I have recently camped out in the book of Hosea. It's a great place to study the faithfulness of God to his people and the redeeming love of God to anyone who will cry out of our captivity and to see freedom come. I don't think anywhere else in God's word do we see a more profound look at slavery of a people and God's only desire throughout the whole thing is to use love to free them.
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I think as women, we can also relate to being captive. No we may not be enslaved, well maybe we are. There are so many things vying for our affections, our love. We have husbands, children, extended families, jobs, careers, housework, and the list could go on forever. I know for me, I have to prioritize everything. I'm an "empty nester", which basically means I have no children at home, but that does not change the fact that I am very busy. Except for the past 93 days. These are the days that God perfected a word over my life, sat me in a down and caused me to watch Him work. It was not a period I planned or expected, looking back I can see His hand every step of the way. It was a hard way, certainly not something I would have chosen for myself, at many steps it was lonely, but I learned a lot about my own inner strength, but more importantly about how trustworthy God is.
In the book of Hosea we see an "chained" Israel. All God wants is them, yet they continue on a path of being enslaved. In Hosea 2:14-15 we read, Therefore, behold, I will allure her, Bring her into the wilderness, And speak kindly to her. Then I will give her vineyards from there, And the valley of Achor as a door of hope, And she will sing there as in the days of her youth, As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.
On December 12, 2010, I had a word spoken over me about freedom that "no man could take away". It was a word that was so profound at the moment it was spoken that I actually wrote it down. On January 21st I entered a period of captivity, but all the while I clung to that word from December, which by the way went exactly like this: It was for freedom that I have set you free. See this day I have begun to set you free from your captivity. Your shackles are broken, your freedom has been restored. I have unchained doors that no one could open but Me. OBEDIENTLY WALK THIS OUT.
On March 28th I saw freedom, but more importantly I heard freedom. Have you ever heard chains fall? Have you equated a spiritual principal to that sound? I heard chains fall (okay everyone told me it was pipes banging), but if you would have been there and you would have known what God said on December 12th, you would have understood the deep weeping, the rejoicing as I heard the sound of freedom in my own life. As I read through the book of Hosea time and time again, I often wonder if the people of Israel, had heard the sounds that I heard on March 28th. When they walked through the Red Sea on dry land, when he provided manna from stones, etc., did they hear the sound of their freedom just around the other side of the mountain?
I have tried for the past month to put this sound into words, but there really are no words to describe it. But the Word has very descriptive words about freedom all throughout. You know I used to think that being free in Christ was this whimsical fairy tale that only happened to other people who were much more "spiritual" than me and had the will power to be more obedient. But that is not what being free is at all. If you read about the Israelites, you will see that they were held captive all the time because of their disobedience and what is sad -- they did not have to be. Sounds very much like us, we become captive to our flesh and the whole while God is saying, "I will allure you". What God is saying here is, "I'm going to become so attractive to you that you can't help but want me". But instead we are like foreign lost lovers who have not seen our beloved in a very long time and think he/she is never coming back so we seek comfort in other lovers. We forsake that lover because we do not feel he will return to us, we become angry and bitter, we lose trust and then before we know it, we are enslaved. We are no different from God's chosen people. Thanks be to God! He does not leave us there, he keeps luring us, returning us to Him.
So below (in no particular order) is a list of my helpful hints of how to find freedom in the midst of enslavement. Trust me, you can be enslaved and not even know it. Remember your enemy is cunning - not too smart but cunning, you can get into slavery without ever even recognizing it until it is too late. Peter reminded us of this is 1 Peter 5:8. Slay the lion, cut off its head before you become trapped!
#1 - Rules without a relationship will always equal rebellion. If you have no consistent relationship with the Lord you are not going to find freedom. If you don't know God, it is going to be even harder to find it. See the Lord as the keeper of the keys that hold your life and very breath you breathe.
#2 - Physical freedom has everything to do with spiritual freedom. Do not take it for granted. You don't have to be captive to not be free, your spirit can be imprisoned and you not even know it. The only thing that keeps you free is daily going to the cross and dying to your flesh.
#3 - Get the image of the ABC sports commercial in your head. The thrill of victory or the agony of defeat". Choose victory! The lover of your soul wants this for you. It can happen.
#3 - Surrender control. Psalm 146:7 says: Who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry? The Lord gives freedom to the prisoners. You have no control over any of this in the process of finding freedom. If you refuse to surrender control - you will not win the battle.
#4 - He is truly the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). We can trust Him with any detail of our life. Because he is faithful, true and loves us so much, He can not help but do what He says he will do. You can trust Him, and you do not have to know all the details first. It's a step-by-step process that you must yield to.
#5 - Once you hear the sounds of freedom, don't look back and question it. Just keep on moving forward knowing that He is not finished with you yet but yet he will "complete you". He will be faithful to complete it. Psalm 37:28 - For the Lord loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones.
#6 - Learn to say "NO". This was my biggest downfall. I would try to help even when I didn't need to and sometimes (many times) to my own demise. That being said, I have said it once and I will say it again for those who failed to hear it - I can't prove it in the Word, but I don't think that woman at the well got free at that single moment. I think when Jesus told her to go and sin no more, she obtained freedom the first moment shoe looked into the eyes of her oppressor and said "No"! Sometimes the sound of victory is just a resounding NO! NO I can't do that, NO I can't go with you, NO, I can't put myself in a situation that is going to cause me to look back. Nothing back there is worth it - it's what enslaved me in the first place!
#7 - Become the person "everyone else thinks you are". But do it in private and let the inner working of the Holy Spirit bring about the real you. Trust me, people who know you best know the real you are praying you do this as well.
#8 - Freedom is a process. Understand this. There are pivotal things in my 25+ years of walking this thing out that I remember without the least little bit of thought. But I have this period of my life from about 1989 until 2009 that I really don't have a great deal of memories or things that have rocked me. I wrote things down, but I did not follow through and allow God to bring me through the process of getting free. I spent 20 years walking around mountain going over the same things time and and time again. Did it mean God had left me, that I was not saved or that I did not love God? No it just meant that I was disobedient and until I gave myself over to the process of being free, I was never going to get there. I will also add, t hat it did not mean God stopped loving me either!
#9 - Start a journal. I am crazy about my journals. I write constantly, someday I hope to find the courage to take all the stuff from all the years of journalaing nd make something out of it. But I do journal and I blog. Sometimes my writing looks like this, but most of the time with pen and paper, a cup of coffee and my Bible. I will go back at times and pull the box down and read through them. If I see an area I have finally had victory, I will try to remember the date and mark it down. But most of the time I cry over the fact that I am still dealing with an issue I thought I left at the bottom of the cross years before. Yesterday I was reading in a devotional I use often. The Lord said "give glory to me by mouth and pen". It is not that God needs us to write it down for our sake, but we should write down things as a tell the story of His greatness. Because He never forgets and we always do, it's important to write things down, so we have a place of reference to go back to if need be.
#10 - Relax in the process. God's got this! Not only does He have it, He does not want you to have any control over the process. The more quickly you give in to the process the faster the freedom comes. See it did not take 93 days for me to get free, it took 20 years and 93 days! I just didn't realize it until recently. I was a pharisee, looking great on the outside, but inside I was dying, wilting away, and enslaved. Once I learned to relax and realized that God was already 2 giant steps in front of me, that I could trust Him and that He loved me, I was able to relax. It was not easy -- there were days in the process that I thought for sure I was going to have to take control again, but NO! He who has started this work in you will be faithful to complete it!
I close with this. In 2009 I went to a small village just south of Tijuana, Mexico with Global Expeditions. I saw many great things, and by the end of the 10 days I was a blubbering mess. I saw God move so many ways I could not even write them down fast enough. But when I saw little 9 year old Adrianna have her deaf ears opened, I was wrecked! I knew I would never be the same and I was not. But I also knew I was enslaved to my past and had not been free in a long time. And almost a year after that trip, that profound word was spoken over me. I had planned out my path to freedom under my own terms, my own control and my own guidelines from that very moment that the word was spoken. But God would not have it, He wanted to control my path to freedom. As Americans we recognize that freedom is not always free. Friends, can I tell you that as Christians, it's not free either. Your gift of salvation is free - you can't earn it you have to choose it and walk it out with fear and trembling. But your freedom cost you something and until you are willing to give up the stuff it costs - you will be held captive.
Hosea 14 gives us God's promise, not just to Israel but to us. In vs. 14 God says "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely". This kind of goes back to where I stared at the top of the blog "you shall be captive of my love". This is the only captivity I want in my life. Let me be captive of His love, let me be captive of His grace, mercy, and unrelentless redemption. Let me be captive of His presence. Let me be his beloved and come away with Him, let his captivity rule and reign in my life.
Be free friends, in every sense of the word you can be free. It's yours for the taking and today I pray that as you read this blog, you begin your own journey into freedom like you have never known before, freedom that breaks all the barriers in your life. That you will truly know that who the Son sets free is free indeed (John 8:36). Before you even realize what has happened you will hear a chain in a lock and the sound of metal hitting the floor. You will be free!
Selah--
Cindy
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