Last Week of Breaking Free

If you are looking for a Bible study that will draw you near to the Lord and challenge you to look more like Jesus, please consider Breaking Free by Beth Moore.

Here are some truths that spoke to me this final week:

"We are never more beautiful portrayals of mortals who know and believe God than when others can look at our lives, hear out testimonies, and say, 'It is true'."

How true these words are.  I yearn to one day be this mortal.  There are a handful of people I think of when I read this statement.  The person who comes to mind most vividly is my high school Latin teacher, Alice Guppy (there was only 1 in my high school, so I had her for 4 years).  From the moment I met her, I knew there was something different about her.  She was filled with joy, had great peace, genuinely loved her students, although she had her own children, and enforced justice.  Mrs. Guppy was my first glimpse of Jesus and she will forever be etched in my heart.  I can say about her, 'It is true'.   

"Without doubt, the more you know God, the more you want to know God.  The more time you spend with Him, the more you will yearn for Him.  The opposite is also true".

Wow.  Why do I ever choose not to spend time with Him???  I hope to one day say that I yearn for Him daily, hourly, and momentarily.

"People who know God well want God well-known.  No one has to force a person who is intimately acquainted with God to be a living witness.  Those who truly know His Name (and all it implies) always want his fame".

What a great gauge for where I am in my relationship with Christ.  Do I want His fame at all times?  Am I always a living witness?  Do I want God well-known?

OBEDIENCE to God's Word results in RIGHTEOUSNESS, which results in PEACE and JOY.

"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion--to bestow on them a CROWN of BEAUTY instead of ashes, the OIL OF GLADNESS instead of mourning, and a GARMENT OF PRAISE instead of a spirit of despair.  They will be called OAKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, a PLANTING OF THE LORD for the DISPLAY OF HIS SPLENDOR.  They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations".  Isaiah 61: 1-4