"Free"

 Reflecions4Life™ July 3, 2022

“Free”

“It was for this freedom that Christ set us free [completely liberating us]; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery [which you once removed].” Galatians 5:1 

Scripture Contemplation: Psalm 118:27; Isaiah 61:1; Zephaniah 3:20; Acts 7; 2 Corinthians 3:17

I declare that this week’s Reflections are a continued source of encouragement and inspiration for your heart, mind, and soul. The Father has freed us from many things by His giving of His only begotten Son, Jesus. There are benefits of the Kingdom of God that we have yet to tap into because we have not realized just how truly free we are. Make time this week for you and God. Get to know His heart, His voice, and His face. The Lord will show you just how free you truly are.

There is a certain kind of freedom that comes when you are in a relationship with God that cannot be compared to anything else on this earth. It certainly is something that is better experienced than explained. I will venture to say that when you are finally ready to walk in the will of God for your life, you will not be disappointed. Not in the heavenly Father. When you learn to trust God with everything, you will find that committing to Him becomes easier. And when you are committed to your relationship with the Father, you will understand true freedom and just how free you truly are.

Please do not get it wrong; there are tests, trials, attacks from the enemy, and all manner of things that come our way when we are walking with the Lord. We become walking targets because of our relationship and faith, and the enemy wants nothing more than to pluck us off; to steal, kill, and destroy us and our faith and belief in God. Yet, when we are in a relationship with God, the battle is not ours but His. When we learn to trust God, we come to understand that the enemy has waged a war against God and will try to use us as pawns and weapons in his fight. But he has forgotten—he has already lost the war the moment Jesus died on the Cross, reclaimed the keys of life and death, gave them and the Holy Spirit to us, then ascended into heaven, freeing us from a life of sin and death with the ability to repent and the freedom to choose our path in life.

2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty [emancipation from bondage, true freedom].

Beloved, there is nothing better than having true freedom, and that freedom comes from being in a committed relationship with the Highest and having Holy Spirit reside in us. Because wherever the Holy Spirit is, there is freedom. When we yield to Holy Spirit within, we will find that choosing to do what is best and right for our walk is not hard. In each circumstance or situation that arises, we have an advocate with the Father and the Holy Spirit within, guiding us, and fighting for us. We just have to recognize our freedom and walk in it with confidence and assuredness.

The truth is many ascribe to God the same characteristics as a man. We expect God to fail us, or not do what we need and when. We think God has forgotten or abandoned us and that, He has not heard or listened to our prayers. While we walk in this frame of mind, the enemy wreaks havoc and we block ourselves from hearing, seeing, and recognizing God or knowing the Holy Spirit. God is not man; neither are His ways like men.

Isaiah 55:8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.

As a young girl, I remember going to a church that was extremely strict. As I look back, there was no true worship, either. It made God seem so unloving, harsh, and unforgiving. There were so many things that you could not do that it made it seem as though a life with Christ was anything but freedom but instead more bondage; like a prison sentence to life that was dull and gray with no vibrancy, no color or warmth.

I felt stifled in that environment. In my heart, I knew that it was not right. That was not the God I came to know and love as a little girl. That did not sound like the God that reached out to me as a child through the moon and stars and intrigued me to get to know Him. The "god" being presented in that church was not the same God I knew that had covered me and soothed me. I understood that as we got older we would learn and understand more, or at least we were supposed to. However, what I was being taught was binding not freeing. So many rules that it literally hurt my head and my heart. My spirit would not conform. Holy Spirit residing in me would not leave or be squelched. I knew in my heart there was more to God because I had already tasted of His goodness and was touched by His spirit of freedom, and there was no going back.

Beloved, far too many have been led to believe and see God for who He is not. In doing so, they have associated God with nothing but restrictions, rules, bondage, and no freedom. You cannot trust someone you are afraid of. And you cannot commit to someone you cannot trust. There is order and decency in the Lord. There are things that God does abhor that are sins. However, there are so many more yes' with God than there are no’s. So much more happiness and uplifting words of encouragement and teachings of love, light, and healing than there are of damnation and shame. Yet, most will not know this if they do not have a personal relationship with God.

True freedom comes with an intimate relationship with God, where you learn for yourself, through your own personal walk with God, who He is, and who you truly are in Him. Where you learn to trust Him with your entire being. God wants us free. Because a free heart and mind can receive all that He has ordained and can serve and be an instrument of change on this earth, helping to free others from their own bondages and false impressions of who God really is. You happily commit to a relationship with the Father.  Light cannot do its job if it is hidden or dimmed because it has been restricted to shine. That is like telling the Sun it shines too brightly so we are going to wrap a shade around it. No.

My Beloveds, may the spirit of peace and prosperity finds permanent rest in your lives. I decree that every good thing that God has ordained for your life will become evident to you. There is freedom in God, in a relationship with the King. A kind of freedom you have never tasted or dreamed of, but always hoped for, and the only way to truly receive and understand it is to be in an intimate relationship with the Heavenly Father. Get a firsthand account. You will not be disappointed. Not with the God, I serve. You are blessed. Now go…and be a blessing!

©2022. Ruthe McDonald. All Rights Reserved.