Freedom

I know You hear them
You know exactly where they are
And You can save them
From what they're doing to themselves

Sweet God I know this cause it wasn't
long ago when You heard me crying loud
When I was doing the same things to myself

You are the God of Wonders
You are loving You are kind
And no matter how far or fast we run
You're always close beside us in the bottom of
the ship or in the hull of our mind
Oh Lord You're so quick to save us when we cry

I GIVE UP.
I CANNOT DO THIS ANYMORE.
I CONFESS.
LORD PLEASE COME CRASHING THROUGH THESE DOORS
OF THIS PRISON I'VE LIVED IN FOR FAR TOO LONG
I miss the sound of that sweet song of freedom.

Lord I was miserable
and I can tell that they are too.
Believing the lies of what the world says is
true.

But God You heard me and You say you'll hear them too
if we just cry out and trust You.
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I love this song by Donna Stuart. Oh the sweet song of freedom that she talks about. What a beautiful melody of grace and love pouring out.

I know a lot of friends who are in their own prisons right now. I have friends who are crippled with insecurity, lust, and blatant lies from the enemy. My heart breaks for them because I know it so well. I have been in the place where I am crying loud the chorus of this song. "I GIVE UP. I CANNOT DO THIS ANYMORE. I CONFESS. LORD, PLEASE COME CRASHING THROUGH THESE DOORS OF THIS PRISON I'VE LIVED IN FOR FAR TOO LONG."

I read those words and can place myself right back to where I was 2-3 years ago. I wanted so desperately to call it quits because this whole "christian" thing was hard and I felt like professing believers and the church was all a facade of hypocritical people out for their own agendas. Then I realize all too often that is true, but that God is not those people. I would pray "God, if this is You then I don't want it." It was in those moments that I realized that "this" was not God at all.

Professing believers and the church are a bunch of jacked up people who are saved by the blood of Christ. It is not that they have become perfect but that they have believed in a perfect God who has redeemed them. In this midst of those moments, God reminded me of Romans 3:12, which says, "All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." So I was looking to Christians to be God. I was making people my god, my idol, and if they did not act the way I wanted them too or thought they should, I would translate that as God and gets upset. I would put expectations on people that they could never meet.

Have you ever been there? Have you looked at fellow Christians and judged their actions to be that of God? I think we all have at some point. We think because Christians are supposed to be like Christ that they are Christ. We place people in positions where they will inevitably fail, then blame God.

Oh, but the song of freedom. The song of redemption. The song of grace. The song of hope. These are the songs that started becoming my anthem cry when I realize that people will fail me but God never will. When I placed God in his rightful position in my life and allowed people to be messed up, I noticed a freedom that cannot be expressed by words. When I allowed people to be themselves, screwed up and all, and walked WITH them in the pursuit of Christ instead of viewing them AS Christ, I noticed I was able to learn and be blessed by them instead of hurt by them.

As you go throughout your day, ask God to remind you of this song and to find ways that in the realness of those around you that you can be blessed. God placed that person in your life for a reason and if you look for it, they will teach you something about yourself and/or God. Place God in his rightful place and allow others to walk alongside you as you both pursue what it means to exhibit Christ. Strive to look more like Christ and encourage others to do the same, but offer grace when failures come, after all, isn't that what God did for you?