When
a man or woman has made Jesus their Lord, they have passed from eternal death to eternal life.
No longer
are they under the control of satan.
No longer under the dominion of death.
The Law of the Spirit
of Life in Christ Jesus is pumping through their veins, and everything God has – has been placed at their disposal.
Yet, many of those same men and women are living day to day in anything but life to the overflow .They’re
walking around discouraged, disillusioned, and defeated in a sea of lack, death, and impossibilities at
every turn.
Why?
Because though they’ve made Jesus their Lord and are trying to serve Him with all their heart – they’re
still living in bondage because they don’t know who they really are.
In this passage from Acts 22,
we find the Apostle Paul again being bound and headed for imprison-ment for spreading the Gospel. During
that day and age, it was illegal to bind a person who was a Roman citizen without first being tried and condemned as guilty.
However, the guard binding Paul didn’t know he was Roman. After he had gone through his
ordeal of tying him down for scourging, Paul let him know who he was.
Well, the guard went immediately
to his commander, saying, “what are you about to do? This man is a Roman!”
The commander rushed to Paul to confirm the details for himself. Sure enough, when he asked him
if he was a Roman citizen, Paul’s answer was yes.
At that the commander replied, “with
a great sum obtain I this freedom….” In other words, this didn’t come cheap.
But Paul said, “Yes, but I was born free!”
Instantly, those who were about to examine
him and flog him withdrew from him, and the commander also was frightened, because he realized that Paul was truly a Roman
citizen and he had put him in chains.
The fact was, Paul wasn’t just born free – he also knew it.
Had he not known who he was and known the rights he was entitled to – he would have gone through something
he was free from.
Well, it’s the same way with you and I.
There’s a lot of stuff going on in
the Body of Christ that we were Born Free from – and it is time we knew it – all of it – and begin
speaking up, like Paul did, against these things that have no right to assail us.
Real freedom isn’t about
doing just anything you want to do.
Real freedom is the liberty to do whatever God called you to do, and have all that God has promised you in His Word.
But, to tap into those heavenly reservoirs of abundant life and living – we must both be totally convinced
of who we really are in Him and boldly lay hold of every one of our Covenant Rights.
You will recall that the word
peace in Hebrew is translated “complete wholeness”.
Isaiah 26.3 says, “You
will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You because he trusts in You.”
God will
keep in absolute peace and wholeness the person who sets their mind permanently on Him.
Well, how in the world
do you keep God on your mind all the time?
By constantly focusing on your redemption.
We have no identity without redemption.
Life
in God hangs on redemption because it was Love that gave His Son to redeem us – and everything hangs on Love.
(Matthew 22:37-40)
What’s
more, you can’t think about redemption without thinking about Jesus because He embodies it –
He is our Redeemer!
When we continually identify
with our redemption it opens our mind and heart to meditate on all that that redemption entails – every benefit, every
promise, of our Covenant with God.
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The
reason this will take place for the one who stakes his identity on his redemption is because, by doing so, one opens themselves
up completely to the Lordship of Jesus – Who is the Word of the Living God.
Just like the virgin Mary received
and became impregnated with the very Word of God – so we too, will become impregnated with His
very life – everything promised us in His Word – when we continually embrace our true
identity of redemption.
“For once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of Light
[lead the lives of those native-born to the Light]. For the fruit (the effect, the product) of the Light
or the Spirit [consists]in every form of kindly goodness, uprightness of heart, and trueness of life. And
try to learn [in your experience] what is pleasing to the Lord [let your lives be constant proofs of what is most acceptable
to Him].”
–- Ephesians 5.8-10 AMP
Do you know
what is most acceptable to Him?
Living out the full measure
of your redemption.That’s walking in the Light – wouldn’t you agree?
In Ephesians 5 we’re
informed that the Light of God uncovers and reveals everything hidden – “….all things….are made
manifest by the Light….” (vs.13)
Whatever needs to be uncovered or revealed to you so that you
can experience Life in abundance – God’s Light dwelling within you will produce that result.
The most
free life you will ever live is being in complete submission to the will of God – because He (not the devil) is the
Author of Freedom.
Galatians 5.13 states that, “….you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty
as an opportunity of the flesh, but through love serve one another.”
What a more beautiful way to
live than to use our God-given freedom to love and bless other people.“For all the law is fulfilled
in one word even this: you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Sound familiar?
And, amazingly, this is the key to walking
in the spirit, because right after these verses, this is exactly what verse 16 says, “I say then; walk in the spirit
and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”
It is virtually impossible to walk outside
of Love, outside of the Light of God, outside of Freedom, outside of Abundant Life – when you are locked in to your
Redemption, focused intently on God alone.
That is really being Born-Free!
We have to enforce our freedom in God –
and that can only be done by being so deeply rooted in our identity of Redemption.
That way, nothing will
be able to pull you off of what belongs to you through the Blood of Jesus.
It is time to stand fast in our liberty by which
the Anointing has made us free – not allowing ourselves to be entangled with the yoke of bondage of the law of sin and
death ever again. (see Galatians 5.1)
I
believe we are to be strongly encouraged to take a fresh, intent look at our redemption and never again allow anything to
divert our fixed gaze from that true identity.
The Life of God requires our strict focus in order to experience His best.
So next time
something contrary to what God wants for you tries to slip its chains around you – look it straight in the eye and declare
–
“This
I know, I
WAS BORN FREE !”
“And I take my stand in that Freedom ! ”
©
September 2005
Sharah LaGail Wyatt / First Love Ministries International
P O Box 163974 Ft Worth, TX
76161
All Rights Reserved.
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