I know that I am powerless over myself and to fix myself. Yet even after years of learning and walking in the truth that brings freedom and even years of ministry I still try.It;s embarrassing to admit, because I know better, and yet. I must be weary of the trip were I begin to believe that after a certain amount of time and a certain amount of understanding I must hold myself responsible to walk in that truth. Knowledge is not enough. I am most certainly as in need of grace to walk in the truth now as I was when I had so much less understanding of truth. I am still powerless over my natural and old nature now as I was before. And I have to avoid that other trap as well, the one that makes me feel like I can no longer struggle or be weak in areas of freedom and grace and still minister.
Walking in freedom for multiple years, having more wisdom than in the past, and yes, even being called to help others with what has been learned and minister does not suddenly make me or anyone qualified or able to do anything on our strength. It feels backwards when emotions are out of control, but we actually need to remember that we are no more able to do anything on our own after learning to rely on God's grace than we were before.
Sometimes it feels like it should be like learning to ride a bike. We can't do it. We can't maintain balance. So, we;re given training wheels for a time. After a while the training wheels come off and, though we may fall occasionally, we learn to ride on our own without them. But walking with God, overcoming fears and healing wounds is not like riding a bike at all. It's the opposite.
It's more like learning to walk with a prosthetic. Something was wrong. No matter how we tried we couldn't make our leg work right. We fell over and over. We were diseased, and upon turning to the Great Physician, He removed the diseased areas of weakness, our spiritual legs so to speak, and gave us new legs. Slowly we learned to use what He has done to walk without falling, even to run at times. But if we grow confident in the use of the prosthetic it doesn't mean that we can take them off and walk on our stumps as we could with the prosthetic of grace. The truth is we no longer possess even what we used to rely on within ourselves. It has been removed. We are less able, not more to walk on our own. The more of our spiritually diseased nature He replaces with His own, the less we can manage without Him. So it makes no sense to try.Yet sometimes we do try to mange our self, our feelings ourselves. I do anyway. And when this happens we find that we have not learned to ride or walk on our own, but rather are still crippled.
Being a Christian doesn't mean we have all the answers. It doesn't mean that we have total understanding of what and why we are feeling, going through or struggling with what we are. Being a minister doesn't even admit one to some special club with a magic decoder ring that reveals all. It;s not that we have special insight into ourselves or anyone or any situation. It just means that we have a relationship with the One who does know, understand and have the ability tand the power to walk through the valleys we find ourselves in. Let us be quick to lean on Him and rely on His grace, because no matter how strong we grow in Him, no matter how long or how faithfully we walk with Him, we will never grow more able, on our own, to manage our own lives. I am still not Ok without Him. And neither is anyone else. But we are more than OK, more than conquers through Him and with Him and by His grace.
An hour of trying to handle things, to control things, on my own strength and understanding, may not seem long, especially compared to years of doing so. But it hurts more now to fall than it used to as well. Let us grow more and more quick to stap on the grace that we ned and let us be less, not more, tempted to rely on ourselves and our abilities to walk with God, this day and every day.
Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments and or listens to the messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them. It is encouraging to know that God is using this ministry to help and bless others. Please remember that if God used something from this ministry to help, encourage or bless you, it could also bless someone else. Would you help get the devotions to more people by sharing the Moments and messages that you read or listen to? Hitting the share button instead of or in addition to the like button will help us reach more people with the good news of freedom and the encouragement to live an Unshackled Life. Thank you and God bless.
If you would like to have notifications of new Unshackled Moments and messages sent to you via email, send an email to dalynwoodard@mail.com requesting to be added to the list. You can also follow Dalyn Woodard (@Dalynsmsings) on Twitter or Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.
No comments:
Post a Comment