Deep Thoughts or Random Ramblings?: Breaking the Chains

Friday, February 15, 2008

Breaking the Chains

I was listening to a podcast today from Ed Young-- pastor of Fellowship Church in Ft Worth--called Pronoun-Us. ( you can get it on iTunes) Part of his message really made me think.

A man walking to a circus saw an elephant chained to a stake with a flimsy bicycle chain. He asked the trainer how the little chain held the big beast to the stake. The trainer laughed and said, I've had the elephant since he was a baby. When he was a baby, he didn't have the strength to break the chain. Now, if he wanted to, he could break it like a thread. But the memory keeps him teathered to the stake.

Why is so many times we are like that elephant? We've been tied to things that have had strongholds over us for so long. We have grown so accustomed to the things that tie us down, that we don't even try to break free. We just believe that where we are is all we're ever going to be. If we could only believe, if we only had faith, if we only had complete trust in the One that can break any stronghold... how much more fulfilling could life be?

4 comments:

shanna said...: I too have Ed Young on my ipod. He has great sermons. You have no idea how timely this post is for me. This is sooooo true. God is asking me to break free in an area where nothing is really holding me in bondage except me...and some old stinkin' thinkin' :); February 17, 2008 at 6:48 PM
Aims said...: If this is timely... how timely is the new Life Church series?! I think Hostage is going to be very impactful.; February 17, 2008 at 10:26 PM
Aims said...: Oh, and ps... I'll be praying about whatever it is that God is asking you to break free of. You know you can with HIM! Love you!; February 17, 2008 at 10:28 PM
Chick4Christ said...: That is def a good point amy! i've been struggling with the exact same thing! When we step back and really look at the big picture it seems so stupid that we're even held down by those things!

anyways, hope you're having a good day! loves ya; February 18, 2008 at 8:33 AM

Quotable Quotes

The world needs a revolution. All a revolution needs are a few volunteers.
Faith that remains unchallenged ordinarily remains unchanged.
God's delays are not His denials.
I've had enough yesterdays with my God to trust Him with my tomorrows.
Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets. So love the people who treat you right, forget about the ones who don't, and believe that everything happens for a reason. If you get the chance, take it, if it changes your life, let it. Nobody said it'd be easy, they just said it would be worth it.
We either add to the darkness of indifference... or we light a candle to see by.
Faith isn't belief without proof, it's trust without reservation.
The decision to step toward your destiny will often require a daring step away from your security.
You think you have a lot to lose if you step out in obedience. In fact you have nothing to lose, but everything to gain.
When you want something you have never had, you must do something you've never done.
God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called.
I do not understand the mystery of Grace-only that it meets us where we are, but does not leave us where it found us.
If you chase blessings, they'll out run you. But if you chase God, the blessings will overflow.
The Will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you.
Reputation is what people think you are. Character is what God knows you are.
A woman should be so hidden in God, that a man should have to pursue Christ to find her.

His Word

James 1:3 ~ For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.
Psalm 143:8 ~ Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you.
2 Corinthians 1:4 ~ He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.
Hebrews 11:1 ~ Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Psalm 139:23 ~ Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
2 Corinthians 12:7-10 ~ There was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Romans 8:24-25 ~ For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
Romans 5:2-5 ~ And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
1 John 1:6-7 ~ If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
Matthew 5:14-16 ~ You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
John 15:1-2 ~ I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
Ephesians 3:16-19 ~ I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Philippians 3:13 ~ I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.
Isaiah 58:10 ~ Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.
Isaiah 61:1-3 ~ The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion -- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.
Esther 4:14 ~ For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?
Nehemiah 4:14 ~ After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes."