Freedom Embraced

Sunday, ‎August ‎7, ‎2022

Good morning, Lord

Verse of the Day: Psalm 119:160

The entirety of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.

Memory verse: Romans 12:1: Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.

Today's reading: PSALM 72-73 ROMANS 9:1-15

Freedom Embraced

There is a songwriter whose success at his craft has afforded him a small ranch where he does no ranching-no ag except the hunting leases. What he does have there is a small house with a great view where he goes to escape and write.

I have seen these views in this beautiful hill country-more than many because of my menial work on the back of a bull dozer. I would work and work and then take a break. I would turn off the tractor and listen and look. It was so, so peaceful. Sometimes I could not see a fence or power pole or even a mud road. The only unnatural thing was my tractor. All I could see was the work of the hand of God.

I guess that folks think they have to have a place to get away. Get away from what, exactly? The misery and worry of this world...the busy-ness of business...the aggravation of the noise...the people...I have heard all these. But, can there be a way to glory in the work of God right where we are right now?

I believe we can. I believe we can find that place of peace and serenity...because we are the work of the hand of God here in the place God made. Yes, we are surrounded by the mess of the world.

So what did we do? We made TV's and telephones, the latter we now carry on our persons. We took a confused and chaotic world and added more chaos. Why? Well, we had to make a way to escape. Escape what? Ourselves and what we have done-this is the problem. This makes no sense.

When we look at our country, many of us are saddened by how divided we are. One side is pitted against another in hate. One side is a bunch of crazy, degenerate leftists and the other side is red necked, radical deplorables. People feel the pressure to escape more than ever.

LUKE 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.."Jesus said this.

Going to the country or the beach certainly has its beauty and peacefulness. But think about this: what is your price tag for peacefulness?

Jesus has paid for our peace with His blood. It only had to happen once. What we must do is give Him our lives. If we have given Him our lives, then where is our peace? The answer is always the same: We must return to Him and seek Him and His kingdom and His righteousness(Matthew 6:33) "And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19

This is to say that Jesus is no escape-He is our freedom to find His beauty and complete rest without going anywhere. I started to pray today and read some Psalms back to God and heard the melody to go with it. I am in the house with the curtains drawn. I do not live in a palace. I live in what real estate people call a fixer-upper and I found a place to write a song.

I did not escape to God. I returned to the throne of grace and was welcomed by the King and Lord of all and praise happened-worship happened. It was God's intention, it was not mine. I just went to prayer expecting to meet God there.

This is a reminder to us all that God never leaves us. He goes before us and behind his and hovers over us and lifts us up.

We can walk in His 'sabbath rest' all the time if we seek Him-not just in prayer time.

We have heard the saying, "If you find something you love to do, you'll never work a day in your life". Tell that to the stone mason who really loves what he does whose been doing his work in these 50 plus days of 100 degree weather in the hill country. It is work and it is hot and it is nasty.

But...9 There remains, then, a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10For whoever enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from His.…(Hebrews 4:9)

Does the Holy Spirit take the Sabbath off? No. He moves in the sabbath each minute of our lives. That rest is in us all the time. It is ours to experience if we are conscious of Him and listen and walk as Jesus walked-no matter what day it is.

Embrace His freedom. It is for freedom we have been made free(Galatians 5:1). Why would we do anything else?

...because He loves us...

Father in Heaven,

Forgive me for not looking to You first. Forgive me for not being conscious of Your freedom all the time. Lead me in the way everlasting, oh Lord.

Great and glorious God of peace,

In the name of Christ Jesus,

Amen