Happy Faith Friday, Garden Fam 🌸
In today’s video, we are continuing our deliverance series, where we’ve been highlighting practical steps for obtaining and maintaining FREEDOM through Jesus Christ. This week, we talk about another major key to getting and staying free and that is KNOWLEDGE. This is not the knowledge of the world, but Godly wisdom, understanding, and discernment from the Word and Spirit of God.
Parts of our deliverance may happen in a moment, but others may occur overtime. This step normally occurs over time as we study God’s Word and spend time in His presence. His truth replaces our opinions. His ways take precedent over anything we thought we knew before. Gaining Godly, heavenly knowledge require humility before God, coming to Him as a little child and allowing Him to teach you. Over time, you will notice a shift.
This video must be for somebody, because it was a struggle to record today. Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit came through, so I pray whoever this is for is blessed, encouraged, and even set free in Jesus’ name!
Love you bunches 💕
Key Scriptures
Proverbs 11:9b
Galatians 2:16
Romans 3:23-24
Romans 5:1
Psalm 111:1
Ephesians 5:26
John 17:17
Psalm 119:105
Hebrews 4:12
Let’s address our first subscriber request:
'Letting go and accepting God’s will.’
Accepting God’s will starts with a deep understanding that His desires towards you are good—to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a hope & a future (Jer. 29:11), Anything He is instructing you to do (or has said ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to) is because He sees and knows all, from beginning to end, and like a parent, He wants the best for you. To be clear, God’s ways are not our ways, so His version of "best" may not align with yours at first.
However, as you spend more time with Jesus and get to know God's character and His overall will for His children, His ways will become yours and He will give you the desires of your heart. In other words, as you continue to walk with Jesus daily and spend time with Him, if you make a commitment to submit to and be led by Him in all ways, you will begin to look, act, and think more like Him—after all, we were made in His image. It is in intimacy with Jesus that we begin to gain insight into the Father's will for our lives, and from there, be led along the right path. It is from that place that our own desires begin to align with His.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll never have to let go or accept something based on what God wants for you, because you will likely have many more of these moments. However, it simply means that making the choice to let go or accept will become easier, because you’ve made the choice to submit your life to Jesus overall, knowing that His way truly is the best way. This is also something you can pray for and ask the Holy Spirit to empower you to do: "Lord, please help me to see things as You do, and help me to trust in You, Your will, and Your plans for my life."
I’m sure there are or have been specific situations where you are trying to let go or accept God’s will, and there’s nothing wrong with that. However, instead of focusing on forcing yourself to let go or accept that 'thing' whatever it may be, I encourage you to set that aside for now and focus more on cultivating a deeper understanding of who God is, embracing the fact that He is good in every sense of the word, and building faith and trust in Him as your Father and Lord. This all starts and grows with spending time with Him—reading His Word, spending time in prayer (whether speaking, thinking, or writing them), and spending time in worship (singing, dancing, giving thanks, etc.). As you grow in submission and intimacy with Jesus and the Holy Spirit, you will likely find that this process flows a lot more smoothly because you are being led by the Spirit more than you are fighting your desires. You may have been looking for a more “concrete” step-by-step answer to your current situation, but I believe it starts here. I pray this helps you along your journey!
You know I want to hear from you!
Respond in the comments below & let me know:
What helps you to accept God’s will and to let go of what/who is not a part of His plans?
What has been the biggest challenge for you in this area and how did you overcome it?
I look forward to reading your responses.
For now, have a healthy & wholesome week 💖
Love you bunches!
P.S. Check out this video for more insight on aligning with God's will for your life!
This is my version of what it looks like to trust God's plan for your life. It's an intentional (though not always easy) decision to rest in Him. 😌
Hey Garden Fam 👋🏾
I hope you are doing well and that you’ve had a wonderful week!
God has really had me driving home this topic lately, but it is soooo key to our walk with Him.
Walking by the Spirit and trusting in the finished work of Jesus Christ is a foundational truth, posture, and privilege that is not only available to us as children of the Most High, but also, it is absolutely essential to living out this life as followers of Christ.
There’s a subtle misunderstanding that we need to ‘get things right’ so that our works may show our faith, but it’s really the other way around; that when we truly have faith in and lean on Jesus, our works will reflect that. The Pharisees thought so highly of themselves for how pious and religious they were, but their works were of the flesh, meaning, they themselves were the source of their living. Their religious legalism required no trust in God and thus, shined the light and put the glory back on them, not God. Even when Jesus arrived on the scene, they not only missed the fact that He was the Messiah, but also, they failed to see their need for Him as their Savior, and worse, persecuted Him because He relied on and operated by the power of the Father. Though they were “doing all of the right things,” they were still under the ‘law of sin,’ the one Paul told us only had the power to point out what is wrong, but lacked the power to modify those wrongs (Romans 8:2-3).
What does this mean for us today?
Well, unfortunately, many of even the most well-meaning Christians still find themselves under bondage to the law of sin. To clarify, being under the ‘law of sin’ does not necessarily mean living a life full of sin per say—I mean, like I said, the Pharisees were under the law of sin, but did “all the right things” (or so they liked to portray at least). Being under the law of sin simply means living by works, trying to be made right with God and continue doing what is right in God’s eyes by the power of human strength. Today, I find that showing up as striving to be a ‘good Christian,’ to avoid sin, and to represent Christ well, and overall, this IS something we should desire to do. However, it is often presented and internalized as if it is up to us to make this our reality. It is not. Our part is to choose to yield and submit to Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit, to put our trust in Him and the finished work of His death, burial, and resurrection, and the power that operates through us because of His sacrifice! It is up to us to choose to allow the Holy Spirit to lead our lives. Otherwise, even in believing in Christ, we live Christ-less lives. When Jesus died, He defeated the law of sin in the sense that through His sacrifice, we were freely made right with God through our belief in Him (Jesus). Then, after His resurrection, He left the gift of the Holy Spirit to empower us to live lives that are pleasing to God, not only in avoiding sin, but even more so to go forth and do even greater works than Jesus did while on earth, like casting out demons, healing the sick, and working miracles by His power that works in us. That power is available, but not active in us as long as we are stuck operating in the flesh, trying to produce good works, and not relying on and living through the finished work of the cross.
So, long story long, in today’s video, I talk about the importance of not returning to bondage under the law of sin (works) once you’ve been set free by Jesus to live in freedom under the law of the Spirit (grace). I discuss the misconceptions, deceptions, and misunderstandings that have led to much of the church (the body of Christ) leading lukewarm, carnal, powerless lives, which was NEVER our portion!
I believe God has me sharing this before we get into the rest of the series, because it is so important that when He sets you free from bondage, you don’t submit yourself back under another form of bondage (ie. trying to get things right in your own strength). When we are delivered from bondage, it is to serve God, but we are to do so through the power of His Holy Spirit. So, Kill the flesh and embrace the grace daily to maintain your freedom in Christ Jesus!
Focus Scriptures
I definitely recommend reading the full chapters, and even the whole books for the scriptures mentioned below.
They will definitely help to deepen your understanding and strengthen your relationship with Christ!
Matthew 12:43-45
Colossians 2:20-23
2 Peter 2:17-22
Galatians 5:4, 7-18, 24-25
Romans 7-8