Open Door

I keep getting a picture in my head of someone wasting away in a prison cell, shaking in fear curled up against a cold stone wall. But the door is wide open. It’s reminding me that no matter what we face, we have all God’s love, grace, healing, wisdom, peace, and joy available to deal with it. We may have physical limitations, but we never have to submit to an emotional or spiritual prison. We are free and powerful in Jesus.

Don’t let fear or anything else become your jailer. You are not what fear, hopelessness, bitterness, or any other liar says you are. More than ever, you are who God says you are. You are the son or daughter of the creator of the universe. You are eternally loved, joyfully celebrated, and completely free to become all he sees in you.

Choose every day (or hour) to see yourself as that loved, celebrated, and blessed child of God. If you let your vision decay to viewing yourself as a helpless, hopeless orphan, you’ll rot in that prison, serving a self–imposed life sentence. Let no thought become more powerful than your belief that God is good and loves you completely. Please know you are not alone, your life is not tragic, and you are not the enemy’s prisoner. Try praying something like this:

“Father, I lay all I am, and all I’m facing before you, because I know if I’m in your presence, then so are all my circumstances. I ask you to show me how to truly thrive in and from your presence toward everyone and everything. In you I know I’m free, and I choose right now to walk out of the cage and into your presence. Please show me who you want to be for me right now, and who you’re empowering me to become on this part of my journey. Thank you for every good thing in my life, and for every opportunity to overflow your love for me.”