The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor, He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be realeased.... Luke 4:18 (NLT)
During the school holidays I usually take the grandchildren to a movie. This time their choice was Kung Fu Panda 2, so off we went. I am not a fan of martial arts at any time so was a little wary of what we were in for, but on the other hand I decided to look for some seed of truth. I found one which I deliberately committed it to memory thinking, "There's a Daydrops in this!"
KFP was on his way to thwart evil and early in his mission discovers two of the evil peacock's workers (I think they were wolves), who had been imprisoned for some misdemeanour - I didn't quite work that one out. Anyway KFP comes to the prison, finds them cowering in the corner and breaks down the prison bars and sets them free. The wolves cower in the corner and refuse to be free. Finally in frustration KFP says, "Okay then, stay in your prison of fear, shut in by by bars of hopelessness eating three square meals of shame a day!" Wow, what a message! But the wolves still didn't get it, they were afraid to come back into the world so stayed in their prison.
The picture of the gates above do not really look like prison gates but I deliberately chose them (and also because I haven't been in prison lately with a camera!). The things that hold us prisoner can look quite respectable really and we can pretend that they are not imprisoning us. However, if we look closely, our prison gates are just excuses for not doing what God wants us to do. Excuses that mask our fear of stepping into the unknown. I know people who make excuses (perhaps I do too sometimes); excuses that sound plausible but when you really look at them they are just excuses. We can build beautiful looking gates of excuses but we are only fooling ourselves.
Life with God is an adventure, but adventures usually hold challenge. Challenge is uncomfortable but it's good for us. Joshua could have chosen to stay imprisoned in the wilderness rather than step into the river and experience God's delivering power at work in bringing them into their promised inheritance. God knew this was a challenge for Joshua, he had to fill Moses' very big shoes, so he encouraged Joshua with words that we can use in our own challenges. "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9. Take a risk today and step out from behind those bars and live life with God. Trust Him, He will go with you, do not be afraid.
Heavenly Father, help me to see if I have any prison bars that are preventing me from stepping out into all that you have for me. Help me to face life's adventures with you, in the full knowledge that you will not fail me. Amen
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