The Bible Tells Me So

"Sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace." (Romans 6:14)

"You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature (flesh); rather, serve one another in love."

(Galatians 5:13)

Wow, God is so Good. I was on my knees last night crying out to Jesus letting Him know (ha ha, as if He already doesn't, eh- silly mind) that I could not do Life "my way." It just ain't working. Well wouldn't you know it, this morning when the kid's (Jordan, Elisha, Ezra & Jacob) and I were doing our devotions, the topic, revealed a new ray of Light into my awareness. This gift of Light is bright and when I shine it on past or present struggles of Life, I see the shadows for what they really are instead of what my human mind makes them out to be.

I see in the "tuff stuff" , I flip between a fight(control, dominate) or flight (escape, give up) response and I am learning that when I am managing things in either of these ways I am working in the "flesh" (within myself, my ways, my knowledge(yikes), my resources(yikes again.)) As I learn and grow in Christ I am discovering a new way in which every time I surrender in obedience I find Freedom and Victory.

The cool thing we came across during devotions was Scriptural terms that explained this whole fight or flight thing. Our Bible talks of legalism which I can relate to as fight and license which I see as flight. Legalism (fight) uses good deeds, rigid codes, and restrictive lifestyles to crush people/situations into what they think is right- law- which leads to condemnation and death. License (flight) has no regard for rules and regulations-chaos which leads to condemnation and death. Same result with each path-death.

I can see this pattern when I examine past and present struggles in my Life. I remember the eating disorder, the perfect eating or never eating vs. junk"o"mania or "supersize++." I see it as I struggle with keeping an orderly, clean home-sterilized order vs. tripping over everything because it is all over the floor. I see it also in the areas that hurt the most when I falter and fail. Guiding and training our Kid's- brick wall vs. jellyfish (thanks Barbera Coloroso for those terms) Well I could go on and on with eg. but this is already getting too long-sorry.

I just LOVE it when I learn something in Life and then "all of a sudden" a Bible verse will "simply appear" that deals with that very same issue. He amazes me every time. Scripture was God inspired so many thousands of years ago and yet It Truly is The Living Word- Christ Jesus is "The Word became flesh" and He calls us to Walk in His shoes. How do we do that? "The Bible tells me so."

"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."

(2 Corinthians 3:17)