The Freedom in Obedience

 

The Freedom in Obedience

              Wow we made it through to the last of my blogs where I use songs from my past to highlight my faith questions and spiritual needs. I don’t know about you, but for me that has been a long, hot and trying summer. There have been tests, many stumbling blocks, tears and pain, but there has also been a renewal in my soul to use prayer to guide me through these times.

              I feel like everyday this summer, there has been one horrible death after another on the news. The deaths have seemed pointless, senseless, and unjust. Whether it was a toddler dying in a hot bus (Richmond, VA), a man being crushed to death on a bridge (Newport News, VA), a young mother dying in her sleep on a plane (UK), school shooting victims (Texas), etc. etc. etc. Sometimes I wonder if this is just a pre-rapture moment in time – because between you and me – these moments are becoming more and more every day. Our innocence is gone. Our earthly dominion is deeply cracked, and those cracks are decaying us at a rapid rate. I truly believe this is all due to our lack of relationship and obedience with God.

              And of course, there’s this disease in my body called cancer. It is back – still small – but still it is back. I had to give myself a time out last weekend to allow myself a safe intimate space to break down and cry. It took all the way until 7:00 p.m. on Sunday for me to let it out and scream and cry. You know who was waiting for that moment – Jesus! I know he was waiting for me to LET IT GO – because when I did, he stepped right in. He calmed me, he reassured me, he wiped my tears and gave me PEACE. Then he started giving me little affirmations.  I leaned in, I listened to his word and he started working.

              Once I let go of my “me thought” and surrendered all of this to God, I began to once again remember that our loudest call is to OBEY. Sometimes we don’t want to obey God when we are not happy about the situation that God has called us into. But in these places we are reminded of Paul’s words “ To live is Christ, to die is gain”. Maybe these words get lost in translation or through the chaos that is our daily lives. These words simply mean as long as I have breath, I have the opportunity to do work for God and to try my best to guide souls to him and that at death, I gain eternal life. That’s it! That’s our call – obey him where we are, do his work for him, guide his lost sheep and be rewarded in Heaven.

              Once this peaceful reminder hit me – well I had no choice but to let go of my fear and doubt. Because it is a reminder that we all have breath today, because Jesus isn’t done with us. When Jesus is ready to let you rest in your eternal salvation, well that will be your last day on this earth. Until then – you must live to the fullest in total obedience and find Joy even in the pain and chaos.

              We always talk about “free will” and how that is the gift we received from God. How we have the choice to believe or not believe. That free will also is given to us as to whether or not we will obey his word. It is the gift within the gift. For as we believe, truly believe, we are compelled to want to please God. That pleasing comes from our obedience. I know some of you are waking up to hurt, confusion and a sense of loss. You are questioning whether your prayers and devotion to God mean anything to him. I have been there. I walked a very long season in what I called “What’s Up God”. I lost both of my parents, my marriage and was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer in just a short span of time. I was truly lost.

              But if I had not walked through that long dark valley, I would not have God. I found him to be just and faithful. I found him to be gracious and loving. I found him to be my rock and my provider. He has never let me down. He has pulled me out of the valley and given me many mountain top moments. Yes, I am going to get treatment again, but that’s just part of life. I recall, and hold dear to my heart, that in the book of Job – God had to give permission to Satan to “touch” Job. God didn’t give this permission because he wanted to hurt Job – but he believed that Job could endure and that through the endurance his relationship with God would be even better.

    That’s my hope. That’s my plan. That’s why I choose to Obey HIM today and every day.

    The song for this week, once again comes from God. I was trying to figure out a song that ties together love and obedience, and this song title floated in my head. I dismissed it; I could not remember the words minus the main chorus. Then this morning the song played on the radio and I knew! So this is definitely an early birthday present to me from God – because I LOVED this artist growing up. So much so, that my daughter has “threatened” to play “Purple Rain” at my funeral (y’all are forewarned). I feel Prince is truly misunderstood by many. He was a very active and very devout Jehovah’s Witness and although I disagree with many of their teachings, I do recognize it as a form of Christianity. Prince had an entire album written and recorded based on his beliefs “Rainbow Children” – which isn’t all about God. He has a lot of songs about faith and God. One even titled “God”. Song’s like “The Rainbow Children”, “The Work”, “The Cross” – many songs.

    This song this week is probably one of his more known hits and surprisingly about faith. It was part of the movie “Purple Rain” and the video directors and movie producers took it out of context and converted it into a love type song. But it isn’t. It was actually written around the same time as “God” (which did not make the cut for the movie or soundtrack).

Song: I Would Die for You  - from 1984 – Songwriter Prince

I’m not a woman

I’m not a man

I am something that you’ll never understand

I’ll never beat you

I’ll never lie

And if you’re evil I’ll forgive you by and by, ‘cause

You, I would die for you, yeah

Darling, if you want me too

You, I would die for you

I’m not your lover

I’m not your friend

I am something that you’ll never comprehend

No need to worry

No need to cry

I’m your messiah and you’re the reason why, ‘cause

You, I would die for you, yeah

Darling, If you want me too

I would die for you

You’re just a sinner, I am told

Be your fire when you’re cold

Make you happy when you’re sad

Make you good when you are bad

I’m not a human

I’m a dove

I’m your conscious

I am love

All I really need is to know that you believe

Yeah, I would die for you you, yeah

Repeat

 

    I am not posting a link this week to the video of the song for a couple of reasons, one there is no official video to the song, there is footage of the song via the Movie and since the movie was Rated R – and I don’t know the age of audience, I just feel safer not posting it.  The second is that I really want you to soak in the message of our savior, Jesus Christ, dying for us – I want to end my music and message series with that – after all – that is the foundation of our faith.

    I hope you enjoyed this series. I will take a week or two off (to deal with medical stuff) and then I will return in September with a new series “Movies and Faith”. Until then, enjoy the remaining weeks of summer and keep your heart and mind rested in Christ.

Love all!