Sep 22, 2014

Freedom From Sin, Part 1: Breakthrough

Have you lost your peace? Are you struggling to hear God’s voice? Me too. I’ve been crying out to God for answers.

In response, He led me on a path to receive deeper healing and freedom from my sin of judging people. Today I read Matthew Henry’s commentary on Matthew 7:1-6  


The light came on.

One of my biggest and meanest struggle areas is judging people. I judge the way they look, how they act, what they wear, what they watch and listen to, and anything else I notice. Not constantly, but more often than I’d like to admit. Lately it's been getting worse, not better.

When I first became a Christian in 1992, the Lord gave me Micah 3:8 – that I’d be speaking to the His children about their sin, and battling the enemy. I’ve always had a passion for warfare, so wow, what a calling. Send me to the front lines, Lord!

Whoa, not so fast. I was totally unprepared. The Lord had to get me out of my own way. He had to change my heart and grow my character so I didn’t judge to build myself up, but judged with His righteousness for the good of others.

To that end, I’ve been through years of healing and deliverance. I experienced victory, failure, and a whole lot of freedom…including freedom from my sin of judgment. I began to love people, accept them, and have compassion for them. Along the way I walked in the prophetic – gave words at churches, gave personal words, saw pictures and visions, helped many people gain freedom from sin and past hurts.

Then over the last few years, I regressed to trying to “fit in”. I wanted to be accepted as a writer by my peers. I wanted to be part of the group, and to be liked. That’s been a recurring theme in my life, now it surfaced in my desire to be validated as a writer.

Another term for that theme: fear of man.

I took my eyes off my Creator, my Daddy, and placed them on those who were successful, famous, and gifted. I changed and softened my messages. I wrote what I thought people would like. When they didn’t like it, I stepped back and tried even harder. Confusion increased, peace decreased.

Over the past few weeks, the Lord gave me recurring messages on social media, through friends, in His Word, and from my writing and speaking peers. He spoke to me directly through messages, and indirectly through the messengers – their lives reflect the uniqueness of who He created them to be. They live unashamedly before Him, walking boldly forward in their gifts and calling.

Inspired, I wrote something from my heart instead of revising the words to what I thought would be accepted.

Breakthrough!

I made one step, and immediately the Lord rose up from within and filled me to overflowing with His peace, joy, and passion. He funneled my attention back up to Him. 

I felt His pleasure in who He created me to be.

Do I still need mentors? Absolutely.

Should anything or anyone ever take the place of the Holy Spirit in my life? Absolutely not.

But they had.

And you know what else? I realized that unless I am completely me, I have nothing to add to the Army of God that someone is not already providing.

Most importantly, none of this is about me…or you. If we don’t all rise up into who He created each of us to be, we cannot bring the Kingdom of God to those He places in our path.


I don’t want to take that chance. How about you?

A question remains: how did I lapse back so deeply into a sin I had victory over? 

Stay tuned for Part 2…

TODAY’S CHALLENGE:  Ask the Lord to reveal and remove whatever is hindering your peace, and your ability to walk in your calling. Be willing to obey what He tells you.


2 comments:

  1. Great post Mary. I enjoyed reading it. I admit I too judge people. Something I need to work on.

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    1. Glad you enjoyed it, and hope you were encouraged to keep working on it. Thank you for your comment!

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