This title is simple truth that holds a lot of weight. Jesus set us free, completely free! And He wants us to walk in that freedom. And if we don’t, then we aren’t taking advantage of what’s already been given to us. What’s the opposite of freedom? Bondage. I don’t know about you, but bondage doesn’t sound all that great. Yet, its something I settle for when I choose to believe lies and I don’t see God for who He is.
In the past few months I have been set free from a lot of things. I’m realizing that I operated my faith out of a spirit of religion. For instance, if the end of the day came around and I realized I didn’t read my Bible, then I would feel guilty. Hello. Major red flag for bondage. Guilt and self condemnation do not come from the Lord. I thought that spending time with God meant studying the Word. I thought that if I wanted to hear from God, I had to read His Word. Basically, if you took the Bible out of my relationship with God then their wasn’t much there. And there is SO much more to be had!!
Now hear me out. The Bible is GOOD. We should read it, we should meditate on it, and God DOES speak through it. That is absolute truth. However, I thought that’s all that there was. But lately, I’m learning that God still speaks. He is alive and active. He is tangible. He wants to dialogue with His children. He speaks to our inner being, or audible (that hasn’t happened to me, but I should pray for it! Because that would awesome), or through visions, the possibilities are endless! Because our God is a creative one, He is so out of the box, He is crazy and wild. This month I’ve been praying for God to blow up the box that I tend to put Him in.
I also was single track minded on what discipleship looks like. I wanted strategies and results. If the gospel wasn’t being shared and people weren’t checking the “saved” box then I didn’t want to be apart of it. Once again, that’s good but that’s not all there is. I’m learning the power of influence. I cannot underestimate the impact I can have on the kids at El Shaddai (the orphanage my team is working with this month is Swaziland) by being their friend and showing them something other than abandonment. These kids are the future of this country. What I say and do now can and will impact the part of their lives that haven’t come into being yet. These kids live at a Christian orphanage where they lead worship every Sunday, attend chapel daily where the gospel is spoken, they even go to a Christian school and learn about God. They know Jesus died on the cross for their sins. Now they need someone to show them L-O-V-E, to listen to them, to play with them, to hold them, to be their friend. The gospel goes so far beyond words. Words are important, and the gospel does need to be preached. But once again, I didn’t look past this one aspect of discipleship.
It is less about having a set do’s and don’t and certain ways to go about things and more about living by the Spirit, being filled with His Spirit. And where the Spirit is there is freedom.
