FREEDOM
Here is a little something I wrote last year and is really burning on my heart still...
FREEDOM
May 10, 2013
Psalm 34:4 “I prayed to the Lord, and He answered me. He freed me from all my fears.”
I have experienced a lot of freedom in my life. I was once bound up in fear. Then God supernaturally delivered me. I was like a mummy all wrapped up and lying in the grave. But He spun me around and unwound my burial garments. I still have a long way to go. Unfortunately, this is how most of the church lives. And we wonder why we feel so dead and full of sin, instead of alive like Christ and performing miracles.
Last night I saw a picture in my imagination. Whether it was a vision from the Lord or not, I do not know. I saw a line of Christians, my brothers and sisters. They were being led by these ridiculous-looking creatures called deceptive spirits. We have already been completely freed by Jesus's work on the cross, but we are being deceived. It is tragic! Oh, the life we could be living. But oh, the life we are living. We are submitted to the demons of deception, and they are leading us where we don't want to go, a prison.
Personally, I have been freed a lot; but I have just assumed that I will gradually get free year-by-year, and maybe by the time I am raising children and serving in ministry somewhere, I will be free enough to really make an impact and not lead anyone astray. WHY????? Why do I settle for this!!!!!Jesus's blood is strong enough to free me from EVERY sin and EVERY lie and EVERY fear immediately this second! In a moment, I can go from death to life, from bondage to utter freedom like most have never even seen or witnessed. I can live free! How do I know this?
Psalm 34:4 “I prayed to the Lord, and He answered me. He freed me from all my fears.”
I am tired of living under my available inheritance in Christ. I have died with Christ, was raised with Christ, and now sit with Him in heavenly places above ALL powers and ALL principalities. (Romans 6) Jesus is RIGHT NOW above all powers and spirits. He is not worried! He has no cares! He is FREE! He is spinning, dancing, singing, and rejoicing above us right now! (---) And guess what?! We don't have to wait until the next age to do the same! We are seated with Him right now! (Eph 2:6) It's a deception going around that pictures this earth as dark and deadly and the next as playing harps on clouds with angels! Whatever! Jesus came to give us life abundantly!! (John 10:10) And what does this look like? TO LIVE WITH CHRIST. How is Christ living? He is free from the bondage of sin and death!
For goodness' sake, be free church!
How can we set others free if we are following after deceptive spirits? Christians are no longer bound or held captive but deceived. And really if we're free but don't know it, what good is it?
It's as though we are birds in cages. Our Savior came and unlocked and opened the cage door.
But we don't believe it, so we sit in the cage day after day and cry out to our Savior to come open the door. We blame our problems on the devil, others, or even God when most of our problems are simply because we don't believe who God is, who we are, and what we have as His children. If we stay in the cage, will we ever be happy? If we stay in the cage, can we set others free? We can tell them how, but we cannot demonstrate it in power. We can only speak the Word. Jesus followed the preaching of the Word with a demonstration of power, signs, miracles, and wonders.
Zephaniah 3:15 The Lord has taken away your punishment, he has turned back your enemy.The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you never again will you fear any harm.
Zephanaih 3:17 For the LORD your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.
I Samuel 2:8 He lifts the poor from the dust and the needy from the garbage dump. He sets them among princes, placing them in seats of honor. For all the earth is the Lord’s, and he has set the world in order.
Luke 15
How can you be free?
Well, I don't claim to know, but I can suggest a few things for those who are already believers but are struggling to walk in freedom.
First of all, seek the Spirit of God with all your heart.
(Jeremiah 29:11-14: For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”)
(2 Corinthians 3: 12-18: Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.)
Secondly, have FAITH and begin to walk in freedom even if you don't feel it. Do some warfare! What does this look like?
Ask the Holy Spirit to help you recognize when you are hearing the enemy's voice.Disagree with the lie, fear, or temptation.Agree with Scripture, what God says about you.Speak it out! Declare the Word of God, the Truth.
One example for me is with worshiping God through dance. I would hear the enemy say lies to me like Your worship is fake; you don't even feel anything. You are acting like you feel something, but you don't. You are just doing it for the attention and praise of men. (BTW David didn't always feel like worshiping, so he just commanded his soul to worship God. If you're not “feeling” it, do it anyway. Most of the time, you will end up feeling it a ton! Sometimes you worship because you “feel” it, and sometimes you “feel” it because you worshiped.) I learned to recognize this as the voice of fear which is simply not truth. So I kept dancing even when these lies were overwhelming me. Soon enough, breakthrough came. The voice got quieter as I resisted him.
