It’s Free Friday! What are you going to let go of today? What’s holding you down that you need to be free of? Today’s the day you can make that choice to let go. To celebrate Free Friday, I’m giving away “Epic Grace: Chronicles of a Recovering Idiot” By Kurt Bubna. Keep reading to find out how you can be entered to win it.
Disney put out a movie recently called “Frozen”. My favorite character has to be a snowman named Olaf. He’s the world’s only snowman who loves summer. He’s always upbeat and looking at the bright side of things. Even when he’s melting, he’s saying positive things. In the end, he gets his wigs to live in summer. He’s given his own snow cloud that follows him around so he can live through the times that would normally wipe him out. We can learn a lot from that snowman.
Many of us walk around with a dark, rain cloud over us instead of having our ideal climate overhead. We see the world through lenses that are tainted by the things that have brought us pain. We see negativity in every situation because that’s all that we believe will happen. We’ve lost our ability to see good coming from anything. When something good happens to one of our friends, we aren’t genuinely happy for them. Instead, we’re either bitter or we believe that the floor is going to drop out from under them too.
For many of us, that dark cloud is caused by our past. We’ve never learned to forgive ourselves from the things that God has forgiven us of. We allow others to label us with a scarlet letter. We love under condemnation instead of freedom. Romans 8:1-2 says, “Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air (MSG).” Once you are forgiven from Christ, you are free from the black cloud of your past.
The first part of that scripture says that we no longer have to live under that cloud. That means that if it’s still there after you’ve been forgiven, it’s there by your choice not God’s. He wants to come in and clear the air over your head. He wants to create your ideal climate so that you can be who He called you to be. He knows you’re still going to mess up from time to time and He knows you aren’t perfect. His desire is that you understand He is a God of second (and third, and fourth,…) chances. He’s not there to hit you over the head and put a dark cloud over you every time you mess up. He’s there to clear the air and to forgive you.
If you’re living under that dark cloud today, let God’s Spirit come in and clear the air over your head. Get free from that cloud that affects you negatively. You simply do it by accepting His forgiveness is enough. Don’t condemn yourself or allow others to condemn you for the things you’ve been forgiven of. Let God use the dark things in your past to be a positive testimony of what He can do. The choice is yours. Will you let go and be free today?
In order to win “Epic Grace: Chronicles of a Recovering Idiot” by Kurt Bubna, go to my Facebook page for Devotions By Chris here and “like” it. I will choose a winner at random tomorrow, January 4, 2014 from the names of people who have liked the page and post it on my wall. If you win, private message me how you would like to receive it. If you know someone that needs to hear this message, please repost or share from your own wall.
Devotions by Chris Hendrix 