Freedom in Me #08

Today is March 29, 2024. It’s Good Friday. Why is it good? It’s good because my Savior took down sin! He gave up his life for you, for me, for us. For all who will come to believe him as the Son of Man. Jesus is my Savior. Jesus is my Lord, the Lord. He crumbles up sin and throws it into the pit of hell! His is the only power able to break you free!

The freedom you seek is not in and out of your marriage, your schooling, your own ability to do. It’s in the body and resurrection of Christ. It’s in the ability to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior. To see him, to know him, to hear truth and be examined by his mercy. Set free from bondage to slavery of sin and yet even in his grace there is another level of freedom most seek.

The opportunity to know the Lord as a personal sacrifice and friend.

Yeshua! The King of Kings and Lord of Lords is your friend too. He is mighty to save, and he is also fun to laugh and hang out with. To be a friendship is his most desired roll.

[John 15:15-16] I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friend, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.

Love one another is the mercy bearing fruit. We love because he commands us to. We can love because he chose us to. So why is there so much hate being spread among his people? Because they don’t know how loved they were first. They don’t see the King of Kings as who he really is. Yes, Christ but also a friend indeed.

A friend with resurrection power is the coolest friend indeed! Wow! The mercy our friend has to spare…you think winning the lottery would fulfill your wildest dreams come true…bear much of his mercy and then you will see the lottery is a desert, a wasteland of opportunity rung dry. The “lottery” has no substance, no significance, no value. It’s a sure way to miss the Savior all together and settle for a lesser treasure.

We all need our Captain of the ship. We all need Jesus but only a few find him.

We can’t survive without our Captain, who is the Lord. But he’s not just reigning supreme, he is wanting you to call him friend.

My friend Jesus is the love of my life. I call him friend because he is just that. We go the movies together, we watch television…mostly “The Chosen” together, we go shopping together, we go on walks together, have coffee dates together, he tells me where to go and I go, he says be careful, be aware and I pay attention. I am warned by him, we are close, closer than most realize one can be and live with King Jesus.

I get up in the morning, tell him “good morning”, brush my teeth, smile, and ask him where are we going today? When I give him the authority and opportunity to lead me it always leads to glorious encounters. Some days it’s simply running errands but those errands after I step back cause me to notice every detail, he’s in charge of.

When I let go of control he gets to fill my nets.

The Lord showed himself here with me once more the day after my phone call from a woman at the church I attend in Florida. The call was made to harm my walk with the Lord. Our personal relationship and my obedience to him was attacked for not being valid in the eyes, heart, and mind of this individual. I was sad for her but also tormented by the pain that can come from others when you walk in obedience to God.

The Lord is near. He promises to be and the very next day I set out to gather some spray paint for a project I had in mind, but the Lord had a much larger plan in place! If only we will stop and notice all the little things, he does to show himself here, close, hand in hand, and side by side of you in everything you do and speak.

My first stop was a local coffee shop. I take my journal often to sip on a nice flavored local latte. My journal is a place for my conversations with the Lord. So, this day was much like others I have enjoyed, but on this day, I had two journals with me. There were only a couple pages left in one, so I brought along the next titled journal. With God I title each journal and mark them with a scripture to go alongside the adventured title. My next titled journal was “Here with you”.

As I sat and sipped at a table given to me by the Pastor and a leader of the church, I attend in Piperton, Tennessee, (thank you Lord for the warm hello and love given) the next journal moved to the batter’s position. I stepped into “Here with you” and enjoyed my time worshiping the Lord with heart, word, and song.

Not thinking too much of the title until the end of the day. Only every time I sit down to write with the Lord I always say, “Here I sit with you”. It’s my way of connecting my heart to his. It’s simple yet effective. To remove the distractions and just sit with him. The day moved on, I got my spray paint, stopped at a deli I used to frequent when I lived downtown Memphis, Tennessee, and then headed back to my parents’ house in Collierville, Tennessee.

​Funny I had been receiving texts that day and the day before from a number I don’t know about signing for a package…just click here. Well, if I don’t know you, I don’t click! I thought maybe it was my sign because I had ordered a new neon light for my “promised studio”. A promise God gave me over a year ago… “what only the King of Kings and Lord of Lords can provide”.

I have a vintage/classic neon sign for my studio that I received as a gift when I lived in Atlanta, Georgia. But as I sat with the Lord dreaming about this new space, I knew the old sign was not the right fit for my new space. It was from a time before I surrendered my full heart to Jesus. A time when I compromised to have, instead of knowing if I stay Holy with Jesus, he will provide all I need and desire. That former neon sign is not what I want as a fun and intimate symbol of where my heart is now.

“Jesus, I want something that speaks to our relationship, show me”.

As I pulled into the driveway, I saw a van driving down the street with the same logo as the unknown number had texted…hmmmm as a big smile came across my face. It’s my sign!!!! The Lord had placed on my heart “Here with you” as the name of my journal and he had also suggested weeks earlier that be the new neon sign for my studio. It’s us. Our friendship. Our relationship. We’re close, closer than my skin…or the air I breath. He’s inside of me. I get to witness and be loved by him every day.

There was no email from the company saying my sign was even on its way. The delivery came by a total surprise! Just when I needed to remember He, the Lord is with me. As I opened the sign and cried a few happy tears I realized if I had sent in the purchase for this sign on any other day than the one God told me to (I waited for him to say, purchase), then the significance of him being here would not have been as grand and formal. Yet completely intimate and hand holding.

God knew I needed to know in this very moment, specifically that not only is he near but even in the confusion an unbelief of others, that my eyes can see him, and my ears can hear him. And that my heart is fully and completely in love with King Jesus! And him, completely and fully in love with me.

My King, my friend.

He’s here that intimately for you as well, if only you will give him the authority in your life to show you…show you, you are no longer a servant but his friend.

“I no longer call you servants…” [John 15:15]