Unshackled...Free to roam or Free to conquer

God continues to stir something deep within my spirit. Something that whispers to the depths of me that there is more. That the Church is not walking in the fullness of what God has offered us.

And I think that part of it...the *possessing it part*...begins with a renewal of our minds.

In the Old Testament, it talks of the Israelites coming out of bondage: Breaking free from the shackles that "the world" had put on them so that they could enter into the Promise of God. So that they could lay ahold of what God had already set aside for them.

We all know the story. It took them 40 years to get to the Promised Land. A journey that was, in all reality, something that could have been made in a few weeks. They grumbled. They complained. They returned to their old ways (making a golden calf).

Though they were Redeemed from slavery....though they were being accompanied by the very manifest Presence of God in their daily lives...though they were being provided for daily...though they were invited to come up into the Presence of God with Moses... They hadn't changed their mindsets. Therefore, in their hearts, they were still in bondage. And so, they opted to return to what they knew: slavery. Instead of being what they were called to: Kinship with the King.

Familiarity can kill Faith. For it takes a sacrifice of the familiar. of your comfort. of your very identity. To really step out in true faith.

Now...fast forward X number of years. Moses has died. God has called Joshua to "rise up" and be the new leader. And the first thing that God tells Joshua to do is cross the Jordan (essentially step into the Promise). He goes on to remind him that everywhere he sets his foot is his. This Heavenly Pep talk continues as he instructs Joshua three times to be strong and courageous...

Insert modern day confession: If this were me, I'd be a little bit frustrated. Okay, I'd be a WHOLE lot frustrated. I've lived in the "Wilderness" for a time. God sent me and my family there. He broke us. down to the foundations. It's a lovely little story with many whines and sobs from yours truly...and many hugs from the Father as he rips out roots to all sorts of stuff.

Needless to say, it wasn't fun. But I was only in that place for a year and a half. Oh believe me, it felt loooooooooonnnng. Don't doubt that! But my hopeful expectation, amidst that 1.5 years of wilderness was this: That there would be a "suddenly" of God. Where he would just come in and do something miraculous, to show us how proud he was of our obedience. That he would do something to alleviate the hardship! You know? Something!

But the Israelites were there for F-O-R-T-Y years. Making my 1.5 years seem like nothing.

So...I know that after 40 years of desert wandering... all the while knowing that God was leading us to the gates of this amazing Promise, I'd at least expect to get there and set up residency. Easy as pie. No more "fight" required on our part. Milk and honey here I come!

But it's not the normal way of the Lord, you know? Almost every place in the Bible where someone took ownership of the promise of God on their life, it came through years of tears, sweat, and/or blood. Why do I feel like I can bypass the work? the waiting? When did that become part of my thinking?

I'd be so bold as to say most normal people would have to think that after 40 years of circling round the desert, God would at least just hand over the Promised Land. I mean, hadn't the Israelites handled enough? After all, they ARE the Apple of His eye. Any good Daddy would want to see his children's misery come to an end, right? Uh. No. God wanted them to go and FIGHT for what he had already said was theirs.

Now doesn't that just go against everything that the majority of the American Church seems to believe? or at least put to practice? that very "entitlement" mindset that says we shouldn't have to fight for something...that if God has it set aside for us then, by all means, give it here.

I'm sure we can all think of things we've brought before God in prayer. And when we didn't get an immediate answer, we just *shrugged* and figured it was a useless fight. I mean, who wants to fight God?! And if God isn't intervening within the allotted time frame of 10 minutes, then it's obviously not important to Him.

WHERE did I get this mentality? Someone please tell me. Because I'd like to go return mine.

If we, as the modern day church, are going to have ANY impact on the world around us, we have got to get the "Fight" back. We've got to lay down the pacifist mindset that says we can't even war against the spiritual realm. We have got to pick up the weapons given us and TAKE what is rightfully ours.

Healings. Wisdom. SOULS.

I have got to. The very framework of the church today is depending on me actually being what God says I already am. of possessing what he says he's already given us. And I must fight for it. I must believe for it.

Try and wrap your brain around this testimony:

About 35 years ago, a little baby was born into a Brazilian family. He was a down-syndrome baby. The mother didn't know the first thing about that "disorder". Only what the doctors were telling her. And what they were saying was grim. They told her that nothing could be done. That there was no medical treatment. He would never be normal. It was just something that she had to accept.

Her response? No. I know a doctor who can heal it. He is the doctor of doctors. He is Jesus. She went home that night and had a conversation with God that went
something like this:

"Lord, thank you for this baby, for what he brings to this family. I love him. But if there is nothing that can be done for him, then I'd rather you take him. I know you can heal him. But I need a sign from you that you will heal him. If I come in here in the morning and he is still alive, then I will Know that you will heal Him."

Talk about audacious!! Most people would just look at her and say, "Come on!Yes, the kid is still alive because God wasn't going to take your baby! He just overlooked your stupid prayer and your feeble attempt at manipulating Him and ignored you. The nerve."

But that was not God heart.

Long story short. God healed that boy less than six years later. HEALED him. Completely. To the point that the same team of doctors that first presented the "hard facts" to the mom had to say "We just don't understand. We have one doctor holding his papers from when he was first born. Those tests show the chromosomal abnormality. Yet this doctor over here is holding the tests we just did a couple of weeks ago, and they show that there is no sign of any chromosomal abnormality anywhere. He has been healed."

God had to touch EVERY SINGLE one of his DNA in order to heal him. His mother believed for it. She fought against all sorts of opinions...all sorts of yearly tests that said her God had not healed her son. But she didn't allow the world and it's "reality based" view to keep her faith in bondage and define for her who God is. She just took Him at his Word.

"By his wounds you have been healed." 1 Peter 2:24

I was at a conference a few years ago and heard this man's testimony. And saw the amazing fruits of his life serving the Lord. I have it on audio cassette. And if I can find a way to duplicate it in mass, I am more than willing to send it to whomever. Or loan it out for those of you near by. His website is www.casadedavi.com.br Go under "trailer"...he's the bald guy with wire glasses playing the guitar and singing.

I have got to renew my mind. To fight for what God has set up before me as my Inheritance. Ready and waiting for the taking! To believe that God is who he says he is. To persevere for it. And yes, to be strong and courageous...just as God instructed Joshua.

"Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made the good confession..." 1 Tim. 6:12

I don't want to get to Heaven and hear, "But I had so much more for you, Christin. More than you could ever dream or imagine. It was there before you. Untouched."