Spirit of Freedom

Spirit of Freedom:

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." (2 Timothy 1:7)

The heart of the ways in which God calls us are founded by a Spirit full of fearless faith and freedom. The enemy on the other hand only desires to see us fall further into the lifeless freeze that is a life that's fear-seized. God wants to see our souls overflow with joy that is unafraid and confident in the truth that His goodness is exceedingly abundantly above all we can imagine. The enemy wants to take away every last fragment of the great gifts God has freely given to us, His beloved children.

"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us" (Ephesians 3:20)

"The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep." (John 10:10-11)

Abundantly, abundantly... God's heart gives and gives, even to the point of bleeding out His very own life on the Cross. The Heart of God is gracious, kind, and full of delight. The heart of fear is anger, jealousy, envy, and strife. The enemy just wants to steal, murder, and utterly demolish all the good things God so generously lavishes upon us.

There comes a time when we all must recognize the choice that needs to be made in order to attain a more intimate relationship with our Lord. We must deny our flesh's fighting for things to line up and make sense. God doesn't follow human logic; He isn't limited by human understanding. His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. A young virgin girl bearing the Saviour Son of God in her womb? Logical? No. Miracle? Yes. But that's precisely how God moves... God moves in unthinkably great and unfathomable ways...

"Fear not, O land; Be glad and rejoice, For the LORD has done marvellous things!" (Joel 2:21)

You see, God takes great joy in astonishing His people. He's been doing this since the beginning of time itself. Baffling our human senses with His spectacularly supernatural miracles. All throughout the course of history, we can see His hand on the lives of many. The Red Sea splits straight down the middle, the ground beneath Israelite feet dry as bones.

Stomping feet march faithfully around and around those towering walls of Jericho... Until, at last, the horns, they blast, and crumbling down they go...

Our timidity to trust leads Him to gently ask us the same words He asked Peter as he stepped out on the waters.

"And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”" (Matthew 14:31)

Why do we doubt? God is the One who makes apostle feet to tread boisterous waves, aged old Abraham to behold a son, shepherd boy David to rule the nation of Israel, and a baby Boy born in a filthy stable to be the King Who cleanses us, saves us from our sin and shame, and triumphs over death and grave. Oh how His glorious power reigns!

"But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus." (Luke 24:2-3)

His strength surrounds us, stronger than fear's futile attempts to steal God's glory. Think about that.

Every time we make a decision out of fear, we give into the enemy's attempt at trying to hide the unbelievably splendorous miracle God has for us just on the other side of that leap of faith.

God's glory can't be revealed to us until we surrender to the call of obeying the unbelievable - the seemingly illogical - and watching the things that are impossible with men become possible with God...

"But He said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”" (Luke 18:27)

So next time you feel fear's cold grip wringing you into knots of confusion, call upon the Lord and proclaim that through His great and miraculous faithfulness, you will not be overtaken by the temptation to collapse under anxiety.

Refuse to allow the enemy spirit of fear to take away the glorious majesty God is trying to reveal to you through an incredible act of faith that feels foreign and frightening. Trust Him, and dive in! God will never let you down or forsake you! He is good and faithful for all eternity! Hallelujah! Amen!

-The Introverted Evangelist