Steady Love
“The Lord sets captives FREE”
In the corners of our hearts, many of us carry captive places - areas of suffering, pain, and insecurity yet to be released. Despite our best efforts, it is hard to rid ourselves of captivity. And yet, Jesus came to set every captive free.
Jesus came to drive out demons and heal the sick and comfort the afflicted by His love. In the same way, Jesus comes to you. With His steady love, He picks up every broken piece of our hearts, calls out every area of sin, and touches every painful memory - and then He proclaims His victory over it.
Everything is made new by His love. Every area of captivity we carry is set free through His healing hands.
But only if we let Him. The Psalmist says,
“[Blessed the one] whose hope is in the Lord, [her] God.”
If we do not hope in the Lord, it is nearly impossible to find freedom. Without hoping in Him, we’re not going to hand over our captive places. It’s too scary, too painful, and too uncomfortable. Why go through all of that heartache?
The captive places of our hearts are the areas that most need Jesus’ “kid-gloves.” They are areas that we tend to spit fire, breakdown, or check out. They are the “touchy subjects” - the areas that lies fester and hearts break. They carry our biggest wounds, insecurities, and disappointments: failure, toxic habits of sin, weight and appearance, what if’s, broken down dreams, etc… the list goes on and on for each person.
Areas of captivity are really hard to fight alone. They need tenderness and compassion, gentleness and honesty, love and affirmation. They need genuine friendship, earned intimacy, and authentic love - in short, they need trust.
Hope is brave, courageous trust in our God.
When we hope in the Lord, we hope in His ability to save us from every captivity we face. No matter how big. We trust Him to be God and to be good at it.
You see, the more we seek Him, the more we discover the captive parts of our hearts. Jesus doesn’t reveal captivity to inflict pain, but so we can become aware of our need. Because Jesus does not barge in. He’s so humble that He waits to be invited into the painful places. But we have to see our brokenness before we can invite Him to it.
He loves to reveal our captive places so that He can heal them.
Jesus doesn’t show us our captivity to hurt us, He shows us to heal us. Because He loves to heal us. He came to make us whole, to restore us to right relationship - right relationship with the Father, with creation, and with ourselves.
What areas are still captive within you? Are there places you just can’t let go? Where do you need Him to come? Do you need to reorient your hope? Does it hurt you to hope for certain things? Are there parts of your heart or mind that are so disappointed that hope feels too optimistic? Where is your belief lacking?
If He is who He says He is, He is a healer. Invite Him into your captive places. Receive from Him. Lean into Him and let Him do what He does best with His ever steady love.
Father,
We cry out to you, from the depths of our hearts, from the broken places within us - we need You. Teach us to long for Your heart and Your goodness. Break the chains of our captivity with your tender, gentle love. Remind us how very safe You are. Help us to receive You more deeply today, that Your love may glow like an ember within us. Father, we know that You always come when we seek You - please show us Your presence today. We long to see You. And when we’re working on the captive places with You, we need Your small reminders of affection and affirmation. Jesus, when we are weak, You are so strong. Please be our strength. Help us to lean on You and give us the courage to seek You every day.
