un-fet-tered

Last week while driving down the road, my favorite radio personality said a word that grabbed me: "unfettered."  Being an odd gal who loves words, I pulled over and wrote the word down so that I wouldn’t forget it and so that I could ponder its meaning.

The adjective unfettered describes something or someone uninhibited and unrestrained.

Not bound by chains or shackles.

At church yesterday my newly embraced word unwittingly became the theme for service as Pastor played a video regarding prison ministry.  Different women shared their testimonies throughout the video; some women had been released from prison and some women were still donning yellow jumpsuits, confined as inmates within the facility.

I found the women dressed in yellow to be beautiful beyond words.  We  witnessed transformations of radiant women released from the chains of captivity by the One who has the power to “bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release for the prisoners.” (Isaiah 61:1)

Though held within the walls of a prison, these women were unfettered in their souls.  By giving God permission to embrace them, some women were able to acknowledge their true identities for the first time.  His glory shined through the eyes of unfettered inmates.

As I looked around at my fellow sojourners in the church, I wondered how many of us were masking our own yellow jumpsuits.  Free, yet not unfettered.  Our cries echoing David when he cried, “Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name.” (Ps.142:7)

The Word of God portrays men and women who understood how to live not bound by chains or shackles, even whilst being literally chained and shackled.  Joseph served God from the confines of an unfair imprisonment.  The Apostle Paul persisted in his call to share the Gospel of Christ in spite of his shackles and imprisonment.

Here’s the truth: no one can unfetter his or her own soul.  True unfettering happens in the secret places where we go to meet with our Father alone.  As we pour out our hearts to Him, confessing sins that are hooked deep within our hearts--He releases the hooks that hold us captive.

We hold out empty hands, welcoming the Holy Spirit to fill us with Him, and we are changed.  Instead of prisoners to sin, we become prisoners of Christ Jesus.  Our identity no longer tied to yellow jumpsuits; we become unfettered.

Unfettered freedom is contagious.

If you are living your life in bondage and long to be set free; He is only a whisper away.  If you are too weary to call on the name of Jesus, borrow the faith of a fellow-believer and ask someone you trust to climb into the foxhole with you to wage battle for your soul.

It is for freedom that we have been set free.

Unrestricted. Unlimited. Unhindered. Unfettered Freedom.

Stay the Course...

Sheila