Bondage?

From the book of Nahum:

What the Lord does to His enemies:

• avenge
• His fury will be poured out like fire
• He will throw rocks down on them
• darkness will pursue them
• He will put and end to conspiracies
• It only takes one time for the Lord to fully tear it away.

Who are the LORD's enemies?

"The LORD has given a command concerning you:

Your name shall be perpetuated no longer.

Out of the house of your gods

I will cut off the carved image and the molded image.

I will dig your grave,

For you are vile." Nahum 1:14

The Lord wants to set us free from our enemies. The enemies of the Lord are those things that place His people in bondage. I will remind you here: you are a child of God. A father will NOT stand by and watch His child suffer. He cannot sit and see His child hurt. He WILL rescue them! YOUR enemies are the Lord's enemies and if those enemies are holding you in bondage (as many enemies of Israel did), you can be assured that the Lord wants to rescue you from them!

What is keeping you...putting you...in bondage?

Bondage ensnares and entraps us. It keeps us from the freedom we have in Christ. Let me challenge you to do something. Take a minute, pray that the Lord gives you complete honestly, then open your eyes and honestly write down your answers to these questions.

• What causes me to groan? (Exodus 2:23)
• What am i fearful of? (Romans 8:15)
• What tries to subject me? (Galatians 2:4)
• What are doctrines of false brothers that i believe? (Galatians 2:4)
• What is the opposite of liberty? (Galatians 2:4)
• What is born of the flesh? (Galatians 4:24)
• What yoke is entangling me? (Galatians 5:1)
• What subjects me by a fear of death? (Hebrews 2:15)
• What is overcoming me? (2 Peter 2:19)
• What is deceiving me? (2 Peter 2:19)
  

Now look at this list. These things are holding you in bondage. These things...people...feelings...thoughts...actions...reactions...are the bondage that is keeping you from experiencing the pure freedom in Christ.

Reading through Nahum and recognizing that God's enemies are those things that keep His people in bondage...lets go a step further. Those things you wrote down? Those are God's enemies. Those things are the direct antithesis of who are Beloved is and where our Beloved wants us.

*BUT REMEMBER* read the beginning of this devotion. What does the Lord do to His enemies?

*NOW* read Nahum 1:1-6. Find comfort that that is what our Father wants to do with your bondage. Read the next verse. (Verse 7). Here is the challenge: do you trust the Lord?

Find comfort in these words. Know that the Lord wants to utterly destroy your enemies. your bondage. Read a step further.

Nahum 1:15 "Behold, on the mountains

The feet of him who brings good tidings,

Who proclaims peace!

O Judah, keep your appointed feasts,

Perform your vows.

For the wicked one shall no more pass through you;

He is utterly cut off."

Know this. If you go away from this remembering one thing. remember this: God wants to fight your battles for you! He commands His people, Judah, to keep their appointed feasts...to perform their vows. He doesn't need our help fighting our bondage. He will do it. All we have to do is sit and obey. Rest in the commandments the Lord has given us. Find comfort that the LORD GOD is in your midst...

The Mighty One, will save;

He will rejoice over you with gladness,

He will quiet you with His love,

He will rejoice over you with singing." (Zeph 3:17)

To ACT OUT Psalm 37:3-7....(read below)