TIED TO A STICK

A farmer in India brought a covey of quail to sell at the market. Each one of the birds had a string tied to one leg and the other end tied to a stick in the ground. They had been taught to walk in circles around the stick, hour after hour and day after day; and no one in the market seemed to be interested in what seemed to be this odd ritual. One day a man came along and bought the quail from the farmer. After paying for them the man simply told the farmer to cut the quail loose and set them free! With a puzzled look on his face the farmer cut the string and set them free. Oddly, the birds kept going in circles. The man tried earnestly by shewing them to make them fly away. But oddly enough, the quail just landed a few yards away from where they had been tied to the stick and resumed their march; even though they were no longer tied to the stick. Free on the outside, but imprisoned on the inside! The quail had been set free, yet they were still bound by what they had been taught and the way that they had lived all their life.

That stick represented their bondage, and when the man bought them and set them free, they chose to continue to be imprisoned by what they were use to. They had accepted their bondage and had learned to live with it. The scripture tells us that whom the Lord sets free they are free indeed....2 Cor. 3:17 tells us that "...where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."
 

Many people live imprisoned by something in their past that they can not break away from. They do not have the freedom to simply walk away because they have yet to realize that their freedom comes in the way of the cross. Like the quail, many of us need to embrace that which sets us free. For those who have been set free in Christ the scriptures tell us that they are free indeed. Sometimes, the children of God through wrong choices can very easily slide back into a state in which they were delivered from and is often times referred to as a backslidden state.  They have listened to the enemy and got talked into going with the wrong crowd or the wrong way and they end up feeling that dreaded string called bondage that has attached itself to one of their feet and can once again feel like those quail, free on the outside, but imprisoned on the inside!  If you have these feelings, may I please tell you  that you can break away....Jesus said that He died to give us life....and life more abundant.....that means that we are free to fly away whenever we want to.....we just simply have to want to bad enough!

If one of your feet is tied to a stick that is keeping you in some type of bondage today, then make yourself ready and listen to God as He tells you; that you do have His power at your fingertips....yet you must be serious...you can not play games.....you can't want God today, then go back to those old friends and ways that do not please Him and expect to live victorious and free.

You see God's freedom is a freedom not to sin anymore....the chain has been broken for the child of God! They just have to realize that they are no longer captive any more. If you are still struggling...seek help, get counsel...but do not think that you are still tied to your past mistakes.....that is only a choice that you make. True freedom can be found in doing the will of God in obedience. God releases His power through our obedience. Have you found His will for your life yet?

Salvation is like being transformed from a caterpillar to a butterfly.....when He changes you, you know you have been changed; the old is gone behold all things become new!

I love you and am praying for you!
Bren