“Empty Boxes” by D’kresha Adams
“Empty Boxes”
by D’kresha Adams
“Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age according to the will of our God and Father.” Galations 1:3-4
Have you ever prayed, fasted and asked the Lord to deliver you from something?
And you were delivered…….. So you thought. You kneeled at the foot of the cross and laid down that person, problem, and or place and yet you find yourself picking it back up as you stand. Or maybe you even laid it down and never picked it back up but you found yourself searching for its replacement. I’ve been there; I’ve exchanged one idol for another. Paul tells us in Galations 4:8-9 “But in the past, when you didn’t know God, you were enslaved to the things that by nature are not gods. But now since you know God, or rather have become known by God , How can you turn back again to the weak and bankrupt elemental forces? Do you want to be enslaved to the all over again?”
In between the verses I see myself looking for freedom in slavery. I guess you could call me Israel. We are all Israel, looking for freedom outside of salvation. We look for peace outside of Him and there is none. We lay down our idols to pick new one’s up and yet we angrily cry out to the lord to deliver us from a ditch we dug. Jackie Hill Perry once said, “Your idols don’t love you.” The relationship we have with our idols is like Israel and Pharaoh. Even when the Lord breaks the sea in half on our behalf, we complain the whole way to freedom. We romanticize bondage, as if we actually had the key and freedom wasn’t a necessity to breathe. Our idols cannot hold us if we are not holding them. Our sin cannot have us if we resist. Our sin makes our flesh feel good, meanwhile our soul is in turmoil. Where faith is lacking, so is the acceptance of His grace and the absence of grace is the absence of peace. Martin Luther once said, “Grace releases sin, and peace makes the conscience quiet.”
Martin Luther also said, “Grace contains the remission of sins; peace a quiet and joyful conscience. Peace of conscience can never be had, unless sin be first forgiven.” And how can you ask for forgiveness if you don’t recognize what is your sin?
So, here you are today and peace is passing you and grace seems distant. I want you to know that it isn’t. Take inventory of the boxes in the closet of your soul and unwrap every one. One by one throw away every box that’s empty, because that’s what sin is, a beautifully wrapped box that’s empty inside. Christ said: “My peace I give unto you, not as the world gives.” Martin Luther says “The peace of the world grants nothing but the peace of our goods and bodies. But in the affliction, and in the hour of death, the grace and favor of the world cannot help us.”
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“I was warned about white washed tombs but who knew the dead could walk?
Who knew it would be you?
You don’t even know where you begin or end.
You can’t tell your genesis from your revelation.
I paid no mind to King nailed to the tree I just saw you at His feet.
But you weren’t there for Him but for me.
Sent to distract me.
Never would’ve thought Lucifer would be that close to Calvary.
But there you were kneeling next to me being used by the enemy of my soul unknowingly.
The enemy knows my desires and he specializes in counterfeit.
I fell for it.
I fell for you because I was not in tune with the Spirit.
Just like Lauryn (Hill) said, “Truth comes and we can’t hear it. We’ve been programmed to fear it.”
So deep in you I was growing from your roots bearing strange fruit that were not of the Spirit.
And to quote Lauryn again “Truth came and I couldn’t hear it, programmed to fear it.”
I’ll be damned if I don’t understand everybody at His feet ain’t there to be clean, to heed His instructions.
You were there for my destruction.
I was there for construction.
So yes you were so beautiful under that tree.
But I’m only on my knees for the King.
I am not here for you.
Your blood cannot wash me.
Your stripes cannot heal me. You are salt water.
I can thirst and thirst but you will never satisfy.
So keep your empty box, my closet is filled.”
-kreshaA
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So you’re back at the foot of the cross and when you want to turn back, remember the whips on the Son’s back taken so that we can be the moon and reflect His light in this dark world. Remember that peace from Him is surpassing. Remember that you can have a new identity. The state of your faith is a reflection of your acceptance of His grace. So this time as you’re at His feet take residency there. You can be new in Christ laying down all your members to be a member of the body of Christ. You can step out of relationship with sin and into relationship with Him. “Put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him.” –Colossians 3:10
My prayer is that this post will encourage you to live at His feet and heed His instruction even when the world is threatening destruction. You can still made new and ties with the old you and its desires can be severed.
About the Author: D’kresha Adams
D’kresha is a native of Huntsville and attends Stillman College. When she isn’t doing school stuff she’s sharing the love of Jesus. D’kresha wants to live in a world where everyone has a love filter and loves Starbucks and summer nights. D’kresha wants a world where everyone has not just facts about Jesus but the truth about him. A world where people not only know about God but know God. D’kresha wants everyone to know that it is in the pain and lows of life that you’re elevated. D’kresha wants the world to know it is in God allowing the ugly experiences that we understand just how beautiful He is and we are through Him!
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