ROOTED RENEGADE

Open up the shades and let the light shine in! Open the windows and doors and let the light come into the darkness! We are not meant to sit in silence. We are not meant to sit in the pain. We are not meant to hold in the hurt and anguish we feel. It is time to stop holding back what we feel. Speak into the darkest of places. The light is meant to shine. Jesus came as a light to this world not to hide the darkness but to expose it. So that it could be healed. So demons could be cast out. So addiction could be exposed and dealt with. So abusers could stop their abusing. So sugar daddies could be exposed for what they are…traffickers. They could not stone Jesus because he had no sin in Him. He exposed sin for what it was. Darkness because He was light. It is time we stop allowing sin to run wild and rampant because people do not want to speak to that darkness. It is time we expose it and speak to it and cast it out.

Isaiah 58:1 says this “Cry aloud, do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet, and show My people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins.”

Just before this God was dealing with the idolatry of Israel and speaking to the righteous man perishing being taken without understanding. WOW! How is it that we so flippantly overlook the powerful WORD OF GOD that is alive, active, breathing, and applicable to the very day in which we live right now. The very moment we live and breath in!? Hebrews 4:12 tells us “For the word of God is alive, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intents of the heart.” How precious is it that the creator of the universe thought enough of us to include His Word to be that powerful for us to use even today?

Think about that for a moment while you sit in grief. While you sit in your pain. While you sit in your trauma. While you sit in the pain of a divorce. While you sit in the pain of losing a child, husband, family member, etc. While you sit in the middle of your addiction to drugs, alcohol, pornography, self harm, etc. Take a moment to reflect on your life. Take a moment to reflect on something that may not make much sense in the moment. Choice.

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 says this: “I call heaven and earth this day to witnesses against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, ad that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell I the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them”.

Choice. We all have one. The biggest that we often overlook is life or death. While many of us go through our lives making every day choices like what to eat, drink, wear, drive, what time to get up in the morning, there are many of us who must choose between life and death. You may not realize it is what you are doing but your choices have eternal consequences. You either choose darkness or light. You either choose to open the windows and doors to your soul and let Jesus come in and sanctify the darkest of places within you or you don’t.

Many of us choose to sit in grief our whole lives, never moving forward because the pain becomes to unbearable so years are spent wasting away on a life that is no longer here on this earth. Many waste years in addiction numbing pains that can never be reversed because, let’s face it, you cannot change the past no matter how hard you try. It’s impossible. I for one tried and ended up hurting more people as well as myself and ended up being detrimentally hurt in the process as well. Until I found immense freedom in Christ. I still have days it is really hard, but quitting is not an option. Perseverance is. We are called to keep going. We are called to trust even when it doesn’t seem like trust is an option either.

The problem with modern day Christianity is that it is like hand sanitizer. You slap it on when you need your hands to be cleaned for a little while because you are too afraid to keep your hands dirty. Christ did not care about dirty hands when He met sinners in His ministry. Need I remind you that He touched lepers. He cast out demons. He healed the sick and the lame and the blind. Those were not just fairy tales in an old book that needs to rot on the shelf in your pretty little library. Nope. They are real living breathing testimonies of the powerful works of a savior who is trying to help you see with open eyes and and an open heart that light can be cast into your darkness today and every day until the darkness is no more.

Are you ready? Can you allow the light to come in and set you free? John 8:36 says this: “Therefore if the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed”. Those were not just some flippant words Jesus threw around because He wanted to sound macho to His disciples and the people who were listening. Uh naw. He was speaking TRUTH. It is still TRUE TODAY. We have a hope and a future because He came and set us FREE.

Will you walk in it today? Will you take time to sit with the Father and pour from your Alabaster jar? He is waiting and He does not care what you have done or what you have been doing. He died for you too. No pain is too great for the Father’s love.

Pray this prayer: Father I come to you now and ask for forgiveness for my sins. I believe that you are Jesus who was crucified for my sins and rose on the third day to be seated in Heaven on the right hand of the Father. I thank you for giving me a second chance at life and from this day forward will follow after you all the days of my life. Thank you Lord for loving me and dying for me on the cross. (Romans 10:8-9).

If you prayed this prayer reach out to me and allow me the humble opportunity to pray for you.