Purpose: To remind you that freedom isn’t found in having more. It’s found in paying attention to the God who has been faithfully leading you all along.
Freedom Was Never What I Thought It Was
The greatest prison isn’t your circumstances. It’s forgetting what God has already done.
Happy Fourth of July.
This morning, before the world woke up, before the grills were fired up, before the fireworks, before the flags...
I asked God a simple question.
“What is freedom?”
I expected an answer.
Instead, He asked me to remember.
One by one, He brought things to my mind that I had completely overlooked.
My family.
My health.
The people He’s placed in my life.
The opportunities I didn’t deserve.
Then He took me somewhere I wasn’t expecting.
He reminded me of my financial mistakes.
The terrible timing.
The decisions that, if I’m honest, I wish I could erase.
I thought, Why are we talking about those?
Then it hit me.
Every single one of those moments should have buried me.
Every one.
And yet...
Here I am.
Not because I was smart enough.
Not because I was disciplined enough.
Not because I always made the right decision.
Because God never stopped being faithful.
Sometimes I think we spend so much time asking God for what’s next that we forget to thank Him for everything He’s already carried us through.
Maybe that’s where freedom begins.
Not with getting everything we want.
But remembering everything we’ve already been given.
Then God spoke something I’ll never forget.
He wasn’t asking me to have blind faith.
He was asking me to pay attention.
There’s a difference.
Listening is free.
Paying attention costs you something.
It costs your pride.
It costs your agenda.
It costs your need to always be right.
It costs your comfort.
Listening happens with your ears.
Paying attention happens with your life.
That’s when He showed me something I’d never connected before.
Faith isn’t where this journey starts.
Trust is.
And trust doesn’t magically appear.
Trust is built by paying attention.
Every time God showed up.
Every prayer He answered.
Every closed door that eventually became protection.
Every heartbreak that somehow became preparation.
Every setback that turned into a setup.
Every impossible situation that somehow worked together for good.
Trust grows because the evidence keeps piling up.
Then hope begins to breathe.
And eventually...
Faith becomes the only logical response.
Not because someone told you to believe.
Because you’ve lived it.
That’s not blind faith.
That’s proven faith.
Then my mind wandered back years ago.
My Pops and I were walking through Wicker Park in Chicago after we’d signed the lease on a brand-new salon.
If you’ve ever started something from scratch, you know the feeling.
An empty building.
No clients.
No team.
No reputation.
No guarantees.
Just bills.
Stress.
Questions.
I could only see everything we didn’t have.
But Pops...
He saw something completely different.
He stopped in the middle of the neighborhood, smiled, looked around, and said,
“Boy... you better pay attention.
This place is about to blow the windows out.
Get ready.”
I wanted to believe him.
I really did.
But all I could see was empty space.
He wasn’t looking through my eyes.
He was looking through God’s promises.
Years later...
That little 1,100-square-foot salon became the most successful business I ever opened.
Over $1.26 million a year.
Zero walk-in traffic.
Zero marketing dollars.
Twenty-six percent profit.
Seven styling chairs.
Four color chairs.
Four shampoo bowls.
Exactly like Pops said.
He wasn’t guessing.
He was paying attention.
And that’s exactly what Proverbs 4 has been trying to teach us for over 3,000 years.
“Get wisdom.
Get understanding.
Above all else, guard your heart.
Keep your eyes straight ahead.
Give careful thought to the path beneath your feet.”
Those aren’t suggestions.
They’re invitations.
God isn’t asking you to follow Him because He’s insecure.
He’s inviting you because He loves you.
He isn’t trying to control your life.
He’s trying to protect it.
Maybe today you’re staring at an empty building.
Maybe your empty building looks like a struggling marriage.
A diagnosis.
A dream that feels impossible.
A business that isn’t growing.
A relationship that needs healing.
Or maybe it’s simply a heart that’s exhausted from carrying everything by yourself.
Can I remind you of something?
God has already proven Himself.
Over...
And over...
And over again.
The evidence is sitting all throughout your life.
You just have to slow down long enough to notice it.
Freedom isn’t the absence of problems.
Freedom is knowing that no matter what tomorrow holds, you’re walking with a God whose track record has never failed.
So today...
Listen.
Then pay attention.
Because listening is free.
Paying attention will cost you.
But I’ve never seen a better return on investment.
Not even close.
The VIBE Method™
HEART: Gratitude changes what you see because it reminds you of who has been carrying you all along.
MIND: Trust isn’t blind. It’s built by remembering God’s faithfulness.
SKILLS: Before you ask God for what’s next, spend ten minutes writing down every time He’s already shown up in your life. Watch what happens to your faith.
INCHSTONE
Before you go to bed tonight, write down five moments where God was faithful—even if you didn’t recognize it at the time.
You might discover you’ve been far freer than you realized.
Question:
If you honestly looked at the evidence of your life instead of the uncertainty of your future... what would become possible?
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You’re the greatest….so act accordingly!!!
