Daily Devotional – 4/11/19 “This is your pardon!”

I’m working on a new book and when I tell you, it has pulled from places within me… whew! On last night, while trying to finish it (I’ve changed the ending 5 times), God gave me this word. When you’ve been in prison for a while, after being found guilty, the governor has the ability to grant you a pardon. Now, the pardon doesn’t remove the offense from your record but you can no longer be held to the restrictions of your previous charge. In other words, a pardon forgives you for the crime you committed, either because you were wrongly convicted or the punishment you’ve received was too harsh for the crime. As people of God, we will make mistakes, we will go through some things and we will have things happen to us that we can’t control. When things happen, as they will; we tend to carry the weight with us, from place to place and relationship to relationship. A person who has been abused, carries that abuse. A person who has been broken, will carry the brokenness. A person who has been hurt will carry the hurt. Sad reality, it’ll show up every time you think you’re doing okay.

Why? Because you’ve sentenced yourself to a lifetime of recycling instead of destroying. Beloved, it’s time you go free. You’ve spent too much time making yourself pay for a mistake you made. You’ve spent too much time in darkness, ashamed of what you’ve done. You’ve allowed people the power to continually make you pay for something they claimed to have forgiven you for. Today, this is your pardon. You shall no longer be ashamed, hold your head up. You shall no longer sit in the dark, replaying what happened to you, come out and be free. Romans 8:1-3 says, “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.”

Baby, consider this your pardon. You are free and the chains are no longer holding you. Take up your mat and walk. Go, your faith has made you whole. This is your pardon. Oh, if you find yourself still stuck, it’s because the only person that can hold you back, once God releases you, is you.