December 23, 2024

He Sets Us Free

July 4, 2014 by

encouragementbloggraphicromans15

Today is July 4th and it’s all about the freedom of our country.  We are so blessed to live here in this place where so many have fought and died for us to be able to go to church, read our Bibles and meet together and worship in homes. So many places today still have rules about Christianity and have to meet in secret or they will be killed.  In the Middle East, Christians are being persecuted every day for their faith.

Not only are we free as a country, we are free in Jesus. We should celebrate this everyday, praising Him and worshipping Him for all He has done for us. God sent His Son to die in our place so that we could live free today with our sins washed away. Sometimes thoughts come in of our past—things we have done or said that we so wish we had not.  The enemy starts in on us, and we start with the name calling. Today this was me…so I went to His Word to remind myself of who I am in Him. These were some of the verses that He led me to and I wanted to share with you.

2 Corinthians 3:17
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

John 8:36
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

1 Corinthians 6:12
“Everything is permissible for me”–but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me”–but I will not be mastered by anything.

Galatians 5:13-14
You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Galatians 3:22
But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.

Galatians 5:1
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Ephesians 3:12
In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

Psalm 119:45
I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.

Psalm 118:5
In my anguish I cried to the LORD, and he answered by setting me free.

Acts 13:38-39
“Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through Him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.

Romans 6:22
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.

1 Peter 2:16
Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.

Colossians 1:21-23
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation–if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the Gospel.  This is the Gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

Romans 8:20-21
For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

Romans 8:1-4
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

Galatians 2:4
[This matter arose] because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves.

Isaiah 61:1
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners…

Luke 4:18
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed…

I challenge you to check out the word freedom in the glossary of your Bible and look up some of the verses and claim them.  Memorize them so that when those thoughts come in, you have His Words in your heart to combat them and then take them captive.  Let His grace wash all over you for you are a child of the King!

And if you don’t feel free today because you really aren’t in a relationship with Jesus, it’s your day to have a life that is free.  Jesus loves you and He died for you.  You don’t have to do anything except ask Him to come into your heart and be your Lord and Savior.

 *   ~   ♥   ~   ✞   ~  ♥   ~   * 

Let’s pray this together:  Dear God, I know I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness.  Thank You for sending Your Son Jesus to die for my sins so that I can live eternally with You.  I am ready to be free.  Please come and be Lord of my life.  I give my life to you today.  In Your name I pray, amen.

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Crazy Love: Chapter 6 – When You’re In Love (pp 101-103)

February 12, 2013 by

Don’t Try so Hard is the topic of conversation on pages 101-103 in Crazy Love.  Don’t try so hard to do “what” is the question we might be asking.

Mr. Chan answers that with:  “God wants us to crave a relationship with Him as we crave all genuine love relationships.  He wants believers to desire Him and not be slaves who serve Him out of obligation.”

CrazyLove_Ch6_Martha

Chan then quotes Galatians 5:13, 14:  “You, my brothers, were called to be free.  But, do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather; serve one another in love.  The entire law is summed up in a single command:  ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

From this scripture, Chan points out that when we love, we’re free.  We don’t have to worry about a burdensome load of commands.  He then ask the question, “Do you feel free in your Christian life?”

Before, we can answer Chan’s question, I think we must take into consideration what Galatians 5:1 says:  “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”

The word in that verse that is blaring out to me is entangled.  My handy on-line dictionary defines entangle as:  ‘to twist together or entwine into a confusing mass; snarl, to complicate; confuse, to involve in a tangle.’

Now back to Chan’s question:  “Do you feel free in your Christian life to genuinely love and desire God, and not serve Him out of obligation?”

I believe before we can answer that question, we must first take a look at things that might have entangled us.  May I suggest a few:

  1. Pay God Back:  Straight to the point, and excuse my English:  “It ain’t even possible to pay God back for what His Son, Jesus, did for us.”  No Scripture is needed as a reference.  If ever we should need a reminder, take a look at a picture of Jesus on the Cross; that should quench that little lie.
  2. False Guilt: A failure to trust God to forgive their sins may cause some people to try to serve God in order to work off their guilt, as in works of penance.  But, this is contrary to God’s promise of complete forgiveness to all who confess their sins.  (Colossians 2:13; 1 John 1:9)
  3. Inability to say No: Are you one who says “yes” every time someone from the church calls and ask you to fill a certain position?”  “Do you feel obligated, even though you don’t feel right for the job?”  “Are you left with feelings of guilt if you say, ‘No’?”  I fell into this category until I learned that God had placed within me certain gifts as to how He wanted me to serve Him. (Ephesians 4:11)  My pastor sums it up well:  “Our gift is the one we use with minimum effort, maximum effectiveness, and a maximum of joy.” Believe me, that took a load of guilt off me as I began to serve Him in love with the gift He had placed within me rather than out of obligation.

And the obligation list could go and on into more areas, such as:  legalism, self-seeking, performance-orientated, to name a few.

Sir Walter Scott, noted novelist and poet in the 1800’s said:  “Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.”

If we are serving God out of obligation, we have woven a tangled web, and we are the ones being deceived.  Let’s get untangled, so we can move forward and be free to serve God out of our Love for Him.  

Be blessed,

Martha

 

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Let’s Pray: 
Father God, first of all, we open our hearts to the convicting power of the Holy Spirit to show us where we have felt obligated to serve You.  Help us to replace those motives and lies, so that we are free to love YOU with a genuine love as You desire.  In Jesus’ name I pray.  Amen.

Your Assignment: 
Do you feel obligated in any way to love and serve the Lord?  If so, what has entangled you?

 

If you would like more information about Crazy Love Bible study, click HERE to sign up.  Once we receive your registration, we will email you further details.

If you would like to send Martha a personal message in regards to this blog, you may email her at: Martha@GirlfriendsCoffeeHour.com

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