We are enslaved by many things in this life.
No matter where we are, we have to play the game and do our best to look and act and speak like everyone around us so we don’t raise any red flags. We fear the reactions and accusations of those who appear to have it all together (but are struggling just like we are), the disappointment of good men and women, and most of all that we will hurt the ones closest to us. And so, the sum total of all of this is…we live lives of slavery and defeat.
My friends, it was never intended to be this way.
Here’s what God says: “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1, New American Standard Bible).
He says that if you are in Christ, you are free, and you are free for freedom’s sake! Not in exchange for anything, not with conditions, not so that you can owe Him or anyone else, but free simply for the sake of freedom! And, since you are free, and there are no strings attached, don’t allow yourself to be put back in chains.
When the Apostle Paul wrote this he was talking to a group of people who had discovered a relationship with Christ but then had allowed themselves to be convinced that they had to follow a certain set of strict rules to continue in that relationship. But Paul said ‘you weren’t set free so you could be bound to a rulebook.’ Why would they go back to the chains that Christ set them free from?
Neither were we set free just so we could go back to rulebooks…or to guilt, shame, penance, or inferiority based on some past lifestyle choice, mistake, or offense.
God never intended you to be enslaved or held back! He intended for you to be free!
Freedom Rising Ministries is about rising above all the things that threaten to keep us in bondage, whatever they may be in each of our lives. About claiming the freedom God offers, and living out a life of victory and boldness.
This comes not from someone who has lived the charmed life and learned about struggles from psychology textbooks; but from a broken vessel (a redeemed broken vessel). Someone who has spent a great deal of life hiding his own struggles and sins, secretly ashamed of past choices, and internally defining himself by his faults and failures.
This is a leper attempting to help a fellow leper, a wounded soldier trying to pull another wounded soldier into the safety of the trench.
Listen, believer, no matter what you are dealing with today. No matter if it is something in your deep past or something five minutes past, something that you struggle with regularly or a one-time but costly misjudgment – nothing you have done or will do can ever change how God sees you through Jesus. Nothing. That’s what God teaches us in scripture.
Maybe you're not a Christian. If so, know that this isn’t just for some elite few. The freedom that rises out of a true knowledge of our redemption in Christ is available to anyone! There are no exclusions. If you have never come to know Jesus Christ in a personal way, I urge you to take a look here. You won’t regret it.
- By struggles, hopelessness, guilt and regrets.
- By others’ view of us, or treatment of us, or threats that they hold over us (spoken or implied).
- By the lies the Enemy whispers in our ear late at night about how much we’ve messed up or how worthless we are.
- By unforgiveness, bitterness, hatred, anger, and any number of other emotions directed outward but affecting us inwardly.
- By the masks we wear to cover the shame of who we feel we really are, and the fear that others might see right through it.
No matter where we are, we have to play the game and do our best to look and act and speak like everyone around us so we don’t raise any red flags. We fear the reactions and accusations of those who appear to have it all together (but are struggling just like we are), the disappointment of good men and women, and most of all that we will hurt the ones closest to us. And so, the sum total of all of this is…we live lives of slavery and defeat.
My friends, it was never intended to be this way.
Here’s what God says: “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1, New American Standard Bible).
He says that if you are in Christ, you are free, and you are free for freedom’s sake! Not in exchange for anything, not with conditions, not so that you can owe Him or anyone else, but free simply for the sake of freedom! And, since you are free, and there are no strings attached, don’t allow yourself to be put back in chains.
When the Apostle Paul wrote this he was talking to a group of people who had discovered a relationship with Christ but then had allowed themselves to be convinced that they had to follow a certain set of strict rules to continue in that relationship. But Paul said ‘you weren’t set free so you could be bound to a rulebook.’ Why would they go back to the chains that Christ set them free from?
Neither were we set free just so we could go back to rulebooks…or to guilt, shame, penance, or inferiority based on some past lifestyle choice, mistake, or offense.
God never intended you to be enslaved or held back! He intended for you to be free!
Freedom Rising Ministries is about rising above all the things that threaten to keep us in bondage, whatever they may be in each of our lives. About claiming the freedom God offers, and living out a life of victory and boldness.
This comes not from someone who has lived the charmed life and learned about struggles from psychology textbooks; but from a broken vessel (a redeemed broken vessel). Someone who has spent a great deal of life hiding his own struggles and sins, secretly ashamed of past choices, and internally defining himself by his faults and failures.
This is a leper attempting to help a fellow leper, a wounded soldier trying to pull another wounded soldier into the safety of the trench.
Listen, believer, no matter what you are dealing with today. No matter if it is something in your deep past or something five minutes past, something that you struggle with regularly or a one-time but costly misjudgment – nothing you have done or will do can ever change how God sees you through Jesus. Nothing. That’s what God teaches us in scripture.
Maybe you're not a Christian. If so, know that this isn’t just for some elite few. The freedom that rises out of a true knowledge of our redemption in Christ is available to anyone! There are no exclusions. If you have never come to know Jesus Christ in a personal way, I urge you to take a look here. You won’t regret it.
