When Christians experience a reoccurring difficulty they often say, "Well - God's got me on a short leash." That is NOT true. God doesn't treat you that way. He draws you with cords of love NOT leashes of financial duress, sickness, fear or condemnation. The short leash is from your enemy NOT your God. Don't confuse the two.
We are to submit to God and resist the enemy. You need to know for yourself that God is ALL good towards you - the yuck is from your enemy. If you think the short leash is from God, you will never resist it.
Under the law, punishment would come if a person disobeyed or strayed from God. Thank you Lord that we are now under the covenant of grace where punishment for ALL our sins fell on Jesus at the cross. He was made to be "sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (1 Cor 5:21) Christ fulfilled the law and gave us His righteousness so when God looks at you, He sees you as righteous - not deserving of punishment BECAUSE you have accepted His Son's gift of righteousness.
Stay with me here - in the natural world, if someone is domineering and uses force or manipulates things such that a person has to stay with them for fear of harm, that is considered abuse. There are criminal consequences and special places for people who act in abusive ways. True love "loves" with an open hand, where one voluntarily places their hand in the other persons hand. God is that way - He gently offers His perfect love and grace to you NOT a short leash, jerking a chain to keep you close to Him.
Submit to God's good will towards you and resist the enemy's tactics of lack, sickness, fear, etc. The short leash is from the enemy NOT from God. That short leash is to keep you from experiencing the abundant life Christ came to bring. God draws you with cords of love (Hosea 11:4). It's His kindness that leads you to changing your mind about a situation NOT a short leash (Romans 2:4). The scripture reads, "...the kindness of God leads you to repentance." Repentance is the Greek word metanoia and it means to have a change of mind - to think differently.
The way God helps us to think differently about a situation or our attitude is by His kindness. The way He draws us close to Him is by love. Recognize who clipped that short leash to you and UNCLIP it by changing your mind regarding what you think about God. He loves you with an everlasting, unconditional love. Think correctly about God and correctly of your enemy. God IS good and kind.
NO MORE short leashes...live in a leash-free zone!
