08/29/2007 Entry: "Have You Been Kissed???"

If I were to ask you, “Do you want to be free?” What would you say? Of course, the Sunday School answer would be a hearty “yes!”, but I want you to think about what I am really asking. To what extreme would you go to see the face of God? How far would you go to be changed? What would you sacrifice to kiss the lips of freedom?

A while back, a girl came up and wanted to talk to me about overcoming her depression. At first she beautifully painted the picture she wanted me to see! As she continued talking, her demeanor slipped into honesty, the performance was over. Her words dripped with fascination, her eyes now lit up as she talked about her self inflicted torment. She was SAYING that she wanted out of depression, but the more she talked, her love affair with darkness became undeniably obvious. Freedom wasn’t something she wanted at all.

It was as if…well, if depression had morphed into some sort of tangible form right before my eyes…I could almost see it whispering in her ear, feeding her counterfeit confessions, lies, and a false sense of security. I tried to pry its ugly hands from her ears, and get her to look me in the eye. I tried to expose her friend (depression), in hopes she would “see”, but she refused to even look up. As I watched her walk away, it was as if she danced to the clanging of her hand crafted chains. I thought, wow! She “hates life”, still I’ve never seen someone so in love with depression.



HOPE

Maybe you feel like the girl I just described. Unfortunately, many of us live our lives in much the same way, but don’t even see it. Freedom is within our reach, still we love our addictions more. We have all been blind. We have all loved darkness rather than light (John 3:19), but the question is, “ what will you do to get your sight back? What will you do to be free?”

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Here is our Hope. See it.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised..” 4:18

Jesus is our Hope. His mission was all about freeing humanity of our chains, healing our blinded eyes, and setting us free!

FREEDOM IS POSSIBLE through the life changing power of Jesus, but we must CHOOSE to allow Him to change us from the inside out. It starts with our heart.

I know the last email I sent out was called “would you lose your family for fantasy”, but rather it is pornography you struggle with or depression, un-forgiveness, lust, greed, an eating disorder, cutting, or simply being self absorbed…freedom’s road lies in front of all of us. We simply must choose our course.

I am going to be sending out emails every Tuesday about this road to freedom, but before we dive into “how to get free”, I first wanted to ask you if you really want to be free… I wanted you to really think about what that means. It will take sacrifice and commitment! There is a cost, but there is NOTHING LIKE the peace that comes with Freedom…there is nothing like the oxygen you will breathe in…there is nothing like realizing you are alive.

I encourage you to seek God this week. ASK HIM to give you VISION to see things as they really are. Pray for HIS HEART! TURN OFF YOUR TV! Turn off your computer, your radio, yes, even your Christian music. Make time to get alone with God. So many things constantly demand our attention, but if you want freedom you will have to make time to pursue it. You may have to get up 30 minutes before your kids, or sacrifice some computer time, or miss your favorite tv show, or turn off your cell phone.

What will you do for freedom? It’s calling you…listen, can you hear its voice?

Replies: 3 comments

i think we've all felt like you have, jennifer. truth is...we don't deserve for Him to love us. we have done horrible things. but...that's what His grace is all about. He's giving us something we don't deserve. it also means you can't earn it...and you can't do something bad enough to be denied it. it's all about Him, and not about us. if His love depended on the things we did or didn't do...we'd ALL be screwed. God does forgive us no matter what. and He gives us that gift of grace and unconditional love. but it's totally your choice to take it. ya know? freedom is a choice.

ps-awesome blog, sara. i read it yesterday about 5 times. if you don't mind, i think i'll print some of the ones you write about healing and put them with my encouragement ministry stuff. i could probably write a 5 page response to this one, but i'll refrain. lol. love ya

Posted by lindz @ 08/30/2007 10:17 AM CST

God loves you no matter what. He sees all sin as the same and equal, no matter how great or small we may think it is. No one is perfect and He loves you more than you could ever know! You may have heard that a thousand times before but I truly mean it and believe it.

Posted by Brittany @ 08/29/2007 06:30 PM CST

I do want too be free.. But i have done so many things i don't think God will forgive me. I used to go to church everyday but i haven't been since last year. i really don't think god loves me anymore because of everything.. and i would'nt blame him.

Posted by Jennifer @ 08/29/2007 04:32 PM CST