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Previous Daily Devotional About the cry of the multitudes for freedom… John 8:32 "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (NIV) Matthew 9:36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. (NIV) "We are the multitudes. Please hear our cry. We are imprisoned in a free world but we cannot find the motivation to try to escape. We cannot get out of the box we are in. We cannot escape from the prison we are in no matter where we go or how far away we run. We try our escapes in alcohol, drugs, and sex but there is no end to our imprisonment. The monsters of our lives keep coming back after we think we have outrun them. Demons come to dance on our souls when we think we have exorcised them. We are so wrapped up in ourselves we are choking and we are suffocating. We are wrapped up in our selves because of the circumstances of our birth, or the circumstances of our youth, or the other circumstances in our past over which we had no control. We are wrapped up in ourselves but we do not always know what the circumstances are that caused us to be as we are. We live so deep within ourselves it seems we are dead. Please help us, for the more we retreat within ourselves, the closer to death we move." If you are one of the multitudes, what is so painful for you to do is to get beyond where you are. It is not enough to just try a new medication or a new therapy when you have retreated into yourself. The problem of retreating into oneself, in its most simple of forms, is like a possession. The problem of retreating into oneself is that we get so wrapped up in ourselves, we cannot unwrap. It is both tragic and ironic that Christ lives within us and within our heart, yet we can miss Him entirely. For inside the prison of our heart, there is freedom. Inside the wrapping that we have folded over our hearts lives a being of love, a being of love that will help us break free from our imprisonment. There is within us, within our hearts, a person that will help us, encourage us, and give us the vision to peel off the layers of wrapping, one little layer at a time. And while we are unwrapping, He stands by us and tells us that with Him, every day is Christmas. He tells us that no matter what evil, awful, and tragic thing we have wrapped up within ourselves, He will turn the evil, awful, tragic thing into a gift we can use to help us. He tells us to take one little step at a time and He will be with us, even as we learn to freely walk again, freely breathe again, and freely see again. |
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