Over my life I have realized how many “cages” I have been in. Thankfully the Lord has required me to walk through many of them. However, I am not free from them all..yet:)  He is always showing me areas of my life with unbelief, lack of trust, and honestly areas where I am still imprisoned.

In my past, I had a cage of anxiety that “ruled” over me. At the root of it He showed me was fear. Fear of death, fear of man, FEAR! I had a huge fear of public speaking and when I was in the corporate world and required to give a presentation I would get physically ill. When I was young I didn’t carry my Bible to church when I did go because I was afraid someone would ask me to read out loud. If that happened I would experience a rapid heart rate, sweaty palms, and I wouldn’t be able to speak without my voice shaking and my face turning a brilliant red giving away my nervousness. So I had manipulated many situations over my life to make sure I was never put into those particular situations. What a cage it was.  You could even call it a prison with no bars. Honestly I didn’t even realize it was such until later when God called me to sing for Him in front of people. I remember vividly His words to me after my first concert..”See it wasn’t that bad was it?” I did not even get off the last step when He spoke that to me. My answer was “no it really wasn’t.” Talk about a HUGE burden lifted! I was FREE!  From then I learned how much I could trust Him to take over if I merely would show up and be faithful to that which He called me to.

Later He began nudging me to stand during worship….uh….when no one else was. I can not begin to share with you the wrestling between us over this. After all, I wanted to be loved and accepted just like everyone else does. Yet in this He taught me obedience at any moment void of pride over what others may think. It was merely a lesson between a Father and His child. One I would need for later. Yet what freedom came to me personally when I began to learn to please Him above man. I wish I could say I am always good in this kind of overcoming. However, it will raise it’s head from time to time to show me I had best have full dependance on God daily to walk in freedom.

Today, He is still working with me on some other personal struggles but I know that perfect love cast out all fear and He never wants us bound up. For He came to set the captives free. Sometimes friends, we don’t even know we are in a prison. I find myself wanting to return to some cages sometimes when something unexpected happens, disappointment comes, or rejection occurs. I am finding after years of ministry and learning of the Father’s character…that I..we..need constant submerging into His word to allow it to wash over us and keep us rooted in truth. Otherwise, we will choose a familiar cage to retreat to…merely because Satan knows we can be quite comfortable there and He will spend all the energy and stratagies required to drive us back to it.

The Cage

What cage do you find yourself in?

Do you recognize it as such?

Has it been so long since you’ve seen sunlight

Or felt the sweetness of His touch?

 

Is your cage one of such fear

That it plagues your deciding mind?

Not allowing for that which your heart

Has longed to do for some time?

 

Maybe your cage is unbelief

But you never really call it this.

For you have mastered the “lingo”

That hides behind your very own myth.

 

Could it be that your cage is just bondage

From your long ago or recent past?

That holds onto you so tight

That your future has been masked?

 

Oh let not the cage be unforgivenes!

Or poison will seep through the veins

And bitterness will break that which was destined

for you before your first day.

 

Sweet friend if your cage is one of lost-ness

Yet you feel no need to be found

Then You simply know not what your missing

And I pray you might look around.

 

For there is one that is longing

For you to see His sweet face

He has brought you The key to great freedom

If you will simply receive Him by faith.

 

See For God so loved you and the world

That He gave His very own son

That if YOU would give your life to Him

The cage doors would start flying open..

 

 

 2 Corinthians 3:17

 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

 

2 Corinthians 1:10

We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us. On Him we have set our hope that He will continue to deliver us.

 

Psalm 118:5

In my anguish I cried to the LORD, and He answered by setting me free. 

 

Psalm 34:4

 I sought the LORD, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears.