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What sting?

1 Corinthians 15:55 (AMP) “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

Do you know what happened on the other side of the cross? Victory! Victory over anything that death brought into the garden that day. Paul continues to tell us the Corinthian church and us, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin [by which it brings death] is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory [as conquerors] through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord [always doing your best and doing more than is needed], being continually aware that your labor [even to the point of exhaustion] in the Lord is not futile nor wasted [it is never without purpose] (verses 56-58).

I worked in the garden this past week and now I have a rash from either poison ivy (of which I did not think I was allergic to), or the dye in the wet mulch that I was handling. It showed up after being hot because of no air conditioning for Sunday’s service (is that not enemy fighting). I was in prayer and praising God for the feeling of abandonment and rejection no longer being there. Healing comes through praise. Then a thought popped in my mind that I hope that I have not been calloused and the reason was a wall I had created. He told me I had not and assured me that death no longer had victory in that area of my life. I heard, “O death, where is your sting?” The stings were gone. Peace has taken its place. Thoughts of rejection have no power any longer. I can walk into a room and just because no one is speaking to me, not feel completely alone.

I am sure that I will be tested in it again. The devil does not have any new tricks, but he is not good at letting go. He loses his power when you face the obstacle, he laid out head on. That means no more walls and no more running.

Colossians 2:6-7 (TLB) And now just as you trusted Christ to save you, trust him, too, for each day’s problems; live in vital union with him. Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him. See that you go on growing in the Lord, and become strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with joy and thanksgiving for all he has done.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote “What shoes are you wearing?” In it I shared about binding your feet with the gospel of peace, from Ephesians 6:15.

“and having strapped on your feet the gospel of peace in preparation [to face the enemy with firm-footed stability and the readiness produced by the good news].” These shoes were a part of the weaponry of the Roman soldier. They started at the knees and were made of metal and leather. They were vicious weapons. They wrapped around the calves. Why, because the enemy does not fight fair and looks for weak points. The bottom of the shoe was affixed with sharp, dangerous, protruding spikes. They extended beyond the front of the shoe. The spikes were intended to hold the soldier in place during the battle, making him virtually immoveable.

This is what happens when your roots grow down into Him. This is why we are to meditate on the Word. Making us strong and vigorous. He is my strong tower. I am not hiding from what could possibly be an attack of rejections because I am hidden in Him. I am immoveable.

About six years ago I was sharing something that I was reading from a book by Joyce Meyer. She wrote, “You can spend your entire life dealing with outward symptoms, but the bad fruit will manifest somewhere else if the root is not eliminated. The principle never fails: rotten fruit come from rotten roots, and good fruit comes from good roots. To really deal with bad fruit, you must follow Paul’s admonition to the Colossians to be “deeply planted” in God. You may need to carefully examine your own roots. If they were unpleasant, harmful and abusive, don’t be discouraged; you can be uprooted from the bad soil and transplanted into the good soil of Christ Jesus, so that you become rooted and grounded in Him and in His love. Remember, uprooting can be painful. Being planted and becoming grounded is a process that requires time and effort, but it is by faith and patience that we inherit God’s promises.”

It was a little over six years ago that rejection wanted me to hide. That humiliation wanted me to give up completely. I decided to hide in His Word. There was a battle going on and the victory was going to take my surrender. It has been a process. I have had moments of darkness. The enemy wanted to keep me in a broken state, that relationships are not for people like me. I had to let the walls down so that the roots could be dug up. I am rooted and grounded in Him. My soil is made new because it is not just me in it, it contains the fullness of Christ. Dead things had to go. That is why He reminded me that death no longer has a hold on rejection. There is no sting, because I am free through His victory!

Lord, our Redeemer, our Banner. You are so Marvelous and Worthy of Praise. Thank you for Your Son, our Victory. Thank You for the Holy Spirit, our Friend. We desire to deeply rooted in Your love. We repent for forming our own weapons and not putting on what You gave us, Your love garment. We desire to be deeply planted and rooted in Christ. With this we will produce good fruit wherever we go. We want to glorify You in everything we say and do. We choose forgiveness today. We choose love today. We choose hope today. We choose joy today. In Jesus Name, Amen.

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Release – Even if there is a Scar

1 Peter 5:7 (AMP) casting all your cares [all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares about you [with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully].

I have a two inch scar on the front of my left knee. It has been there since I was three years old. The picture is of me is when I was just a little over two. I was a rambunctious child and would slide into my wooden toy-box knees first. This resulted in a chipped knee cap that did not show up on the original x-ray. It got to where I could not put my weight on it and had to be hospitalized for a bone infection. I was there for six weeks. At such a young age, my memories of who was there with me if fuzzy (it has been 40 years). I can tell you how I felt, because that stayed with me into my developmental years and into adulthood (even after receiving Christ as my Savior). I felt alone (even though I wasn’t). Feelings of abandonment and rejection, as a result of so many other things that transpired, like my father not choosing to be a part of my life after the divorce. Here is the thing, I do not blame anyone for how I felt. It was no one’s fault that the memory of me being in the hospital at three resulted in feeling alone. Who’s fault was it?

Ephesians 2:1-2 (NKJV) And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience

That word course in Greek means aiona – denoting a specific period of time, a specific era or generation. We were trapped, bound to walk that path time and again. I can no longer identify with the course of the world that Christ delivered me from? I had to get free of this thing that was plaguing me and not allowing me to walk in my full freedom that Christ redeemed me from. That may be where I am from and I am not to forget that (so I can show the path of freedom to others), but that does not mean that I have to live there.

I was stuck in a pit of rejection. So much that I even allowed the oppressive spirit of orphan to attach itself to me as a believer. How do we get out of these graves that we did not put ourselves in?

Psalms 40:1-2 (AMP) I waited patiently and expectantly for the Lord; and He inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of a horrible pit [of tumult and of destruction], out of the miry clay, and He set my feet upon a rock, steadying my footsteps and establishing my path.

First thing is that you have to want to get out of the pit, but you cannot do it yourself. This is why Jesus came, not just for fire insurance to keep me from hell. Jesus reads from Isaiah 61 in Luke 4:18-19, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me (the Messiah), because He has anointed Me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent Me to announce release (pardon, forgiveness) to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed (downtrodden, bruised, crushed by tragedy), to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord [the day when salvation and the favor of God abound greatly].” (AMP) Are we walking in the fullness of our salvation?

1 Peter 5:6-9 (AMP) Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God [set aside self-righteous pride], so that He may exalt you [to a place of honor in His service] at the appropriate time, casting all your cares [all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares about you [with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully]. Be sober [well balanced and self-disciplined], be alert and cautious at all times. That enemy of yours, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion [fiercely hungry], seeking someone to devour. But resist him, be firm in your faith [against his attack—rooted, established, immovable], knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being experienced by your brothers and sisters throughout the world. [You do not suffer alone.] 

It is our of pride that we will not seek help. It takes great humility to admit of your struggles. It takes greater humility to desire to get out of the pit. That is what I wanted. I had to surrender everything to Him who redeemed me. I had to get to the root of what was going on, and not just treat the symptoms for them to leak out and put me back in bondage again (Galatians 5:1). The second thing you do after you ask God for help is to release it (cast all your cares). After you release you need to fill that void with the Word. Why? Because that enemy of ours, the devil, is looking for an area of entry. We need to fill our minds, our hearts and our mouths with the Word. That’s what Jesus did, how do you think He was able to live such a victorious life? We are to be imitators of Him (Ephesians 5:1). There is more in me that is getting worked on, that is what working out our salvation means (Philippians 2:12).

It is time to release it. It is time to be free from the strongholds that have kept us in the pits for so long. There is still a very noticeable scar, but it is not a symbol of trauma, it is a symbol of victory. I am free of abandonment, rejection and feeling alone.

Ephesians 1:5 (AMP) He predestined and lovingly planned for us to be adopted to Himself as [His own] children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the kind intention and good pleasure of His will—

In the time that this was written, the cost of children being high and average families having very few children, this posed a challenge to the senators. Without a male heir, their title and estate would be forfeited. This was the leading cause for adoption in ancient Rome. They adopted adult male heirs. According to Roman law, an adopted child’s debts were erased and transferred to their adoptive father, and they became the heir to that estate. The adopted person would have new rights and responsibilities and the legal records of their history would be expunged (erased). The adopted son was not required to have an untarnished life. The adopted person would be considered the son of the new father, and their past would have nothing to do with it. They cannot identify as an orphan. Therefore, I should never feel alone, abandoned nor rejected.

Ephesians 4:21-24 (AMP) If in fact you have [really] heard Him and have been taught by Him, just as truth is in Jesus [revealed in His life and personified in Him],  that, regarding your previous way of life, you put off your old self [completely discard your former nature], which is being corrupted through deceitful desires, and be continually renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh, untarnished mental and spiritual attitude], and put on the new self [the regenerated and renewed nature], created in God’s image, [godlike] in the righteousness and holiness of the truth [living in a way that expresses to God your gratitude for your salvation].

Start with the ask, then cast. Do not forget the soberness of your mind because the enemy only wants to keep you in bondage. Release it to Him. Trust that He paid the price for every part of your freedom. The scars may not go away, but the effects you do not have to live in any longer.

Abba Father, You are so Wonderful and Marvelous. Thank You for all that You are. Thank You for sending Your Son so that we could be adopted as Your sons and daughters through Him. Thank You for the gift of the Holy Spirit that brings revelation to Your Word. We repent for not stepping into the fullness of the freedom that Your Son set us free from. We are set free and not longer captives to the course of this world, which includes that ways we were brought up. Let us call upon Your Name. Let us cast those cares and concerns to You and fill them up with Your Word. The devil has no place in our hearts and minds any longer. We choose freedom today. We choose forgiveness today. We choose joy today. We choose hope today. We choose love today. In Jesus Name, Amen.