She Is Free: Learning The Truth About The Lies That Hold You CaptiveSample

Remaining in God's Love

You and I both understand that the journey to freedom takes longer than just seven days. But I hope that in the past week you—by God’s grace—have made a real start toward freedom. And so at this point, I have a piece of advice for you: realize that when you step into newfound freedom in any area of your life, you’ve got to guard and protect what God has done within you. As Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (NIV). The greatest guardian of our hearts is the Holy Spirit. We used to protect our hearts and lives with control; now we do so in beautiful partnership with the best bodyguard of our hearts.

But how do we protect this seed of freedom in our hearts in partnership with the Holy Spirit? We need to choose love on a daily basis because God’s perfect love casts out all fear (1 John 4:18), and control is rooted in fear. We need His love as the salve to heal every part of our recovering control-freak heart, soul, and mind. We’ve got to step into love and put it on like our favorite outfit. Or as Jesus puts it in John 15, we are to remain in his love.

Often it’s a daily and sometimes moment-by-moment choice to still ourselves and recognize His love. Just like sometimes in a marriage to love is a choice (love isn’t a ditch you fall into—it doesn’t just happen by accident), it’s also a conscious choice to remain in the Father’s love, especially when we want to wield the weapon of control to protect ourselves. We’ve got to stop, sit in our Father’s lap, and ask ourselves, “Why am I here again?” In that moment of honesty, we can choose to hand the fear over and receive the unending love that covers all, heals all, and protects us.

I’d like to encourage you to let love in. Long after these seven days of devotions are over, take time on a daily basis—whether it’s five minutes or an hour—to sit in the presence of God and connect with the deeply divine love that longs to infiltrate every area of your life. This is how you will know true freedom for a lifetime

For you, what will remaining in God’s love look like?

To learn more about She Is Free visit http://www.andiandrew.com/she-is-free-book.