It’s a muggy August Saturday evening
after an exhausting fifty-hour workweek.
The air conditioning and ceiling fans are running, the internet is dead,
Rend Collective is playing on my iTunes, and I’m sitting here pondering life
and Jesus and spiritual bondage and fear and pride and love and grace and
forgiveness and freedom and faith and the future and Facebook and insurance and
my dog eating nineteen cupcakes and the piles of paper I need to take care of
and how much I miss Colorado and how I should really get up early and go to the
gym and how quickly my nephew is growing up and how many books I want to read
and skills I want to learn and the fact that I should stand up right now and
close my blinds.
Whoever said a woman’s mind is like a
web browser with a hundred tabs open at once could hardly have stated it more perfectly.
But mostly I’m thinking about bondage,
fear, pride, and failure and how Jesus can save from all of it. The past week I started (again) the Breaking Free study
by Beth Moore. It is hitting me at the core of my being and applying so
practically to my life. I love that she sends me digging into long passages of
Scripture and that passages from the Chronicles and Isaiah can suddenly become
so alive and relevant right here and now in 2014.
Throughout this week I’ve also been
listening to Rend Collective on repeat. I don’t think it’s coincidental I’ve
had a more uplifting week. There are so many truths and promises packed into
their lyrics. The following song has impacted me an extra lot this week as I
work through the Breaking Free study.
Through Christ, I am more than a conqueror over sin and life’s storms. So many days
my hope and strength is gone. The weight of my own personal shortcomings and
sin, the weight of bearing the burdens of those I love, the weights of the
storms of life feel too heavy. Confusion, hopelessness, restlessness, defeat, and
discontent so easily set in. Satan knows to hit us when we’re exhausted and
lets be honest: life is exhausting. I love
my life and all the people and activities that are a part of it. But it is
draining and demanding and if I am not daily taking time to refill from the
Well of life, I become weak and susceptible to living in daily bondage instead
of the incredible daily freedom Christ offers.
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by the yoke of slavery.”
(Gal. 5:1)
“When we are suffering because of captivity (or for
any other reason), we must learn to cry out! Yes, of course, God sees our
sufferings and cares deeply for us, by acknowledging the slavery is a crucial
starting place toward authentic freedom.”
Beth Moore
When I shift my focus from myself to
Christ, when I take my eyes off of the problems and lift them upward, and when
I consciously choose to believe the truths in Scripture, then I can begin to
discover the joy of living every moment in His incredible freedom.
Freedom from fear.
Freedom from pride.
Freedom from discontent.
Freedom from past pain.
Freedom from unbelief.
“Nothing needs the infiltration of God’s truth more than the heart. We will find freedom to the degree our hearts accept, rely, and respond to the truth of God’s Word.”
Beth Moore
I am excited and scared about what the
remaining nine weeks of this study will do in my heart. Excited because there
is nothing more exciting than living in the freedom of Christ. Scared because
to live in that freedom I have to dig deep into my own heart, hurts, and
past.
“Sometimes faith is the absence of fear. Other times
faith may be choosing to believe God even when your heart is melting with fear.
Perhaps, then, faith is tested by what we do with fear, not whether or not we
have it.”
Beth Moore
Another thing I love about all of
this, is that all those random things
flying around in my head that I mentioned at the beginning of this post, are
suddenly put into perspective and I can rest in Christ, do the next thing, live
in the peace that passes all understanding, and smile & laugh because
Christ has it all under control. In the nitty gritty of daily life, in the mundane moments, in the unexpected twists and turns, and in the big decisions, the deep heart issues, and major life changing events, I am more than a conqueror through Christ. What an incredible truth and privilege.
More Than Conquerors
Rend Collective
When my hope and strength is gone
You're the one who calls me on
You are the life
You are the fight
That's in my soul
Oh, Your resurrection power
Burns like fire in my heart
When waters rise
I lift my eyes
Up to Your throne
We are more than conquerors, through Christ
You have overcome this world, this life
We will not bow to sin or to shame
We are defiant in Your name
You are the fire that cannot be tamed
You are the power in our veins
Our Lord, our God, our Conqueror
I will sing into the night
Christ is risen and on high
Greater is He
Living in me
Than in the world
No surrender, no retreat
We are free and we're redeemed
We will declare
Over despair
You are the hope
We are more than conquerors, through Christ
You have overcome this world, this life
We will not bow to sin or to shame
We are defiant in Your name
You are the fire that cannot be tamed
You are the power in our veins
Our Lord, our God, our Conqueror
Nothing is impossible
Every chain is breakable
With You, we are victorious
You are stronger than our hearts
You are greater than the dark
With You, we are victorious
We are more than conquerors, through Christ
You have overcome this world, this life
We will not bow to sin or to shame
We are defiant in Your name
You are the fire that cannot be tamed
You are the power in our veins
Our Lord, our God, our Conqueror
