Freedom

Ever had one of those weeks where you know that things are progressing, life is going on, on the whole things are good but you just can't help but feel like you've been wading through a swamp? You know, everything's all wet and clammy, thigh-high squirmy mud stretches between you and the bank and there's just that general feeling of moving forward but with weights around your ankles?

Well that's me this week until finally something hit me. "Shake off the sin that so easily entangles..." (my paraphrase of part of Heb 12:1!!) that was the first revelation and the second has been weighing on my mind for some time. In one of our classes here at college, a lecturer has kind of been hounding the point that the most common cause of people's problems along their journey, results from a lack of thorough repentance when they first come to Christ. Food for thought isn't it? It has challenged me on repentance in general.

It got me thinking anyway and I remembered several times in my life, kind of like spiritual markers I suppose you would say, where the Holy Spirit revealed to me that I had to repent... again! I've been working my way through the Experiencing God bible study as well and when the author was waiting to hear from God on something, if there was a time of silence, he would pull out his 'sin checklist' and pray through it.

How often can we just get into the pattern of doing life without actually taking time to carry out a 'sin checklist' regularly? It can sound a strange thing to do but all it does is jog your memory of what has been happening in your life since you last pulled it out and it's amazing what comes to mind! I know it should be part of our devotional life as well, but for me, if I was being honest, it is something that can too easily be missed out, especially when time runs short and work pressures mount.

In saying all of this, I picked up an amazing resource I used at one of those landmark moments of mine and on flicking through, I've decided to work through it again. Ever come across 'The Steps to Freedom in Christ' by Neil Anderson? Awesome. Very thorough and what a tool to put into a disciple's hands at the right moment...

Anyway, all that to say that I've had a great end to my week. I'm feeling like I've reached the other side of the swamp - learnt another lesson and am almost ready to face another week of it all!