Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  -Philippians 2:9-11 

 There is power in the name of Jesus (Philippians 2:9-11).  There is salvation in the name of Jesus (Acts 4:12, Romans 10:13).  Healing occurs in His name (Acts 3:6 and 16, 4:10), and the enemy powerless (Luke 10:17).  We ourselves are made new by the name of Jesus (1 Corinthians 6:11).   In His name, there is forgiveness and wholeness.  Indeed, the name of Jesus is a powerful one. 

 Is your life showing that?  Do your children see the power of Jesus in your life?  Even when things are tough, and you’re struggling, do they see the strength of Jesus in your weakness?  When we aren’t clinging to and living out of our identity in Christ, it is difficult to convince our impressionable children of the power of that identity. 

 The name of Jesus gives us access to the throne of God, under His authority.  His name is the identity we take when we confess that He is ours and we are His.  Through His name we have access to resources through the Holy Spirit that bring strength and power to do and endure things we couldn’t face or carry out on our own.  Submitting our lives to that identity cannot help but be seen by others, including our children.  The authentic surrender of our lives to the name of Jesus is an impactful way to capture their hearts for Him. 

Repurposing means taking items that may be considered worthless and finding a new purpose for it.  Once an item is repurposed its value is restored.  Glory Haus, a home décor warehouse company, has a clothing line called Repurposed on Purpose, in which they take old clothing items such as a men’s shirt and repurpose it into a cute lady’s shirt.  

How beautiful it is to think that is exactly what God does for us! In Jeremiah 18, God explains to Jeremiah that He is the potter and humans are the clay.  God explains that He reshapes us using the same piece of clay to carry out His plans for us! God sees value in us and repurposes us for HIS purpose!  

  Isaiah 64:8 ~Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand 

When you hear your child’s voice, you know it.  It has a distinct cadence and pitch, and their cry has a certain identifiable rhythm.  Likewise, a child knows it’s mother’s voice and even her scent.  It’s part of the bond between a mother and her child that has developed through time, care, attention and familiarity.   

 As Christ-followers, we’re supposed to know our Shepherd’s voice.  Jesus tells us in John 10:14, “I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me.” Later, in verse 27, He asserts, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”   Recognizing, hearing and listening to his voice is a discipline that is developed through devoted time, attention to relationship and learned familiarity.  It’s cultivated through time spent in His word, in prayer and, just as important, patient listening.   

 How can we hear His voice if we’re spending our prayer time petitioning but not listening?  We have to choose to push aside the distractions, set aside time to quiet our own minds.   Then, be sensitive to His stirring through His word, lean into where it lands in your heart, and spend time listening to His voice.  Allow Him to overpower your own thoughts with His voice, which will always line up with His word.  In doing so, you will learn the identifiable rhythms of your unique communication with Him.   

If worship is our response to what we value the most in our lives, what do you worship? 

 You see, we were created for worship.  All of creation was created to worship the Creator, to bring Him glory.  The heavenly host of angels never stops worshiping Him (Rev. 4:8) and all of creation does so compulsively (Psalm 19:1, 66:4).   If we aren’t worshiping our Creator as we were created to do, we will worship something, exchanging the Creator for something He created or we created.   

 If we look at what we value most, we’ll see that we often worship other things…material things, an image, money, a cause or ourselves.  These things are idols, lies that we cling to (Isaiah 44:20) and that we’re fooled into thinking give us value but instead leave us empty, deceived and alone.  Yet what we worship often determines who we are, in that we become like what we worship.  We take on its traits, its character, its ideals and its goals.   

 Who or what are you worshiping?  Who or what are you becoming?  The more direct question is this: Is it a lie or the Most High?   

 Romans 12:1-2 TPT:” Beloved friends, what should be our proper response to God’s marvelous mercies? I encourage you to surrender yourselves to God to be his sacred, living sacrifices. And live in holiness, experiencing all that delights his heart. For this becomes your genuine expression of worship. Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in his eyes.” 

Yesterday, my son, a prolific bird-catcher if there ever was one, brought a sparrow into my home office. Just as he entered, it escaped his grasp and began to fly around erratically, full of fear.  With intense focus, my bird-catcher was able to gently corral it, soothe it and release it back outside safely.  The sparrow had nothing to fear from him, but it didn’t know that. 

 Though it was widely considered insignificant in His day, Jesus uses the mere sparrow to illustrate a point that links fear and our value.  In Matthew 10:28-31, He teaches, “Don’t be in fear of those who can kill only the body but not your soul. Fear only God, who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. You can buy two sparrows for only a copper coin, yet not even one sparrow falls from its nest without the knowledge of your Father. Aren’t you worth much more to God than many sparrows?  So don’t worry. For your Father cares deeply about even the smallest detail of your life.” (TPT). 

 Every sparrow is under constant sovereign supervision, yet we tend to doubt our value in God’s eyes.  We worry that we’re unimportant, insignificant, not worth His time. That lie creates fear that drives us to find our value in other people and things.  Do we fear others and what they think of us or what they could do to or for us more than we believe we have our Father’s love and attention?    Do we doubt our worth in the very eyes of our Creator – the One who knit us together in the womb – so much so that we ourselves place more value on what we fear?  As you ponder the foundation of your fears, and where you find value, remind yourself of the sparrow.   What seems insignificant to man is lovingly valued by our Heavenly Father.   

Have you ever considered that surrendering to the Lord- and by this I mean, surrendering control, worry, fear, pain, shame, bitterness – is an act of worship?   

 I wonder sometimes, “Who do we think we’re fooling?”  When we understand Who God is, why is it that we think we can gloss over what is really going on in our hearts by dressing up and smiling, pretending all is ok.  It’s like putting concealer on dark circles or a blemish…you can cover them up, but they are still there.  He knows the condition of our hearts.  But our concern with saving face extends even to the God who sees through it all, and we foolishly keep up the charade. 

 When we choose to hold on to our pain and cope in our own way, the way that works best for us, we’re choosing the way of men over the way of God.  When we say we praise a Savior, a Redeemer, a Prince of Peace, yet we continue to act as if everything is picture perfect when our hearts are a pile of gnarled wreckage and our thoughts riddled with anxiety, we deny His peace, His grace and Who He is.  We choose our traditions over His purpose.  Our pride over worship. 

 “These people honor me only with their words, for their hearts are so very distant from me.
They pretend to worship me, but their worship is nothing more than the empty traditions of men.” Matthew 15:8-9 TPT (taken from Isaiah 29:13) 

Think for a moment…when was the last time you made a decision out of fear? 

 I bet, if you’ve been awake today longer than a few hours, you’ve already done it.  Whether it was getting dressed out of fear of what people would say if they saw you at the bus stop in pajamas, worrying for your children as they left for school, or organizing your day to be sure you got everything on the to-do list accomplished so nothing fell through the cracks.  Fear of others, fear of failure, worrying in general…it’s all fear.  Fear effectively controls and restricts us through intimidation and oppression.  But we aren’t meant to fear. 

 “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.”  2 Timothy 1:7 

 The Spirit we receive from God is the Holy Spirit, and its fruit does not include fear (Gal. 5:22-23).  Instead, we’re told that it emboldens us in outpouring of power, of love and the ability to have self-discipline.  In fact, 1 John 4:8 tells us, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”  Therefore, the Holy Spirit drives out fear with love, and gives us the power to overcome worrisome thoughts because we have the self-discipline to know that fear is not from God.  Our Father God has all things under control, if we’ll just have the discipline to repeatedly turn it over to Him and trust His love for us. 

 “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”  – Romans 8:15 

One of the most well-known lines in the movie, The Help, is spoken by Aibileen, a young girl’s nanny and family housekeeper.  She repeatedly and lovingly showers the girl with the affirmation, “You is kind, you is smart, you is important.”  If you’ve seen that movie at all, you’ll likely feel a flood of emotion over the sweet scenes.  Yes, the sweet girl is kind, smart and important.  We believe that for her.  But do we believe it for ourselves? 

 God repeatedly tells us how important we are.  He lavishes us with affirmations throughout His word – telling us that we are precious, honored and loved (Isaiah 43:4), beautiful (Isaiah 61:10), accepted (Romans 15:7), His (John 17:9), holy and dearly loved (Colossians 3:12), heirs (Galatians 3:29, 4:7), royalty (Romans 5:17, 8:16-17), and blessed (Jeremiah 17:7).   But do you believe that?  Or do you choose to believe the lies that the world would tell you…that you aren’t ___________ enough (Insert lie(s) in the blank).  Because those words contradict the truth…you know that, right??? 

 Today, who will you choose to listen to?  Today, spend time identifying the lie and replacing it with truth.  Truth of who you are because of WHOSE you are.  If you’re struggling in a certain area, find the truth in scripture and write it out, place it on your mirror or in your car, at your desk or on your refrigerator.  Remind yourself that you are precious, you are loved, you are a royal heir with Christ, you are chosen, you are beautiful and you are blessed.  You are HIS, constantly and unconditionally loved, dear sister! 

Bear with a quick lesson in the ancient art of falconry, or hunting with a hawk, falcon or eagle.  To become a falconer takes many years of daily training.   During this time, a magnificent bird is trained to fly out, hunt, and return, with its prey, to its master, the falconer. 

 These birds have a sense of freedom when on the hunt.  The falconer takes the hood from its head and releases the bird’s feet, allowing it to fly high and do what it was meant to do, being who it was created to be…free.  But because of its training, it always returns to its master.  The master covers its head again to remove the temptation of true freedom and puts it back in an enclosure.   

 Aren’t we like these birds?  We taste the freedom we have in Jesus, and we fly high for a while.  But, either because of our training or our perceived needs for comfort, we return to whatever masters us, and it covers our eyes to the truth we’re missing.   

 “Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.” -Galatians 5:1, MSG 

 Jesus doesn’t operate like the falconer, beaconing us back again to be blinded to our lack of freedom and bound in slavery.  He removes the veil and spurs us on to continued freedom.  He is flying ahead of us, beaconing us to join Him there, eyes open to His truth.  He set us free to remain free.  Stand…ahem, fly, and do not return to the falconer that enslaves you, sister.

What keeps you from ascending?

Often, we allow fears & insecurity to rule our thoughts and actions. We talk ourselves out of
walking out God’s plan, lacking self-confidence and thus God-confidence. Now don’t be
mistaken, we can’t get in God’s way…He’s a gentleman who gives us free will and a choice, but
His plans and purposes cannot be thwarted (Job 42:2, Isaiah 14:27).

We speak of freedom, we claim it, but we’re unwilling to walk out of our prisons. The doors are
unlocked in Jesus (Isaiah 61, Luke 4:18). He’s done the work…in fact, “it is finished” (John
19:28-30) completely and thoroughly! So why do we find ourselves still in chains?

Perhaps we’re embarrassed to admit our flaws. Pride will torture us and lead to many a fall
(Proverbs 16:18) until we lay it down completely. Or maybe we’re afraid of the unknown
outside of our imprisonment. Freedom provides a lot of opportunities to get into trouble, and
like the slaves coming out of Egypt, sometimes the known is more comfortable than the
unknown. So instead, we hand over our badge of authority and the weapons we’ve been given
in the Jesus, and we surrender to the enemy.

This is why Jesus came…to save us, to love us, and to lead us into His freedom. All of us. Trust
Him completely, not just in what He did on the cross, but why He did it and what He has for us
on this side of His cross. Walk in His freedom!

Suggested music: “No Longer Slaves” by Bethel Music