Friends, it was earlier this year that the Lord laid this verse on my heart.
Coming out of a year most unprecedented, this new wave of His Spirit found me seeking and soaking up Truth like a dry sponge. Though I don’t think we ever ‘arrive,’ I certainly am in a better place than I ever have been before.
Praise God!
So as the Lord began unearthing areas of my heart that needed healing, what I realised was that a lot of brokenness in my life was the result of the lies I had believed –
Lies about the nature & character of God, which led me to believe lies about my identity, worth and value.
Looking back, I realise that though I have come a long way since the beginning of this year, I still have to be intentional about guarding my heart against lies and renewing my mind with Truth, if I am going to continue to walk in Freedom.
I still have to be careful about not letting my worth and value be defined by anything other than the Cross of Jesus Christ. If God saw me so valuable, that He sent His one and only begotten Son to die for me, then yes – I am quite valuable, and that’s a truth I can stake my life on, regardless of how poorly or well I am doing.
It has since become the cry of my heart to resist the temptation to be defined by the opinions of man or the strength of my works. Instead, I now seek to be defined only and only by the words of authority that Christ declares over me, words that call me healed and made whole as the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
And yes. Though it seems paradoxical, it is true. As I ascend the mountain of the Lord, He continues to unearth deeper and deeper areas of pain and brokenness in my heart that I perhaps thought were already dealt with!
But I reckon that we are more mysteriously complex than we realise. Our souls are a fragile part of us, and need more care and attention than we realise.
Much like a garden actually. I am learning that for a garden to flourish, it must be tended to, watered well, dug up, fertilised and cultivated. And the same holds true for the condition of our hearts.
So how do we cultivate this tender garden deep within?
I do it by letting it soak in the Presence of God, letting it receive Truth and correction through the Word of God and letting it breathe in the Freedom that Jesus died for it to receive.
After all, He paid more than enough a price for my heart to remain alive, teeming with life and free!
Journeying hence with the Lord, friends; but as I do, I also wanted to chime in here for a bit and speak Truth over you. You, my friend, are more worthy and valuable than you realise. You are imago dei – an image bearer of God himself. He knows you, loves you and cares deeply for you.
And that thought you just had? That thing that seems to be blocking your access to Him?
It’s time to check it and thwart it. For whatever tries to threaten your relationship with the Father, must cease to exist.
So that you can be set free to become, heal, develop and flourish into the image of the Wonderful One who created you, knows you by name, and calls you –
“Beloved.”
But again – it is only the Truth that we know that can help us do that, for it is only Truth that makes us free.
So I declare that its time now. It’s time for you to encounter Truth in a way that lets His finger prints run through your mess, and rewrite the rest of your story with the echo of love, life and liberty.
The best is yet to come.
💙
SoulandSubstance27 