Yielded Vessels

It was always your love, Jesus.

It was your love that initiated our freedom and great release from Egypt. And slaves we were.

How could we ever forget that? How could we ever abandon you?

Your love for us knows no depths. It knows no borders.

It was your love that went after us when we were lost, and brought us home. It was your love that washed and cleansed us when were covered in mud and cuts, and healed our wounds.

It was always you.

So, how is it that we have forgotten you?

How is it that we have fixed our gaze on another? Idolatry and adultery.

We experience much pain and many sorrows in our lifetime, and are fractured by the slightest of offenses. But even then, our deepest wounds are just a scratch when we consider the hurt that we've caused you.

To love someone so deeply enough that, though they've wronged you seventy times seven times, you would still freely give your One and Only Son, Jesus Christ, to die mutilated by their sins on a splintered cross to save, redeem, and forgive them as if they've never sinned against you at all..

to have done this only for them to look you in the eyes and fix their lips to say, "that wasn’t good enough," and continue on abusing your love and sacrifice again and again, all while entertaining other lovers...

This is what true heartache is.

Have mercy on us, Lord.

May we come to our senses and put away our whoredom and turn again to our First Love.

Why would we want to continue on hurting you, seeing that you have never once hurt us?

I write this with a convicted heart. Time is short, tomorrow is never promised. May we come to our senses, repent, and come back to our God. The God who led us out of Egypt and did not fail us in the wilderness. He is faithful and true, and there is no other like Him.

He stands ready to forgive, but we can't afford to hold off for another moment longer.

Forgive us, Lord. Forgive us.

1 Samuel 8:4-9 | NLT

4 Finally, all the elders of Israel met at Ramah to discuss the matter with Samuel.

5 "Look," they told him, "you are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have."

6 Samuel was displeased with their request and went to the LORD for guidance.

7 "Do everything they say to you," the LORD replied, "for they are rejecting me, not you. They don't want me to be their king any longer.

8 Ever since I brought them from Egypt they have continually abandoned me and followed other gods. And now they are giving you the same treatment.

What's stopping you?

What is it that's keeping you from moving?

What are you allowing to hinder the power that God has placed inside of you?

Is it fear of the unknown? Fear of vulnerability? Fear of not being in control?

Is it fear of stepping out of complacency and into a place of new waters? Fear of rejection? Fear of what people will think?

Don't you know that the Spirit of the Living God is in you? Do you realize what this means for you?

You have been given the authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions in the name of Jesus Christ, who is your Lord and your Savior.

He is mighty and bold.

He is the Lamb of God, but also the Lion of Judah.

You have been given the Spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind— not that of fear. Fear shall have no dominion over you because you are a child of God:

"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father" (Romans 8:15 | KJV).

And when you become God's child, the fear that once held you in shackles and in chains must fall and break off of you; the fear that once held you in a chokehold must loosen its grip, and it can no longer touch you again. It has lost its right to continue abusing you because it no longer has charge or possession over you.

You are now under the guardianship of Love. And in love exists no such thing as fear:

"There is no fear in love; perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love" (1 John 4:18 | KJV).

You don't have to cowardly yield to the fear that you once submitted to. Now you can now stand up to it, look it in the face with courage, and say to it, "no more."

You have the right and the power to be unfazed when challenging situations arise.

You have the right and the power to be very bold and courageous when it's only you and your giant alone in the valley.

You have the right and the power to be confident in your God, knowing and trusting that at the name of Jesus, the demons tremble and satan flees.

Abba is with you, and therefore, there is no need to be afraid because nothing shall by any means harm you. You are His.

Jesus' DNA is in you. All that He is, you become; and all that He has becomes yours.

Your Father is the God of the impossible.

He is the God who removes mountains from their places.

He is the God who the wind and seas obey.

He is the God of whom all things were created and do exist.

This is who you belong to. And like Father, like son (or daughter).

Picture this:

God has spoken a word of life and encouragement over you to anchor your faith in the middle of a storm, but the trials are lasting too long for your comfort. Because your faith is being stretched, it’s so much easier for you to try and take matters into your own hands in hopes of getting out of the storm sooner than it is for you to endure it by faith.

So you begin to frantically let down the lifeboats of your deteriorating ship, searching for desperate avenues of escape. But what happens when God cuts the ropes of every lifeboat in your life and you can only sit and watch as all of your comforts, plan-Bs, and easy-way-outs begin to suddenly drift from beyond your reach?

And what if God doesn’t silence the howling wind, nor calm the raging waves? What if you, instead, find yourself ship-wrecked on an island in a foreign place where everything around you is no longer familiar? Even then, will you choose to take God at His Word and believe what He has said concerning you? Will you count Him faithful?

God, let me be the one who chooses to believe you in spite of what it looks like.

Sure you've done a lot of wrong in your life.

Sure you've hurt a lot of people along the way.

Sure you've destroyed some important relationships.

Sure you're carrying a heavy load.

Sure you're too ashamed to even talk to God.

Sure you've ran far away from faith.

Sure you're convinced that Jesus wants nothing to do with you.

Sure you've adopted the lie that you're too far gone.

Sure yo-

I'm sure that God is willing and is faithful to forgive all of your sins.

I'm sure that even in your whoredoms, God hasn't given up on you.

I'm sure that despite how far you've ran, God is yet pleading with you to return back to Him.

I'm sure that despite all of your sins, God is ready to pardon them all and to blot them out when you return to Him with a repentant heart.

Return to Him with your whole heart.

Sure you've messed up, but when you turn back to God, He will take your mess and make it into something beautiful.