Personally, I’m not big on blog sequels, but this is part two of my last post “Musings from a Coffee Shop.” In that entry I talked about living in the power of Jesus Christ. And how believing in that power can lead us right out of that jail we seem to find ourselves in. The “jail” represents the world we are not apart of as Christ followers. (1 Peter 2:11) It also represents the results of our sinful nature and the lies we are being fed by Satan. We’ve all been there, weighed down by the burdens of life, shackled in guilt, shame, regret, the list can go on forever. I know I’ve been there and even to this day I find myself chillin’ in that stinkin’ jail, yet the crazy things is, the door is wide open and Christ is inviting me to leave.
“And you will know the TRUTH, and the TRUTH will set you FREE.” – John 8:32
And the “truth” is that we HAVE BEEN set “free” by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Now it’s one thing to know something in your mind, but it’s an entirely different thing to know it in your heart. So how do we get that truth from our mind to our hearts and souls?
I want to share with you guys what the Lord put on my heart about this last night. I’m not trying to tell anyone what to do. I’m just telling ya’ll what the Lord told me to do.
“If we LIVE by the Spirit, let us also WALK in the Spirit.” – Galatians 5:25
For me, experiencing true freedom in Christ comes when I walk in the fruits of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Gal. 5:22-23) Now living these qualities most definitely does not happen overnight and it’s a process that’ll take the rest of our lives to perfect. However, we can begin the first steps to freedom right now. And ironically these first steps have nothing to do with walking. Now, we’ve all heard the saying, “Talk is cheap.” Maybe that’s the case in the secular world, BUT not in the spiritual world. Last time I checked prayer is pretty dang powerful. And believe it or not, our words HAVE tremendous power. That’s something the devil definitely doesn’t want us to know. We first must believe we CAN and WILL walk in the fruits of the Spirit, before we actually do it. And that belief or faith is built on our spoken words.
“And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” – Genesis 1:3
“Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” – Hebrews 11:3
“Anything is possible if a person believes” – Jesus Christ
It’s all about speaking truth over our own lives. By faith, we can bring things into existence that are not seen right now. I know that sounds crazy, but if you continually tell yourself you’re loser or a good-for-nothing, what do you think will happen? You’ll probably become those things. I speak from first hand knowledge my friends. BUT if you wake up each day and say:
“Today I’m GOING TO walk in love and be full of joy. I’m GOING TO be a man of peace and great patience. I’m GOING TO find ways to exercise kindness, goodness and gentleness. I’m GOING TO be faithful to you Lord, to my future wife, to my duties as a man of God. And lastly I’m GOING TO have self-control. I will not be overcome by temptation.”
What do you think will happen in your lives? The Lord loves that kind of faith. Don’t just ask for these things in prayer, but SPEAK them as if they already were! I’m challenging ya’ll and myself to say that prayer out loud over every morning. Heck, I’m gonna speak it throughout my day!
We as followers of Christ have power in our words. Seven different times in the Gospel Jesus healed someone by the words of His mouth. And since God’s will for our lives is to have Christ formed in us, we too can have power over our own lives by our spoken word. Plus, we were created in God’s image and if God can bring “into existence what didn’t exist before.” (Romans 4:17) Why can’t we?
From the time I was 16 to 26, I was a slave to alcohol and eventually pot. However, come October 20th, I will celebrate six years of sobriety. The man that exists NOW did not exist THEN. A year ago I was a man of no integrity and had little desire to serve the Lord. But through my prayers to become a man of God, He brought into existence a person NOW that DID NOT EXIST A YEAR AGO.
Really, if you break this down it’s all about the power of positive thinking, but not Tony Robbins style. It’s not a secular concept. It comes straight from the Creator of the World. And He wants His children to share in this power. It’s His gift to us. All we got to do is accept it.
