Saturday, April 24, 2010

Outrageously Loved

I just got home from the Beth Moore simulcast on 'So Long, Insecurity.' I feel so blessed right now. No...I AM so blessed! I am very thankful that God allowed me to be a part of that simulcast. There were over 300,000 women participating throughout North America. 300,000 Women! Can you imagine if all 300,000 of us allow ourselves to be molded into the security of Jesus Christ! Can we even fathom what that would look like? 300,000 women walking around in North America as secure as can be and living and breathing God's sovereign and never-ending security! It literally gives me chills thinking about it.
Okay, I promised you I would share...but let's be honest! I am a note taker, and this really will be a novel if tell you everything I wrote down that spoke to me. So I will share only what God is laying on my heart to tell you. I hope Beth Moore doesn't mind, but I will be quoting her and passing to you what Jesus spoke through her, to me, today. Are you with me? If so, let me start by saying you are outrageously loved by God and He longs for you to find your security in Him! I hope you do. Goodness...I hope I do! I can already feel Him at work in my life, fixing my insecurities. Turning me to security in Him. Give me a minute...I am so excited for this day spent with God...I just must shout out YIPPEE!!!!
Whew. Okay. I feel like a child right now. First things first: You cannot gain from your insecurity. Really. Think about that for a moment. You cannot gain a single thing from your insecurity. Nope. Don't even try to argue with me. Nothing. Except...more insecurity. If we are insecure in something, which I gather we all struggle with it at some point, then we need deliverance. Deliverance from bondage. People can pray for us as much as they want, that we will be delivered. But when it comes down to it, we must choose to be delivered by God. It is a choice. Just you and God can make it. Some people may argue that their bondage is a weakness...and God may be glorified in your weakness by making you strong. Please, hear me for a minute. I believe Beth Moore led me to a revelation when she said this: "Insecurity is not a weakness. It is unbelief." Ponder that. If any of us are so consumed in our insecurity that we believe we can never be secure...then we do not believe God can do all things. And dear ones...He can! He can! When I think God may not use me for His kingdom...shame on me! That insecurity I have is unbelief. He can use me! And He will! He formed a purpose for me long before I was conceived, and God will ensure that purpose is fulfilled. I just pray my eyes and ears are opened wide enough that I don't miss it! That I realize God is working and moving.
I do not want to fill you with too many questions...but I do want to highlight a point real fast. Many of us try to manage our strongholds instead of just being free. This is so important I need to say it again, for me to hear as well: Many of us try to manage our strongholds instead of just being free. Wow. That convicts me so deeply! Does it have any effect on you? Think of strongholds in your life. Maybe it is alcoholism, lust, idolatry, lying, unforgiveness, selfishness. It could be any number of things. How many times in our life do we try to manage our strongholds? Set a limit and keep it for a while. Not going 'too' far but going far enough to get our fix...or as Francis Chan states in Crazy Love: "How far can I go before it is considered a sin?" instead of "How can I keep myself pure as a temple of the Holy Spirit?"
Friends, let's encourage each other to be set apart. To live differently. To break free from the bondage that insecurity ties us to. Not looking good enough. Not singing well enough. Not getting an 'A,' or the lead role in the high school play, or 1st place at the track meet. Any of these things, and countless other examples, cause us to be insecure. Saying, 'if only I could' or 'if only I had,' rather than finding security in the many blessings we do have bind us to a life that lets us gain nothing. Find security in the beautiful person you are. Let's find security in God, who loves us outrageously, and knew exactly what He was doing when He made me and you. You are beautiful to Him. And there is nothing you can do that will take His love away. Let that change the way you and I live.
Have a wonderful evening, and thank you so much for sharing this with me today!

2 comments:

  1. Caitlin AndersonSunday, April 25, 2010

    Emmie, Thank you so much for this note! Over the last 2 months I guess, thoughts like these you have heard from Beth Moore have been on my heart too. I think it might have all started with an idea from the book "Captivating" by John and Stasi Eldridge. I can't cite the page number from memory if you wanted to read it too, but Stasi (I think) wrote about how true beauty, that undeniably shines for others to see, comes from a "heart at rest". To me, that was really powerful. How often do we not allow ourselves a break from the constant and exhausting pursuit of worldly acceptance or success or simple acknowledgement and recognize what we can already claim as ours. How powerful would it look if we were set apart in a noticeable way, as you have already said? How powerful would it be if we stood apart as those already confident and pleased with who we are as women? SO powerful. The confidence that we would have is what others are striving for themselves but not finding. We would truly be beautiful as hearts at rest. "Rest" doesn't mean lazy or lackadaisical as I am so often inclined to think, it simply points to confidence and a faith that challenges and defies needless insecurity. Why is this so hard? Why is it that we/I cannot choose to live as a set-apart child of God instead of constantly letting our pursuit of beauty (in many forms) and success mold our decisions for us. I think this insecurity is very real and purposeful. The devil knows how powerful a heart at rest can be for anyone who witnesses it. Who plants fear in our lives so that we become slaves to our insecurities? The Bible says that, "God did not give us a spirit of timidity [fear/insecurity!], but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline." God is love, not fear in the way we experience it in our insecurities. Fear is a lie sold to us from the devil to keep us from becoming all that we can be as daughters of God and brides of Christ's in the church. The devil knows how powerful we are as women, how influential we are as relational beings, and knows he HAS to contain us if he is going to succeed. The lies that we hear and choose to accept are amazing to me. I am so guilty of believing them, but how crazy are they! For example, I know so many decisions in my life are fueled by a fear of "failure", but also I've recognized also a fear, in me and others, of "success". What is that?! We have absolutely NOTHING to gain from our insecurities as you said. It stems from our wavering ability to put our "abandoned confidence" (to use another writer's words) in Him, our creator who knows and LOVES us better and more than anything in His creation. So often I have to pray for help in my unbelief that I can stay true to this and deny the lies that we are sold as women that we have things left to be desired. We cannot be afraid of truly being seen, being recognized for who and who's we are. Let's take on the full weight of our lives and the amazing potential within them! Let's deny these lies and just try to catch a glimpse of who we TRULY, ACTUALLY, UNDENIABLY are! God is romancing us everyday to take part in His plans. Let's set out as set-apart in this real adventure and deny our ridiculous insecurities! I hope I didn't just ramble too much, but this is something that has really been on my heart this semester. Thanks for giving me an opportunity to dump it all out again!

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  2. Caitlin, Thank you so much for dumping that all out! It really blessed me to read your words and hear your encouragement through them. I am really looking forward to God's security and growing into the person, the bride, the woman God made me to be! I will be praying for you as well, as we both ignore Satan's lies and press on towards the goal of Jesus Christ. I love you!

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