Freedom. One of the deepest values of my heart. Something I believe the Lord has instilled in my soul that I may carry & give it away.
How empowering it is to be in a space & time with people who are running far & wide in their own God-breathed freedom.
I think culture has this idea of freedom all wrong sometimes.
Jesus tells me in His word that if I embrace the truth, it will release true freedom in my life. The world has a lot of counterfeit versions of what it looks like to be free. From the life I’ve so far lived, I’ve found the world’s freedom doesn’t actually release any sort of truth in my life. Each version leaves me dependent on something.
But here’s the thing. Oftentimes you don’t even know you’re not truly free until you actually are. Counterfeits look like the real thing, right? We’re not talking monopoly money vs. the real deal. We have an actual enemy who wants only to steal, kill, and destroy.
Jesus tells me that He is the Truth. And then He tells me that true freedom is released when I embrace truth.
To embrace is defined as accepting willingly & enthusiastically.
Embracing willingly involves surrendering willingly as well. I must surrender what my flesh has tried to sell as freedom & wholeheartedly embrace the One who is Truth.
To walk a journey into real and true freedom looks like walking a journey of surrender. We’re all living submitted to something. I’ve tried to live submitted to and embracing the opinions of people, accomplishments, and even what looks to be a wild and free adventure of a life.
But I want to release the power & hold anything other than Jesus has on my soul and embrace all that He is. This is true freedom. I take Him at His word because I have seen it to be true.
To walk in freedom also involves growth. Which is another word that my heart so values. Jesus also says that I must continue to embrace all that He teaches.
Surrender leads to freedom leads to growth. And so it cycles through.
I embrace Him and move from all else that tries to satisfy. He leads me to all He is and all He says I am. He leads me into truth. And because Truth is a person, the person of Jesus, I grow in Him because my freedom is found in relationship with a God who is living and active and real in my life. Suddenly I am free to run with Him and be who He says I am, which leads back into surrender of who He says I am not and what He leads me away from dependence on. I have found that nothing else satisfies.
Freedom. I see this squad, Gap A, learning to walk in this process. They run in their freedom with fresh wind as they walk their journey of surrender.
I saw this so clearly one night our first week here. Jesus radically brought one of the men on our squad from death to life in Him and he now leads people into such freedom and expectant surrender.
He is incredibly gifted and talented. He went from never leading worship to standing one night in front of all our squad literally singing out his freedom with the words Jesus placed in him. We followed him outside all in a circle and sang and danced and laughed and prayed with abandon. I’ve rarely felt so free than I did that night. And it is only because of Jesus. It’s all for Him. He frees people who in turn free people.
Gap A are a people embracing Truth- embracing Jesus. They are a people committed to growth. They are a people letting go of all other things as they learn that only Jesus satisfies. They are a people calling others to walk in freedom. To walk in life with Jesus. Holy and expectant surrender.
This is what they are bringing to the world. This is what they are giving away.
I am learning so much from who they are. This is wild and true freedom.
