Do you ever feel held back (possibly by something in your past, fear, doubt, anger, or shame)? If yes, then by what?
During our discussion time I did not want to linger here. I wrote in the study that we need to lay those things down before the Father and allow Him to redeem and restore those broken areas. We did however listen to "Restoration" by David Brymer. You can find the YouTube video of the song here. God's desire for us is not to remain in our shame, pain, and brokenness, but to take that and give us a new place...to restore us, redeem us, and make us whole. He can...will we believe that HE CAN???
Joel 2:25-27
"I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame. You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God and there is none else. And my people shall never again be put to shame."
The passage that we looked at this week was:
Romans 8:31-39
"31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.[j] 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
On Saturday we talked about the passage from week 2, Luke 9:23-27, where it talked about deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow me, and how after reading that we can be charged up and excited, but then all of a sudden we are stuck with this feeling of why, how, and complete inadequacy. I feel like I'm "doing" so much for "the faith", and how could I add more to my list of "duties". Well, that is not what it was talking about...it is not a list of things to add to our already mundane and tedious task list, but a lifestyle...THE WAY we need to be living. Once we begin to live that "deny, take up your cross daily, and follow HIM" lifestyle everything else will fall into it's place and God will meet the need for the day.
Romans 8:31-37 starts out with "If God is for us who can be against us?". Honestly, most days I think the whole world is against me, my kids, my husband, everybody, and anybody. I think if we are not careful we can very easily pitch a tent and camp out at our own pity party (poor me nobody likes me) and I've done that more times that I care to admit, even today. I...WE need to live with the mindset of who cares about what everyone might think of us...GOD IS FOR US...NO ONE CAN BE AGAINST US!!! NO ONE!!!!! That pity party that we throw ourselves, yep that one you are finding yourself in repeatedly, is just you listening to the lies that the DEVIL is whispering into your ear right now. QUIT IT!!! GOD IS FOR YOU!!!
The passage continues down in verse 32 "He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" Okay, so like the first week in John 3:16 we see again that God gave His only Son for us. He did this because of His great love for us, to redeem us, to restore us, and to KNOW us. He wants to know you not just know about you. I mean seriously He gave His Son for us and we live 1) in pity party mode or 2) in I just can't or I just won't. Whatever the reason is that we either park our rear in 1) or 2) we need to know that He is ready and waiting to give us all things GRACIOUSLY!!! Wake UP PEOPLE!!!! GOD SENT HIS SON TO DIE FOR YOU AND ABOVE AND BEYOND THAT HE WANTS TO GIVE YOU MORE, even though you doubt Him, His nature, His LOVE, and HIS GOODNESS!!! HE WANTS TO GIVE YOU MORE!!! How is it that I stick my head so far down into my own mess and mire that I miss that in my everyday living. Am I so stubborn that I refuse to work this out in my own life? Am I so lazy that I refuse to try and put clothes on this and MAKE it applicable to me? He, GOD, wants to give to ME!!!
As we go on into the passage we see that NO ONE can bring any charge against us (GOD'S ELECT), not even ourselves. So often that pity party gets old and tired, but I don't know what to do. I start to blame myself. I begin to develop a "PLAN" to get out of that pit...a plan to try harder, be better, do more. I'm not the one who has justified me, so I have no right to condemn myself. Moreover, Christ died for us, but even in our muck of a lifestyle He is interceding for us. Christ who died for us is beseeching the Father on our behalf. What LOVE there is in that... in HIM, and there is nothing that can separate us from that LOVE.
Lastly, we saw that through Him that loved us we are made MORE THAN CONQUERORS. Has anyone's love, affection, or encouragement ever made you feel like you could do anything, tackle, or accomplish anything you set your mind to do? Whether yes or no, this passage should do that for us. We no longer have to walked in the mire of our past, our current pity party, or in fear of what the future may hold. We are made more than conquerors through Christ, and there is nothing...NOTHING that can separate us from that, from HIM, or from HIS LOVE.
Now, what would our lives look like if we were to shake free, rise up, and walk out of our mire, our dirt, our shame, our anger, our resentment, our self loathing, our own righteousness, and walked in light of HIS LOVE as MORE THAN CONQUERORS. What would it look like if you just radically stepped out in faith and did something bold for JESUS, proclaimed life and liberty to others entrenched in the mire of their DIY faith or MORE SO to those who are LOST and DYING. What if you were to RISE UP and boldly obey what Christ is calling you to do? What if??? LET US RISE UP!!!
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