Coffee & Chat: Walking in Freedom
I don’t walk in freedom sometimes. Some days, I feel shackled and chained by my overwhelming anxious thoughts of fear and worry. I’m scared that if I do something out of the ordinary, then everything will mess up or worse, fall apart. Every day, I’m scared of messing up that I feel like I’m carrying around this huge chain. And it’s heavy. Sometimes all I want to do is lie on the couch to just catch a breath.
That was heavy in itself. I don’t usually share this personal on here, but today, I felt God calling me to talk just a little about this.
And then I feel guilty because knowing God means He can break those chains. I believe wholeheartedly that He does so, but what if He ignores me—or worse, I ignore Him and that’s why I still feel these chains still dragging me?
Paul in Galatians 5:1 says, “For freedom, Christ set us free. Stand firm then and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.”
What does that mean? How do I put that into practice? Stand firm, is what Paul said. Okay, I know to stand firmly planted in the ground and move when God tells you to move … but how do I keep my feet firmly planted in the ground when the whole world tells me to keep with the hustle of the world and to be constantly moving and shaking? I’m scared of letting down myself and failing, but shouldn’t I be most afraid of letting down God? How do I transform the renewal of my mind so that I am able to walk with God and not of the world? How do I transform from waking up with anxious thoughts to thinking purely how God designed me? How do I go from being a woman of the world to being a woman of God?
It comes down to filtered thinking. And even as I write this post, I’m trying to filter out the anxious thoughts. That can be a lot! (Disclaimer: I didn’t want to write this post as I was writing it, but I felt something tugging at my heart to do so.) It’s about replacing those anxious thoughts with heavenly ones. Listening to worship music, reading my Bible, understanding Scripture. I’m not going to be perfect—no one is. This Christian walk in freedom is going to be hard—the devil is going to be hard at work in trying to succumb me back in my old ways and anxious thoughts. But I can rest in His wonderful name and walk according to His ways because of His wonderful name: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, the Prince of Peace. His name is above everything and everyone. We’re—I’m called to seek heavenly things above earthly ones (Colossians 3:1-2). We’re—I’m called to seek His kingdom first. And then called to go and make disciples. Nothing can stand against His name. Nothing can stand against Him and NOTHING can separate me from Christ’s love.
Jesus says in Matthew 6:33 (CSB), “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.”
Paul says in Romans 12:2 (CSB), “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”
Paul says in Romans 8:38-39 (CSB), “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Colossians 3:1-2 (CSB) says this, “So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”