Freedom From All Forms of Slavery
“The freest people I know realize that they really own nothing and no one. They realize that everything they have is on loan! They choose to let go and not hold on to offenses by practicing forgiveness. They are comfortable in their own skin and have no need to prove themselves, or conform to what others would like them to be. Those who are truly free are rooted in the fact that they are loved, accepted, and that they belong. They are free from living a life of fear. Through experiencing the relentless love of God, they are able to give and receive love out of a full reservoir rather than looking to others or to things to fill the black hole. I believe that following Jesus, and His way of life offers us the real freedom to live life fully both now and for eternity!”
Galations 5:1 says “Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.”
A couple of weeks ago I had the honour of speaking at a camp for 8-15 year olds on the subject of Freedom. Below are the principles I shared with them on the way to live a life of freedom. These principles and practices of walking out a life of freedom are applicable for all of us know matter what age or stage of life.
1. To Be Free We Need To Receive The Love Of Our Perfect Papa. (Ephesians 1:3-6)
You Are Loved by a Perfect Father!
- Our Heavenly Father loves us dearly with no strings attached. The above verses state that He thought up the idea of making us the focus of His love even before He created the world! His love for us cannot be earned. He simply wants us to receive it! Incredible!
- Our Dad in Heaven chose to adopt us into His family, not because He had to, but because He wanted to! We belong!
- Nothing can separate us from His love!
- We all have a love deficit that only God can fill. Otherwise, we will look to other people to meet this need to be loved and end up disappointed or in some cases abused.
- Have you ever had an experience of God’s love for you?
- Take a moment and ask God, the only perfect dad, to soak you in His love!
- We need to Receive God’s Forgiveness: There is no sin to big that God will not forgive if we simply humble ourselves and become honest with Him!
- We need to Forgive Ourselves.
- We need to Forgive Others that have hurt us! Let go of offenses so that you don’t become a slave to bitterness that will eat you up!
- Who do you need to Forgive?
Courage is Overcoming Our Fears
3. To Be Free We Need to Overcome Our Fears (I John 4:17-18)
- God’s love gives us the power to overcome fear.
- Do you fear abandonment or rejection?
- Do you fear failure?
- Do you fear what other people think of you?
- Ask God to fill you with His love!
- Jesus is inviting you to have a relationship with Him
- His way of life will free you from all the dead-end life of slavery to sin which destroys our lives
- All you have to do is let go of being in control and say ‘Yes’ to Jesus!
- Jesus will change you from the inside out! His desires become your desires and vice versa.
- Start living from your heart!
5. To Be Free To Fly We Need to Discover and Live Our God-Given Destiny! (Deut. 32:10-11)
We are called to soar like an eagle!
- God is inviting us to join Him on His Mission Impossible to bring a little bit of heaven here on earth!
- He is in the business of redeeming this world, and restoring it back to His original idea of a place where there is no more pain, poverty, death, disease, divorce, destruction of the environment, division between ethnic groups, economic and gender injustices, sex-slavery, and war!
- Should we accept the invitation to join Him, we have the amazing joy of welcoming others into a free relationship with Him.
- He is asking us to invest the passions, talents, gifts, education, and resources He has given us to steward in His Kingdom Enterprise. Through partnering with Him, we have the privilege of restoring all of creation back to His original plan.
- What is your purpose for being on planet earth? (Jer. 29:11-14)
6. To Be Free Find a Few, Faithful, Forgiving, Friends! (John 15:12-13)
- FEW: We can only really dive into deeper friendship with a small group of friends.
- FAITHFUL: These friends have stuck with us through thick and thin. They are people who we can trust to cover our backs.
- Here are 2 litmus tests to help us discover who these true friends are: The test of time and the test of being able to resolve conflict.
- FORGIVING: These are people who know our faults and weaknesses, but are still for us!
- Who are these friends in your life?
