Freedom in Christ is Freedom Indeed
And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free! John 8:32
That scripture and those words hold new meaning for me today! You see I always thought Jesus was talking about a purely spiritual experience with this scripture. We know Jesus was talking about freedom from the law of sin and death but I always thought this was spiritual only. As it turns out He was talking about freedom in general, both spiritual AND physical!
What do I mean? I’ll use smoking as an example. It’s a terrible habit and one that is extremely tough to break. When I tried to quit on my own with willpower it never worked. I had to have the born-again spirit and the mindset that comes with it in order to defeat that addiction. That was the freedom Jesus was talking about. He used to tell me this all the time; “John you will have your victory over cigarettes/nicotine once you exercise your faith and walk away from them”. But at the time I didn’t have enough faith to just walk away so Jesus and I came up with a gradual plan to build my faith. It took a little over a year but the plan worked and now I am 100% nicotine free!
Working the plan. The key word there is work. Faith without works is dead (James 2:26) so in order to receive the freedom Jesus was talking about you have to work at it! You build faith by hearing the word but you won’t see results until you get to work! The work is simple but the flesh is hard to discipline without God’s word. Some people can quit smoking on willpower but I haven’t met many myself. I have met many more who have quit smoking because of being born again and exercising their faith! Sometimes you will get healed on the spot and have no more desire for those stinky things but for me and for many others we had to GET TO WORK!
So, claim your freedom today in Jesus name! Put your foot down in God’s word and stand firm! Understand that the world and its addictions are a LIE! They stand in contrast to what God’s word says about us and our victory in Jesus! Don’t believe the lies about addictions! Jesus can break them and destroy them! Ask him for your freedom today, BELIEVE you have it and then go claim your victory in Jesus name!
Here are seven scriptures to encourage you to keep going when the temptation to give up comes! Addictions are addictions they all have their root causes in the spiritual realm. By using God’s word and following a plan you can and will have victory over the things that bind you! God bless and have a great weekend!
Johnny
Why, I ponder as a mom of three are so many boys Autistic, mentally ill, drug addicted and basically so impaired that they are not able to contribute to their lives or life in general in a meaningful manner? They end up homeless, many encounters with law enforcement, and possibly have various pharma medications thrown their way, that may not even address most of the issues. Lately, most Christian churches just steer these families to psychiatry and pray that the doctor prescribe the right meds. the I have two that are college grads and doing well, as far as society expectations. My youngest is profoundly disabled in those things I mentioned above. But, it is so extremely common, that it is an epidemic. It cannot be from just one thing. The question is maybe, can it be an agenda to destroy our young men? Is anyone else mystified by this horrible situation? Easy just to blame the parents, but it is much more complex than the average human brain can comprehend, in my view. I want some better answers than just the stereotypical ones.