“Awake, awake, Zion, clothe yourself with strength! Put on your garments of splendor, Jerusalem, the holy city. The uncircumcised and defiled will not enter you again. Shake off your dust; rise up, sit enthroned, Jerusalem. Free yourself from the chains on your neck, Daughter Zion, now a captive” (Is. 52:1-2, NIV).
How many times do we ask God to free us from chains that we have placed on ourselves?
God often calls us out of our bondage, but we choose to stay in the comfort of what we know even though we are hurting. We may hope that a speaker or pastor holds the answer. But no amount of approval from others will grant us freedom; no seminar or sermon can unlock the chains we allow to hang on ourselves.
The key is only found in our own hands—that is, in surrendering completely to God.
It is a contradiction for a child of Zion to be a captive.
God is not interested in all of your accomplishments; He wants to take you in the midst of your chaos and create something beautiful.
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:9-10).
What if, as a son or daughter of Zion, you dared to take hold of these words and your freedom? What would change about your life?
Janet Perez Eckles 
Shawn Akers 
Abby Trivett 
