Through the Narrow Gate
Title: Freeze Tag
by Deb Nelson
Freeze Tag
(Please see my article “He Touched Me” for part one.)
One Sunday my Pastor’s sermon was called “Freeze Tag”. When you were
a kid, did you ever play the game freeze tag? It’s just like playing tag,
one person is “it” and runs around, trying to tag the others, the only difference
is once you are tagged, you must freeze in that position. You remain that
way until one of the other people that aren’t “it” come and touch you and
unfreeze you, then you are free to run around again. Well my life related
to this game of freeze tag, as I’m sure many other’s do. At a point in
my life I was touched and frozen. The part of me that was frozen didn’t
grow up and also didn’t want to feel because of the pain I was trying to
avoid. I needed to find ways to numb my feelings. People get frozen for
different reasons, either for one reason or for a combination of reasons.
I think mine was a combination. I had really low self-esteem and self worth;
I had what I call a “soil of shame” and a “root of rejection”. These were
brought into my life for various reasons.
“...For you shall forget the
shame of your youth...” Isaiah 54:4
When I heard the sermon Freeze Tag something happened inside of me. Monday,
I decided to quit smoking pot, I was going to call my Pastor and speak with
him about the sermon and realized Monday was his day off. I didn’t call
him that day and I didn’t quit drugs, but I did only smoke one joint (instead
of the usual 8!). Tuesday came and I got up my nerve and called my Pastor.
He was so gracious! I poured it all out, I told him all the things I was
ashamed of and how helpless I was to stop on my own. I just wanted to live
for Jesus-completely! He talked to me about my concerns of quitting and
starting a new life, he prayed with me and that was the day I quit!
“Confess
to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your
offenses, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed
and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]. The earnest (heartfelt,
continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic
in its working].” James 5:16 AMP
Once you’re frozen in life, you need a touch to get defrosted just like
in the game. The difference being in the game anyone other than the person
that is “it” can touch you, but in life, it has to be Jesus. He comes and
touches that frozen part of you and you’re defrosted. That part of you is
now allowed to grow and to feel. It’s a difficult process. Even if you are
supernaturally delivered like I was from the addictive substance, there
are still a lot of things you have to do in the aftermath of it. For me,
the part that was frozen was my emotions; I truly didn’t know how to feel,
or what I was feeling. Making decisions was hard; I didn’t know what my
opinions were. I cried very easily because my emotions were right on the
surface. I wasn’t used to feeling, so when I did feel it was really intense.
“Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And there
was a woman there who for eighteen years had had an infirmity caused by
a spirit (a demon of sickness). She was bent completely forward and utterly
unable to straighten herself up or to look upward. And when Jesus saw her,
He called (her to Him) and said to her, Woman, you are released from your
infirmity! Then He laid (His) hands on her and instantly she was made straight,
and she recognized and thanked and praised God.” Luke 13:10-13 AMP
This sums up how Jesus touched me. I was frozen in life always looking
down, unable to look up because the things of the world held me in bondage.
Jesus touched me and I wasn’t frozen any more, I could look up and see Jesus,
look Him right in the eye and know that He loved me, He healed me from my
infirmity!
“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds [curing their pains
and their sorrows].” Psalm 147:3 AMP
Anyone can be used by Jesus to be “Jesus in the skin” to someone else,
let Him use you today. Let Him use your former pain and shame to minister
to others. Help Him set the captives free.
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me
to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those
who are bound” Isaiah 61:1 NKJV
“Instead of your [former] shame you shall have a twofold recompense...”
Isaiah 61:7a AMP
“who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort
those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves
are comforted by God.” II Corinthians 1:4 RSV
(Continued in my next
article “The Battle Belongs to the Lord”)
© Deb Nelson 2001
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