Here is the video/audio version of this blogpost if you would rather watch and or listen instead of read.  🙂

So most mornings I am trying to read and journal.  It is the highlight of my day.  It is so life giving for me.  I have been using this ancient practice called Lectio Divina.  AMAZING!!  Completely changed my spiritual life!

So I will just share my journal here and pray it encourages you:

“So Christ has really set us free.  Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.”- Galatians 5:1.  Lord, I am here, I want to listen well.  Help me to hear you more.  What do you want to say to me this morning? (Now, remember I am no expert.  I am human and make mistakes.  I am not perfect.  This is just my attempt to sit and write what I hear come to mind.  I believe God speaks to us in so many ways, including our thoughts.  He speaks to me through my language. Not just English but the Kimi language which has no clue about punctuation, paragraphs, run on sentences and uses words like “a whole butt-load of notes and totally”.  I like to put brackets around words I believe he is saying to me.

[ I have really set you free.  Stay free.  Sometimes you put the shackles back on and walk back into the prison cell.  The door is open.  I kicked it down.  Don’t live there.  Walk out.  Don’t put the shackles of fear back on. Don’t wear the shackles of comparison.  Don’t wear the shackles of self imposed expectations.  A daughter of the King does not wear shackles and chains.  Take that stuff off.  It is not you. You are royalty so walk in that.  Wear your robe of love.  Wear your jewels of grace.  Wear your shoes of peace.  You are free to walk and explore my kingdom. Enjoy my gardens.  Delight in my food.  Sit under the shade of my many trees.  Sit with Me and rest in my love.  I’ll tell you great and marvelous things.

I’ll teach you how to take my kingdom reign to places dominated by a darkness.  I’ve come to set all people free.  But they don’t know that.  They unknowingly sit in dark, cold cells.  Invite them into the glorious light. Hold their hand and lead them out.  Tell them of their freedom.  Tell them of my love.  They are not my subjects but my children.  Teach them to dance and sing.  Sing songs of freedom and peace.  Oh what delight for them to know that they are free to dance and sing.  No chains need to bind them.  Help them take the shackles off.  I’ve come to set them free. Free from what enslaves them: anger, worry, anxiety, bitterness, hatred, depression, shame, hopelessness, and the list goes on to the shackles people wear.

I did not come to enslave them to rules and laws.  The religious law does not bring life.  Only I do.  I’ve come to set people free.  But people miss that and instead create shackles of religion, empty ritual, and regulation.  Freedom scares them. “What if I make the wrong choice with this freedom?”  They don’t know of my grace. It is easier (so they think) for them to create a religious check-off list and live shackled to that.

Following Me brings so much life, joy, and freedom.  If it doesn’t then they are not following Me but a created version of Me.  To truly know Me, is to know life, peace, freedom and grace.  Following Me should not feel like a ball and chain.  Following Me feels safe.  Not that you will not walk through dark valleys and scary places but you will feel safe because you know I walk with you.  Remember Psalms 18:19.  It says, “He (being Me) brought me out to a place of freedom.” Another translation says, “He led me to a place of safety.”  Another translation (translations are just an attempt to better understand my word) says “He led me to a spacious place; he rescued me because He delights in me.”  Remember Psalms 18:33, “He makes me surefooted as a deer, leading me safe along mountain heights.”

Remember Romans 5:1-2, “By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us- set us right with him, make us fit for him- we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus.  And that’s not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us.  We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand- out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.”  I’ve got so much more for you on this adventure/journey .  Stay close to Me.  I’m always with You but you are not always aware of it.  So stay aware of my closeness and hold on for the wild journey ahead.]