Welcome to Week Ten/Day Five!
Wow. Can hardly believe that we’ve come to the end of our journey.
It feels like just yesterday that I was just preparing and trying to figure out all the details for this bold new adventure of online study. Breaking Free has undoubtedly been the most difficult bible study that most of us, if not all of us have ever had to partake of. And I have to agree with Beth and say that I cannot say that this trip has been all fun, but this much I know…not one of us is sure to forget it!
I need to take a moment before we delve into our final lesson to tell each of you how very very blessed I have been to be on this journey with you. It hasn’t been easy by a a long-shot but I do pray that each of you can say, yes Michelle, it has surely been worth it! It may seem that you have been brought through the ‘wringer’…literally and your strength has been sapped.
In light of that…what better scripture to wrap up with than this:
The three goals that Beth writes about praying for all of us that partake of this study are:
1. That if you are not yet free, you will cooperate with God fully until you are.
2. That you will know how to maintain your freedom.
3. That you’ll always know how to get back to the freedom trail if you ever lose your way.
As we approach these last steps of our journey together, we each have a different road ahead of us, but we all have the same glorious destination. We have shared some awesome moments in the last 10 weeks, but now its time for us to go our separate ways with God. I’ll miss you and you may miss me too, but never confuse missing my companionship along the way with needing my companionship. I leave you in the hands of the only One you need.
I too am so very proud of you. You’ve worked so hard. More importantly though….God is proud of you.
Think about just how far you’ve come….Now…..Look Up!
May God be your hiding place, may He protect you form trouble and my He incline your spiritual ears to listen carefully while He surrounds you with songs of Deliverance.
And as we close on our final lesson, nothing could be more appropriate than to conclude with the scriptures that started it all…bringing us ‘full circle’.
Isaiah 61:1-4 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
3 To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”
4 And they shall rebuild the old ruins,
They shall raise up the former desolations,
And they shall repair the ruined cities,
The desolations of many generations.
Allow me to pray Beth’s closing prayer over each of you:
A Healing Captive
O God, who frees the captive Do not liberate this carnal slave for freedoms sake.For I will surely wing my flight to another thorny land.
Break instead, each evil bond and rub my swollen wrists, then take me prisoner to Your Will, enslaved in Your safekeeping.
O God, who ushers light into the darkness, do not release me to the light to only see myself.
Cast the light of my liberation upon Your face and be Thou my vision.
Do not hand me over to the quest of greater knowledge. Make Your Word a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path and lead me to Your dwelling.
O God, who lifts the grieving head,
Blow away the ashes but let Your gentle hand upon my brow. Be my only crown of beauty. Comfort me so deeply, my Healer, that I see no other comfort.
O God, who loves the human soul too much to let it go,
So thoroughly impose Yourself into the heaps and depths of my life that nothing remains undisturbed.
Plow this life, Lord, until everything You overturn becomes a fertile soil, then plant me, O God in the vast plain of Your love.
Grow me, strengthen me and do not lift Your pressing hand until it can boastfully unveil
...A Display of Your Splendor.
God bless you Freedom Fighter! ~ ms, ❤