Rise Up From the Dark

I’m sorry 😞

Sorry, I couldn’t orally teach the lesson to y’all, but don’t stop being a leader to people and move at the speed of Jesus! I really wish my Chromebook was a person (lol). Hope you can learn from this lesson and I will see y’all in two weeks for the Easter Episodes!

Scripture

“Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it would leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me.”

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭12‬:‭8‬-‭9‬ ‭CSB‬‬

Lesson

Why do I do this? I hate it. I never want to do this again. I’m done. That’s it. That was the last time. I promise.” Sound familiar? These are my famous last words before inevitably repeating my behavior. For the longest time I couldn’t understand why I, a redeemed believer and follower of Jesus, was seemingly powerless over the behavior patterns in my life. But no matter how I begged, pleaded, set up road blocks, listened to podcasts, etc... I couldn’t seem to get myself under control. In 2 Corinthians, Paul describes a situation in which he begged for God to take something away from him. To which God responds, “my Grace is sufficient for you...” This was key for me. I lived my whole life expecting a miraculous deliverance from the desire to sin. I honestly believed if I wasn’t lifted off of the ground in a beam of pure, warm, heavenly light - I must not have prayed correctly. But here’s what I learned. Deliverance is a partnership. Deliverance isn’t “either/or” - its “BOTH/AND.” See, the sign I was looking for I already had - the cross. If Jesus dying on the cross was enough to save me and make me a new creation, it was more than enough to give me the self-control I need on a daily basis to live according to His purpose. God has unlocked my cell, rolled my stone away, and made freedom available to me. But if I’m expecting a bigger gesture than the cross of Jesus Christ, I think it is safe to say the disconnect is on my end. So I made a choice. Every time I felt compelled by my flesh to do the thing that I hated - I would say out loud “I QUIT.” Over and over, at the earliest feeling of temptation. I must’ve said “I quit” 100 times that first day. But as I began to speak, I felt my spirit come alive again. Failure has a funny way of making us believe we’re powerless, but we’re not. We have the power that raised Jesus from the dead quickening our mortal bodies. Each time I would speak, I began to feel the deliverance inside of me. The feeling I was waiting for was actually waiting for me. So I want to encourage you today. Maybe you are like me and you’ve battled something for longer than you care to admit and you want to really be done. I am believing with you that you really are “brand new” and the “the power of death couldn’t hold you” anymore!

Prayer

Father, I thank you that the cross was, is, and will always be enough. That we do not need any other sign of faith from you - and that we are going to begin walking in the freedom that you’ve already purchased for us. We begin a new life today. Today, we declare again that the old is gone and the new has come. We choose to be your partner. Help us to see and choose the things that lead us into your heart.