray you experience God, that His message is always what is heard in love and truth that delivers freedom, beauty and boldness, in each of us – whether reader, writer, or both. Check back each week to see what else God has to share with us on this topic. He has many vantage points. It’s important we see each as He reveals His heart to us.
Who do You say I am? I suppose there could be several responses to that question. However, one message rises to the surface like a diver who comes up out of the deep, dark water to breathe salty fresh air. Breathe deep into lungs screaming for oxygen before you fill them with the freshness of freedom. Breath. Air. Life. Vital and above the surface. That’s where freedom lies too. Above the surface and in the truth.
God says I am freedom. I am freedom for me, and I am freedom for others. Let me explain.
So many of us walk around subconsciously holding our breath, conforming even when we might wish to go our own way. Trying to fit in, wondering if we ever will. Oh, we might not share those thoughts with the world at large, but inner insecurities whisper and taunt.
“Not good enough.”
“They don’t really like you.”
“You don’t fit in.”
“You’re not one of ‘them’ and you never will be.”
“There’s no hope for you. Your future is futile.”
Or whatever other flavor of lie the enemy is serving up that day. “Not good enough” was probably one of his favorites for me.
Those were the words the enemy used to taunt me, day in and day out. He knew my vulnerabilities, and he wasn’t above using them against me. But God has been doing a good work in my life for quite some time now. He doesn’t just bring me freedom. He says freedom DEFINES me. Freedom is who I am. That truth is a game changer my friends!
Recently, my husband Sam had to endure an hour long + car ride with me to Wheaton. We were in route to an intimate gathering among people I mostly didn’t know. These were probably smart theologian types. After all we were going to Wheaton. Billy Graham attended Wheaton Bible College, don’t ya know? The plan was to meet the author of a marriage book, listen to a talk, and the nemesis to a person like me who is better one on one than in a non-structured group setting … informal mixing. Ugh!
Give me a girlfriend one on one and I am good. More than good. That’s my sweet spot. But group settings without structure? Torture! Pure torture!
Or at least those settings used to be. God’s bringing me into the light of His truth: Freedom. Unfortunately, my husband had to endure my lesson our entire car ride to Wheaton.
Tap. Tap. Tap on Sam’s arm.
Me – motioning from head to toe and in my most sassy voice – “This is what freedom looks like.”
Tap. Tap. Tap on Sam’s arm.
Me – motioning from head to toe and in my most sassy voice – “This is what freedom looks like.”
Tap. Tap. Tap on Sam’s arm.
Me – motioning from head to toe and in my most sassy voice – “This is what freedom looks like.”
Over and over (I’m not even sure how many times Sam had to listen to that sassy soundtrack). He signed up for it when he chose me as his wife. He is stuck with me for life! That there is some freedom to put on your sassy hat, my friends. Poor guy. Lucky me,
Why was that a message of freedom?
Well, I think partly I needed to remind myself to just be me. God made me. And He made me good (not perfect, but good).
One of the most telling truths that I am freedom came from what I didn’t do, rather than what I did.
I didn’t feel like getting dressed up. I didn’t feel like trying to dress a certain way to fit in with the rest of the group. How we dress can be used as armor. I’ve done that before. I love fashion, so it’s not always about armor —but sometimes how I dressed was absolutely about armor. I “grew up” in corporate America in the late 80’s and 90’s and beyond. Those early days were all about the power suit. That mentality can be tough to set aside.
But now that I am freedom, I wore my black jeans and grabbed my zip up sweatshirt (not even a cute cardigan, ladies)!
It wasn’t that I didn’t care about the presenter. It wasn’t that I was trying to be, well, anything other than myself in that moment. I promise, there will be plenty of moments when I want to get all girly with skirts, jewelry, and sparkly things. Sunday night just wasn’t one of them.
The freedom came because I wasn’t trying to impress anyone. There was no need to do that. None!
There will be people who “get me”. There will be people who won’t. That’s okay.
There will be people who “get you”. There will be people who won’t. That’s okay. You be you anyhow! You be freedom.
For freedom Christ freed us. Stand fast therefore and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”─Galatians 5:1 MEV
Freedom doesn’t mean reckless abandon, do what I want, narcissistic behavior. The world has enough of that. The world is entangled in that. Sinful choices are bondage. They hurt us. They hurt others. That’s captivity – not freedom.
I have a plethora of examples even from my own life. Sin on whichever side of it you are sitting -the person doling out sinful behavior or on the receiving end of someone else’s sinful choices – is bondage. It hurts. We were never designed for sin. (See Genesis 1-3)
Christ died to free us. He died so I could be freedom. He died so you could be freedom.
What if we were that diver, delving in the ocean of life only to get snarled in seaweed and unable to escape? That entanglement would keep us where we are at and may eventually pull us under. That’s what sin does.
We do have free will. We get to choose. Just know when we choose sin, we aren’t choosing freedom for us or anyone around us.
Freedom wants us to break out our spiritual sword and cut through those entanglements of sin’s lies. There are all sorts of lies sin tells us.
When we say we’re not good, we’re saying God’s works aren’t good – that He’s somehow insufficient and unqualified to create beauty in each of us. That’s sin.
I bet you thought I might talk about addiction, adultery, stealing, lying. Yes, those are sin too. Those choices don’t lead to freedom either.
For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead. use your freedom to serve one another in love.─Galatians 5:13 NLT
We shouldn’t use our freedom to satisfy our sinful nature. When we do, we hurt ourselves. When we do, we hurt others.
Freedom in God’s eyes is to serve one another in love. We need to love ourselves well in order to do that. We need to know who we are as God’s children. We are freedom. He died so we could be freedom. He longs for us to be free. He longs for those in our lives to be free.
When I think of all the unnecessary pain I caused myself and others from my sinful choices, I could lament and pull myself into the inky ocean of regret. But that doesn’t serve a good purpose and it doesn’t embody the freedom Christ died to give me, to define me as. We all have things we wish would have went differently in life.
Freedom takes those choices and learns from them.
Sam & I sat at the Wheaton gathering listening to the speaker share his thoughts on “Emotional Pain Words”. The author shared how God uses our marriage union (in part) to help each other heal. I agree. But what I noticed as I glanced through the list of emotional pain words is what God has done in my life. Instead of seeing emotional pain words I was experiencing, I saw what God delivered me from and who God has made me to be. Freedom.
As I scanned the extensive list of pain words, I wanted to write “BC” next to many of them. Before Christ these were experiences or false beliefs I’d possessed.
I saw my old self in many of the words. I used to believe these lies as truth about me. Things like, suicidal, not cherished, despair, controlled, dishonored, shamed, unwanted, and terrified. Truth be told, I used to be able to relate to almost all of the emotional pain words on the list.
But as I glanced through the words that used to define me. I allowed Gods new word to define me. Freedom!
I’m no longer any of those false beliefs. I’m me. Redeemed and made new, imperfect yet pure and righteous in God’s eyes. That doesn’t mean God and I still don’t need to work on some things, but believe me when I tell you, “Wow! He delivered me from much!”
I’m one if His daughters who knows who He is because He knew me first and He went out of His way to court me. It’s in His love that we experience His healing which leads to full freedom.
God teaches us how to live lives defined by freedom. Day in, day out, when we listen to Him, when we immerse ourselves in the truth of His Word, He points us to freedom.
I heard a message on Sunday I’d like to briefly share.
Before entering the Promised Land, twelve men were sent ahead to survey the land. Ten came back and only saw the insurmountable obstacle of an enemy they felt they couldn’t defeat. These ten saw themselves as grasshoppers. Small. Easy to defeat. Only Joshua and Caleb saw themselves as God had made them, able to conquer and overcome obstacles, able to defeat the enemy and enter into the Promised Land. The ten didn’t. The two did.
Which do we want to be?
Friend, I encourage you to choose freedom’s choice. Be the two who see all the beauty and potential God has placed within you. He is SO GOOD! And He creates REALLY GOOD things. You. Me.
God was leading the Israelites out of captivity and into the Promised Land. His mission is the same today. He’s leading us out of captivity and into the vast Promised Land of freedom.
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.─2 Corinthians 3:17 HCSB
I pray you experience God’s presence and the infilling of His spirit in your heart. I pray we each let His Spirit guide us to the Promised Land called Freedom. I pray our identity embodies freedom.
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. God says I am freedom. If you know Him, you are freedom too!
And if you don’t know Him, it’s simple. Day by day give God full access to your heart. He will help you. He will hold you. He will comfort you. He will teach you. You don’t have to do life by yourself. He is your Father. He is your Friend. If you give him permission to lead and guide your life, you’ll look back one day amazed at the beauty He has brought into your life. He brings us to a spacious place. A place where we can breathe life’s vitality. A place where we grow more and more free as we surrender to Him. It sounds impossible, but it’s absolutely true. The more we surrender, the more beautiful freedom He brings in our lives. He shows me things about me I never even knew. He brings new joys. He brings new hopes and vision. I pray you know and experience that too. It’s wonderful, sweet friend!
If you are ready for that measure of freedom and love, you can pray this prayer.
Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross to cover ALL my sin, so I can be COMPLETELY free. Please bring full freedom to me through Your saving grace. Thank You that I don’t have to muster up the will to change myself, but that You will change my heart and mind to align with Your thoughts, Your ways. Thank You for Your love. Thank You for Your peace. Please guide me each day through both: Your love and Your peace. I surrender my heart to You. I am choosing You out of my own free will so You can bring FULL freedom. In Jesus’ name, amen!
Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you remain in My word, then you are truly My disciples. You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”
They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s seed and have never been in bondage to anyone. Why do You say, ‘You shall be set free’?”
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave to sin. Now a slave does not remain in the house forever, but a son remains forever. Therefore, if the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed”.─John 8:31-36 MEV
You shall be free indeed!
Join the conversation here or on our Facebook page. 