Where The Spirit of The Lord is, there is freedom!

free·dom

ˈfrēdəm/

      noun

1. • the state of not being imprisoned or enslaved.

   
   

Have you ever been enslaved to something? Maybe you were enslaved to your boss and their ideas of how things should run in the business. Maybe you have been a slave to your friend's opinion on your life and have accepted their theory on how you should live. What about the enslavement that many face on how society thinks we should act, talk, dress, etc? Whether you have experienced or are currently experiencing enslavement to either those things, or anything, you understand that being enslaved is not fun. What if I told you that aside from it being absolutely terrible, enslavement is totally not how God intended for us to live. So many worship songs talk about being free in Christ, being set free by Christ, and living in Christ's Freedom!! Do you think these songs are just produced for a "feel-good"?, because they aren't! Freedom is all in Christ and true freedom can only be found with complete surrender to Christ. 

Galatians 5:13 tells us that we were called to freedom. Don't miss that-we are called to freedom! I was reading some commentary that said a calling from Christ is like being 'knit to Him by his adopting spirit'. So not only are we, as Children of God, 'redeemed' (Romans 3:24), 'set apart' (Romans 12:2), 'justified' (Romans 5:1), 'accepted' (Romans 15:7), 'chosen' (1 Peter 2:9), 'blessed' (Ephesians 1:3), and 'complete' (Colossians 2:10) , we are now also 'called' (Galatians 5:13)!!! We are called to FREEDOM!! 

Jesus died a gruesome but beautiful death for us to have so many things and one of the most important things, I believe, is freedom from death and the power of sin! As a slave to sin, we are totally hindered in our walk and service to God. I point to myself when I say that WE need to pay more attention to Matthew 6:24 where we are told that we cannot serve two masters-that we will love one and hate the other. The example given in the scripture is that we can't serve God and money but you can take it further. Again, I find much beauty in this scripture. I don't see this as a challenge of the workload we can take and how many people or things we can serve because society has proven that we can do many things and serve both our kids, our spouse, our friends, and sometimes even our own needs, all at the same time. I see this scripture as a reminder of how important it is to just serve God-to stop serving the scales, your boss, your idea of how your life should be, your friends...or those that you call 'friends'. Stop serving superficial things and start serving The One that only wants good things for you because that is where freedom is found and when freedom is found, so if forgiveness and so is joy, and happiness, and so much more. 

So what will it take for you to lay it all down, rest in Jesus, surrender to Jesus, and enjoy his freedom? When you battle with laying down your way of living, just think of the happiness of someone who has been held hostage for their whole life and the day they are finally found and freed-that does not even compare to the reward of freedom in Christ. 

1 Samuel 26:23-The Lord rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness.

stay humble, stay happy

xoxo, kins