Real Freedom
Real Freedom for you and I.
We are called to be more like Christ every day. Faith is action and not just words. We love because He loved. We die to ourselves because He died for us. Finish well.
“For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake…. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.” – 2 Corinthians 4:11-12
It is the great mystery of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Death gives life.
* Jesus’ death on the cross gave life. *The death of a vision brings new vision. *The death of a seed gives new life.
It is the central focus of God’s requirement for experiencing Him–death.
When Jesus extended us an invitation to experience salvation and a relationship with Him, it came with a great cost, our very lives.
Yet what we don’t realize is that until we relinquish our total lives, we really aren’t living at all.
Without this death we will continue to strive, manipulate, and fret over every detail of life.
It is when we finally say, “Yes, Lord, I am Yours completely,” that we experience REAL freedom for the first time.
This is the only time when Christ is fully seen in and through our lives.
Christ describes our lives as vessels – vessels for Him to be revealed in and seen by others.
Our trials and tribulations are for a testing and a defining of the character God intended US to be in His kingdom.
James 1:2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
I was reminded of the Israelites in Babylon when they hung their harps on the willows(Psalm 137:1). I believe many of us, the Lord’s people, have not raised our voices in song or played our instruments because of the oppression of the times we live in. But, the Lord releases us from bondage to sing a new song that will come forth with supernatural joy that will transcend our circumstances and afflictions. This is the joy and Freedom that comes from abiding in the Spirit; the true joy of war and victory.
John 4:4 But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.
Christ is pounding on the walls of our hearts to be noticed, and in a sense to be released. Do not let the temptations of the flesh hinder you in letting God out of your heart to share what he has to offer with the world. God realizes it is part of human nature to occasionally forget to have purpose through/for Him rather than ourselves.
I ask myself “how is my vessel today?
In our workplace, we are faced with challenges each day that seek to instill fear and control at every turn, but Christ says He wants to live through your life in the workplace.
God wants to reveal Himself to your fellow workers today. However, He can only do this if our vessel is free of ourselves.
Hebrews 5: 8 Son (Jesus) though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered
Lord Jesus what things must die in me today in order for You to live completely in and through me! I pray Psalms 139: 23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Lord we know None of us is perfect, and You already know that. Help me Lord to come to You in my imperfections, humble And recognize my failed condition before You, and simply offer myself as a servant to You–failures and all. Lord have your way in me! Cause me to know you oh God, to serve you faithfully in righteousness!
Thank You Jesus for dying on the CROSS which Gave us Victory and Freedom over Sin through You!!!!In Jesus Name. Amen