Monday, March 11, 2013

Power Of Freedom



Key Scripture: "Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed." John 8:36
Power Point:
This morning I was thinking about the Exodus. It is a great visual of what Jesus did for us on the cross. The children of Israel had been in total captivity and then God brought them out. He set them free, however they kept their slave mentality.  None of them had ever experienced freedom before. They woke up every morning with Pharaoh and his soldiers controlling where they went, what they ate, and what they did. When God showed up, they were probably confused, and a little hesitant to trust Him. After all, they had only ever had a vision of a cruel taskmaster. They honestly did not know how to think for themselves.  It was almost as though God had just bought them and they were under a new Pharaoh. It took 40 years for God to dissemble their old thoughts and assemble new ones. Even then, it wasn’t until Jesus came and sent the Holy Spirit that the “old” way could become transformed from a slave mentality to the mind of a son of God.
Jesus said, I no longer call you slaves. I call you friend.”
What is the “old” that you are still a slave to?
Do you have a poverty mentality which keeps expecting doom and gloom and never enough?
Do you have a lack of faith that God is good?
Do you not believe that you are never out of reach of His perfect love? Do you believe that it will find you wherever you go?
      Being a slave has to be deadly to your heart doesn’t it? You can make no decisions on your own. You cannot choose to do anything without permission. God sent Jesus to show us that He wants to be Friends with us. He wants us to see that He is not a Pharaoh but a Shepherd, a loving Father and a protector, provider, and one who loves to bless His children.
That includes you.  Are you still walking around the mountain of unbelief?
Are you stuck in the mud of a slave mentality when all the while Jesus has opened the door of your prison and set you free?
Recently I was talking to a friend who had gotten herself into quite a large amount of debt. She had the funds to pay it off but didn’t because she wasn’t sure of her future.  Finally, the Truth dawned on her that if God loved her, He would provide for her. She paid off that debt and she is now free.
Before, there was no choice. She was under the control of someone else, in this case, the credit card company. Just like the children of Israel, she had rejected the Truth that God was not Pharaoh and He loved her. That He had good, even great plans for her to give her a future and a hopeful outcome. Today, she can feel that in her spirit. She can choose life with gusto and believe that with Holy Spirit in her, it will be amazing and surprising.
     Is today the day you will walk out of the prison you’ve been in? Is the debt you owe, whether financial or spiritual keeping you locked up in a slave mentality?  Allow me to encourage you.  Jesus has opened the door of your prison and all you have to do is take His hand and walk out. Walk out of bitterness, unbelief, unforgiveness, and all the other “old” ways of thinking that kept you in prison. Tell your heavenly Father that you intend to start thinking differently and ask for His help. And then step back and watch Him work. Watch the Red Sea part. Look at that empty cross.  And right in front of you, right outside your prison door, is Perfect Love with His arms open wide. Come out of your prison, Beloved. Enter in to all that Jesus died to give you.  Be free indeed.
Power Thought:
You are not a slave. You are not a victim. You are a child of God with all of heaven waiting to lead you into a glorious future as a friend of God and a much-loved child. Come out and come forth! Be free!

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