Freedom

Last night started a series on Wednesday nights for our church. Its the first time that they have offered an adult study on Wednesday nights, I think since the church started about 10 years ago. As a former member of a "normal" church, that sounds kinda strange, but I am not really getting into that sort of stuff right now. But, the overall topic of this study is about "Freedom". How, we as Christians, are called to walk in freedom and that the past mistakes and the areas of our life that we feel shame or some other "bad" emotion can be areas of peace because of the power of Jesus Christ. Sounds like a good idea, huh? I am eager for this series. I think that its something I personally need to hear and exam in myself. In fact, it caused me to stop last night and think. As I was walking our child starter kit, I prayed over what was said and what it means. I prayed that God would lead me to areas that I might have become numb in but never addressed the pain or shame that I felt in those moments. I wonder if this should be something to tackle alone, but I also know that I am not. My whole prayer was not that I would seek those past memories, but that God would seek out those situations and help me find the freedom that he offers in those thoughts.

Ok, thats how I have personally been dealing with this thought and this series, at least last night. The other thing that is in my mind is about what our speaker shared. He was speaking on Psalms 23. I don't know how many times, if you grow up in church, you hear these verses. How many of us, without really thinking about it, can pretty much recite Psalms 23 in KJV? I know that when he mentioned it, my mind started saying the verses. Our speaker spoke about the allegory of Jesus being the shepherd to us. The verses walk us through the way that a shepherd takes care of his sheep and he related that to how Jesus takes care of us. Its a beautiful illustration. I wish that I could recount it to you, but I am not that gifted. I will give a link to the page at Sermon Cloud that has our church's messages. You can listen to his teaching there and I would hope that you do.

Shifting gears a lot, I got a comment the other day due to the fact that I talked about tithing. I don't know why this person choose to leave it and I am hopeful that they actually read what I was talking about and not just doing searches on tithing and then spouting their message. I want to take the opportunity to hammer home this one point about giving and the such, its not about money. God wants our hearts, the parts of us that are most guarded. Unfortunately, we often rely on our own abilities to provide for ourselves. When we start thinking that we can provide for our needs, we might start thinking that we don't need God. That is not the case. God gives and takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord. Also, as an act of faith in acknowledging that God can and will meet my every need, I give to my church with a portion that I have pledged belongs to God. He has proven that He will and will always take care of me. He has done it in times of abundance and tight times. But more than anything, I don't approach money as the thing that can solve my problems. God is the solution to all my problems.

I don't know if that last paragraph makes any sense, but hopefully I will look back on it in a couple days or months and see what I was trying to say as well. See, I write this mainly for myself because I know that there are things that I am thinking right now that later I will come back and understand more. Thats one of the wonderful things about God, you are constantly understanding more, if you are open to it. Till next time.