“Be free.” That’s a term I had heard people throw around quite a few times in my life. And I usually just responded with, “Thanks, you too.”
I just got a chance to meet up with one of my friends from Dayton that I hadn’t seen in a while. She talked about her life and what God had been doing, especially through her celebrate recovery group. I could see the passion in her eyes and hear the excitement in her voice! It was refreshing because I remember feeling that same thing toward my recovery at the beginning. But she said something that caught my attention: “I’m in the stage where I have to focus on my stuff before I can help anyone else recover.” And I felt like God was telling me to share a few things with her:
1. Don’t chase recovery and health. Chase the Provider of the recovery and health!
2. You are absolutely free. To say anything different is to demean Jesus’ sacrifice. He paid 100% of the cost for your freedom and you already have it. You are free to help people!
3. You can use your freedom to subject yourself to slavery. Use your freedom for freedom! (Gal. 5:1)
4. You are already perfected! You are being sanctified. But God’s temple MUST be holy and perfect. If you have the Holy Spirit living in you, you are a perfect temple. He sees you that way! You might have a lot of crap heaped on the outside and weighing you down, but you are a diamond in His eyes.
Ohh! That’s what it means to say, “Be free!” Actually choose freedom with your choices. He already bought the freedom for us. He isn’t ever going to make us choose it because then it wouldn’t be freedom. We must choose it! We have to stop telling ourselves we’re bound by things that we’re simply choosing to subject ourselves to! Be free!! Choose freedom!
That’s the truth of the gospel though, isn’t it? I was bound, but now I’m free. I was lost, but now I’m found. I was blind, but now I see. My friend felt the weight of that tonight and God reminded me of it as well. And honestly, all my stories about ministry over seas are simply about God teaching me that and allowing me to pass it on to others.
In Zambia we encountered a lot of people who were bound by slavery to evil spirits. Their lives were being wrecked by evil! And the craziest part of it all was that they were choosing to subject themselves to it through their actions. They didn’t know the truth; if they were in Christ, they were completely free from that attack. We told them the truth and some people still chose the slavery. I thought they were crazy! But God showed me how I do that on the regular as well. I choose the shakles instead of the feast He has for me.
And that’s why I’m going to Spain for 9 months at the beginning of March. I want to increasingly choose freedom everyday and invite others to do the same. That’s how Jesus walked the earth; in complete freedom.
I hope this encouraged you to step into the freedom Christ has bought for you. Be free, my friends!
