If you walked out of the grave…

Of late, I can feel changes in myself and in my surroundings. I haven’t really been able to place my finger on it, the best word I can use to describe it is a shifting. I’ve felt it in my work life, my home life, and even my spiritual life.

Operating out of your gifting can sometimes be a scary place when you’ve not accepted the freedom that God has given you to walk in those places. As I’ve often shared, singing has always been a place that is hard for me to step out. For the last year and a half, that has been a place that God has begun drawing me out in, however. I began by volunteering to sing on our adult worship team in our church (my first step in being obedient to the drawing of the Lord). For nearly a year, I was just singing there but then God began dealing with me about not only operating in my gift but operating in boldness as well (because I shied away from direct recognition in that area—I was holding a microphone and singing enough to help but not enough to be heard).

A leader in our church (and now friend of mine) came to me and asked me to sing for a small group ministry that she runs around this same time. I immediately told her I would and my husband and I began attending this ministry to help with music but also began to get involved there. God has really been growing both Mike and myself through this ministry program and we have both recently graduated into the leadership program there. I continue to assist the worship leader with music there periodically but the Lord has continued to draw me out.

Recently, I was asked to sing a solo verse on our worship team for the first time. I agreed (again, obedience to what I know God is doing in my life) but immediately began to deal with the insecurities that have attacked that area of my ministry my entire life. I have two wonderful friends (who are also members of our worship team and are aware of my struggle here) who are faithful to remind me that God has called me to more than I could do on my own and receiving/accepting that calling and being obedient to allow him to work through me isn’t about me but about my obedience to him.

Let me tell y’all something I’ve learned, when we are faithful to let go of all that junk we carry–the fear, the insecurity, the unworthiness, the shame, the JUNK—God begins to strengthen us in the places he’s already equipped us in. You see, there are gifts and places of ministry that God has placed within you even before you were known to anyone other than him. These are places that God wants to birth forth ministry and use you to walk in the power and authority only you can in that area of ministry. Satan also recognizes  these areas that would be a threat to him and he works through fear and insecurity to attempt to keep us from stepping into these roles. The enemy knows that when we recognize our gifts aren’t for ourselves but for the glory of God, to be used by God when we are faithful to yield our own selves to his purpose, we become a force against the very gates of Hell. When we surrender ourselves to the spirit of God and allow him to work in and through us, we can come under the anointing and can begin to reach people in a way that only God can do.

My challenge to you this very early morning is to think on this: what are you afraid of doing? What are you carrying around (junk) that God is whispering to you about? What areas are you withholding obedience to walk in?

There’s a song that I love right now called “Ain’t No Grave” that Bethel music put out on their last album (it’s adapted from an old time hymnal type song). It discusses how shame is a prison, Satan is a liar, and declares that no grave can hold us down. Before, when I’ve heard the original version, I’ve always thought about no grave holding people down as a declaration for eternity with the Lord once Jesus returns. Now, with this adapted version, the Lord has spoken to me over and over again about how we place ourselves inside “graves” of isolation (fear, insecurity, unworthiness, shame, self-loathing, etc) and allow the enemy to hold us captive there by accepting his lies over ourselves instead of speaking the truth of who/what God says we are. I love this song because it declares “There ain’t no grave gonna hold my body down.” I’ve allowed that to become a declaration in my own life because each time a fear or insecurity attempts to quell me walking in what I now accept as a gifting from God, I can speak to it with authority of knowing who God says I am. My favorite line is “If you walked out of the grave, I’m walking too.” You see, we know that Jesus rose from his literal grave on the third day. He got up, took authority over the “captors” of death and the grave, and WALKED out. We can do this in our spiritual lives too.

If you’re not walking in an area that you should be, if you’re held captive by something that is a “grave” in your life, take authority over those things in the name of Jesus and WALK out of that grave. Declare victory in the name of Jesus and stand on the promises the word of God provides us. I promise you, you will never be disappointed when you do.