There is a compelling argument to be made that obedience is the one thing that is most important to God. And there is another argument to be made that a rejection of obedience is the most certain way of sabotaging a life. When the guilt and shame of past failures and traumas get locked away in the deepest corner of hearts, those wounds can create a false-self – a false-self that is crippled emotionally, in bondage and often unable to live in obedience to God’s commands and direction. And lives, marriages, families … and intimacy with God … are sabotaged and destroyed.
The theme of Rescuing Hidden Hearts is three-fold, and simple. Jesus can rescue. Obedience can rescue. Honesty can rescue. All three can vanquish a false-self, open prison doors and set a heart free. And lives, marriages, families, and intimacy are not only saved, they are resurrected, renewed and restored.
Obedience is the one thing God desires from humanity above all else. But obedience is a recurring challenge, particularly for those who are captive to the lies, fears and cirumstances of the past. Lies that are hidden in their hearts, catalysts of the “false-self” upon which many lives are built.
For hearts to be rescued, they need to be set free from the past lies that hold them in bondage. Once free from the past, the power of obedience can be released through the development and exercise of courage.
The purpose of this book is to provide insights that will help rescue hidden hearts from bondage, along with testimonies and practical experience that will encourage readers to pursue a life of freedom-giving obedience. There are two steps necessary to escape that bondage.
The first step is inviting Jesus into the specific traumas of the past and asking what Jesus would do, what Jesus would say, in each of those situations. The introduction of Jesus, and His truth, is a powerful weapon that will vanquish the lies and the false-self erected as a result of past trauma.
Free from the lies of the past, the second step is implementing the courage necessary to obey Christ in all things – particularly those areas of disobedience that have become “precious.” By identifying the emotional and psychological traps of a false self-image that hinder God’s plans, obedience to the Lordship of Christ precipitates the fulfillment of God’s sovereign plan and purpose.
As a result—with supporting commentary from Dr. James Leonard, former associate pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in New York City, and Dr. Azizi Seixas, Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and the heart-baring testimonies of twenty-one ordinary men and women struggling to obey—readers of this book will learn how to overpower the guilt and shame that imprison their hearts. And they will discover a life of freedom by employing the key of obedience – the one thing God desires above all else.
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