Oaks of Righteousness

For the last eleven weeks, I have been in a bible study called "Breaking Free" by Beth Moore.  This was the first bible study that I have ever attended.  Tonight I finished watching one of the DVDs from week 5, which I had missed.  What is so amazing to me is that I wasn't supposed to watch it during week 5, because I wouldn't have got the same message that I did by watching it tonight.  Tonight was definitely an important one in my journey.  Tonight was about courage.  

Beth Moore truly believes that in order for us to move forward, we must have courage.  We must be ready to fight and stand up and change the future, by not repeating the past.  We must be willing to 'break free' of unhealthy habits and make choices by 'love and not loyalty'.  Something else that was revealed to me in past weeks, is that we can rebuild the ancient ruins.  Isaiah 61:4 reads, "They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations."  I feel like this verse actually gives me the permission to make the choices that are necessary to protect my family from the devastation and guide them to a healthier life.  I don't want to remain in the bondage that I have been in all these years.  Nor do I want to pass down these things to future generations.  I want us to be free to be exceptional, just as God has called each of us to be according to Jeremiah 18:11b.  "So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions."  

I continued to be amazed at how God continues to reveal areas of my life, where I remain in bondage.  This is something God has been working on with me for quite some time.  Experience after experience, he opens doors that were closed or places that were stored away that I was truly unaware of.  There is nothing more precious to me than my freedom, from the things that have held me captive all my life.  Even memories from my life have caused me to live in bondage, for reasons that I didn't even understand until recently.  God wants us to be free! 

In Isaiah 61:3b it says, "They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor."   God wants us to be free so that he can enjoy us.  He doesn't want us to be captive.  I don't know about you, but I would love to be viewed as a tree, because I think that they are all beautiful.  For months, I have had this strange fascination of trees.  You can ask my kids, they all thought that I was losing it, because of how much I have gone on and on about trees.  I even went as far as decorating in my house, with some beautiful pictures of trees.  I just couldn't seem to get enough of trees.  It didn't really matter what they looked like, I just wanted to look at them and be surrounded by them.  

There is just something so amazing to me about how they look and how they are each so different.  You and I, are those trees!  Each and everyone of us.  God made each of us so different and for a specific purpose.  Not one of us is here to serve the same purpose.  God gave us each unique gifts, that only we have.  Sometimes we get so wrapped up in trying to be like everyone else, that we don't see the truth.  The truth of who God created us to be.  What are you good at?  What are your gifts?  If you don't know, ask someone you love.  I am sure that they can tell you, those things that you have as gifts.  

God wants each of us to be planted by truth, so that we can grow and be beautiful.  This is not our own truth, but the truth of his word.  We can't believe the lies that we have always believed.  You are worthless.  You don't deserve to be happy.  You will never amount to anything.  You won't have a long healthy life.  These are just some of the lies, that the enemy tells us.  We can't fall into the same unhealthy traps.  We must be firmly planted in his truth.  "Then.......the truth will set you free."  John 8:32 

We must stand up for what we believe in, and not be persuaded by loyalty.....but by LOVE!  We must not doubt the love that God has for us!  We must trust and know that we are forgiven, even when we aren't ready to forgive ourselves.  We must move forward knowing that we have the ability to do things differently with the strength of God.  God has a specific purpose for you in this lifetime!  If you never seek to figure out what that is, then you will never know, what might have been.  Don't let history, be the deciding factor for your future!  Let's become the beautiful oak trees that God desires us to be.  May God bless your life!