Dare to be Free

Recently, I returned from a two week long missions trip in Africa. I had an incredible time visiting Zambia for a week then Uganda for a week. Admittedly, I went there witha heart of desperation. Desperate for hope, desperate for purpose and direction, desperate for God. I was unable to articulate to the Lord what I needed, but I begged Him to exercise His omniscience and omnipotence in identifying and healing what was troubling my heart.

Daily I gathered to hear the Word of God with the believers assembled in Zambia then Uganda. However, just as daily I felt this incredibly oppressive weight upon me. I prayed and begged God for delieverance from this constant pressure looming over me like a black cloud.

Then, Easter morning after service finished, I was rereading some of the verses that were just preached upon in Ephesians 2. Verses 1-2 jumped off the page.

And you He made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air.

The prince of the power of the air! Satan. The black cloud I had been under was oppression from Satan! The simple realization itself brought a measure of release, but the verses also revealed a condition I no longer had to live under as a child of God.

Romans 8:2 says, For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. Ephesians 2:4-7 continues with the privileges we are now granted to experience and appropriate in our lives through faith as free children of the Lord: God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses (willful rebellions against God), made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Suddenly, I faced a choice, which the Lord repeatedly placed before me, to believe His Word by faith or to submit to my oppressive circumstances empowered by Satan, the Father of Lies. The Lord graciously gave me the courage to step out in faith and believe the promises He outlined in Ephesians 2:4-7.

Daily during the trip and continually now that I have arrived home, this choice remains before me: step out in faith and believe God loves me or submit to a lie from Satan that I'm worthless. Satan hates us and he hates God, so he would love for all of us who are true believers in Christ to think we are worthless. The troubling part can be that he has so much material to work with in this sinful human race. Our lives are stained by failures, weaknesses, and distrust, so when Satan speaks to us perhaps through a co-worker or fellow student or a professor, it is often easy to agree with it because we know our imperfect selves. However, God knows our imperfections as well, and He loves us anyway. So, we can simply bring the failures, weaknesses or faithless distrust to Him and believe what He says we are in His eyes, which is victorious in Christ, perfect in Christ, and loved forever unconditionally by Christ (Romans 8). So, step out in faith and dare to believe Him for the incredible life He has available to you through Christ.

In Christ with you all,

Lisa Watson

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater.

He sendeth more strength when the labors increase.

To added affliction, He addeth His mercy,

To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,

And our strength has failed ere the day is half done,

When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,

The Father's full giving is only begun.

His love has no limit, His grace has no measure.

His power has no boundary known unto men.

For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,

He giveth and giveth and giveth again.

Annie Johnson Flint