We Are Free

This journey with Jesus has been a long and winding one. For many years I have heard, read, and even said that we must take those lies the enemy has fed us and replace them with the truth. Like several other things I learned, I took it but never really understood how to do it or apply it to my life.

Too often, we are told or taught these things without any direction on how to live them. What does it look like in real-time to live out this necessary spiritual discipline?

God has been peeling me like an onion over the years, and we are heading into some extremely serious ground lately. I would say close to a couple of years ago, as I sat on the couch talking to Him, He revealed some lies that had rooted themselves in me. I realized I had been living in those lies for years. He uncovered that my triggers and reactions were coming from these lies, but He needed to replace them with His truth, so I could respond the way He wanted me to respond.

Just a warning. When you seek God fully and genuinely, He gets serious. The work is hard but worth it.

We began dealing with the lies, going back to the root and seeing where those lies had been fed along the way. He brought me to His Word and began opening my eyes in some new ways.

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:31-36

We have all been slaves to sin. Sin is any disobedience to God. All sin is the same. Some sins do seem much more significant than others, and it is hard to comprehend in our human minds that God sees all sin as the same. Some of our struggles are different. Some of our struggles are the same.

We come to Jesus with the understanding that we are sinners in need of a Savior. I can say that after walking with Jesus for thirty-eight years, I am more and more aware of how much I need Him and just how sinful I have been over the years.

I no longer live in condemnation, but His Holy Spirit continually convicts me and brings my sins to light. He is continually helping me see the truth and teaching me how to live in that truth.

It is a powerful process. It is a painful process. It brings true repentance and remorse and leads me to Healing, wholeness, and freedom.

The enemy deceives us. I always get the visual of a prison cell with the door wide open, and we are just standing there or sometimes just sitting or laying down on the bed. Jesus has made us free. Jesus took our sin and shame when he died on the cross and rose again. He has freed us. He tore the veil and He opened the prison cell door.

Yet, we stay there, not understanding we are free because those lies the enemy has whispered to us in our minds, and those he uses other people to speak to us, have become truth to us. We get stuck in condemnation and shame; we get on our hamster wheel of doing, never being with God in His Word so we might know the truth so we can be free from this unhealthy cycle.

Do you know Jesus came to set you free?

Are you living stuck, sitting on that prison bed, not truly knowing what God has given you?

Are you struggling to know how to replace those lies you have believed and lived out of for the truth?

You are not alone! That is the truth.

If you don’t know Jesus, we would love to introduce you to Him. Please feel free to reach out here, and we will help you get connected.

For those of us who have received Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we have been given the Holy Spirit.

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 2: 17-18

The truth is the Holy Spirit lives in us, and God’s Word says, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom, and He is transforming us to image and likeness.

The Son has set us free, and we are free indeed.

One thing I have learned from living in a Democratic Country is that freedom has to be fought for and preserved. We are free in Christ. We have to fight to preserve and protect our life of freedom. We have to do the hard work of allowing God to rip out those lies and replace them with His truth.

We do this by taking time to BE with Him in His Word, prayer, and community with other believers.

We do this by listening to Him as He speaks to us in that time. When he brings conviction, we repent. When He reveals places of brokenness and woundedness that need Healing, we follow His steps through that process. Journaling can be beneficial as you listen.

We do this by being accountable to a safe person for the work we are doing. We don’t always need accountability partners for every process, but sometimes we do. When we do, we need to be willing to have accountability.

The truth is if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, He has set you free. You no longer have to stay in prison. You no longer have to live in shame and condemnation. You are no longer stuck like the enemy wants you to think.

We are Free! I pray that we will have open eyes, open ears, and a soft heart to hear and receive from God. I pray we are reminded that we are a temple of the Holy Spirit, and He is in us. Where He is, there is freedom. I pray we are sensitive to the Holy Spirit today as we take time to BE with God. Let’s walk out of those prison cells together and live as free people.