Revival Rising: Loving God and the Lost With All That You Are Paraugs

Restoring Your Soul

Recently, during my morning devotions, a bird fell down the stovepipe and into our woodstove. While reaching inside and gently grasping the bird, Jesus allowed me to see the parallel. Like the bird in the firebox, each of us is doomed to die, trapped within the black prison of our sin. But because of love, Jesus has reached into your firebox and drawn you out. Now, it is the Prince of Peace who is holding you up before the light of the Father and opening His hand.

Only you can choose which direction to fly. Jesus did not endure the cross so that we would fly backward into the captivity of our past, our present or our selfish need to be “pursued” by God. Jesus has already done everything for us. All that is left for us to do, our singular responsibility, is simply to turn to Him—and reach for Him—with all we have. In Jesus, we have complete freedom.

Because of all Christ has already done for us, we do not live in darkness—unless we choose to. The stone from Jesus’ tomb, and ours, has been rolled away, shattered, crushed, destroyed. Every dark place of suffering we will ever know in this life only has three sides. Nothing in this world can contain the freedom we have—except our own selfish desire to live in a three-sided tomb.

Oftentimes, the enemy uses our sin, calculating the precise time to throw a “remembrance of prior pain” back toward us like an ominous boomerang from our past. We can keep standing in the truth that we are free and can duck, letting his attack fly by without harm. Or we can choose to allow our prior anguish to clock us in the forehead and fall backward into the same firebox we were just freed from. 

Friend, there is a reason God created us with eyes on the front of our heads and not the back. We were never made to look backward; we are designed to look forward. You cannot trip over what is behind you—unless you run back to it. Simply stated, we become what we behold. If you want a painful life, keep focusing on your pain. If you want a free life in Jesus, keep focusing on Him. 

Fixing your eyes on the truth of His Word becomes the fuel that restores your soul.

Prayer: Today, I proclaim: Jesus Christ, You are my Lord and Savior. Today, I choose to leave the grave behind and fly hard and fast into Your presence. I am free. I am free. I am free! You have rescued me because of Your love. And because of Your love, I will live in Your freedom. Thank You, thank You, thank You, precious Jesus. Amen.