Text:
Gal 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty with which Christ has made us free, and do not again be held with the yoke of bondage
Bondage is a terrible thing:
Do you ever feel as if you can do nothing, achieve nothing?
Is it your life experience that, no matter how hard you try, you just stay in the same old place – no forward movement? You are so busy but you achieve nothing.
How about this: you go to bed with the same worries, every night. You fall asleep and wake up tired, you have the same dreams – nightmares.
Or, the habit that just keeps you tied down. You want to move on, you don’t want to do this thing anymore.
The same issues of inferiority, the feelings of helplessness.
Bondage:
The dictionary identifies bondage as:
- slavery or involuntary servitude; serfdom.
- the state of being bound by or subjected to some external power or control.
- the state or practice of being physically restrained, as by being tied up, chained, or put in handcuffs
Familiar?
Psa 94:17 Unless Jehovah had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.
The word silence here refers to the place called `sheol` the place of the `dead`: Not a nice place for the soul to be.
When psychologists deal with depression, this is the state of mind the patient has. A `deadness` of the soul.
Feelings of guilt, remorse, condemnation can so easily bring us into bondage in such a state.
Luk 21:33 The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but My Words shall not pass away. 34 And take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts are weighed down with headaches and drinking and anxieties of this life; and that day should suddenly come on you; 35 for it shall come as a snare on all those sitting on the face of the whole earth.
Snare: Pagis: a trap (as fastened by a noose or notch); figuratively a trick or stratagem (temptation)
How often do we walk into these traps, the traps that would come in the form of temptations, something looks so good but once you have taken the bait – you are stuck in the `noose`.
Suddenly – it happens so quickly, before you know it you have been caught.
But there is hope: there is a way out:
Jer 29:11 For I know the purposes which I am purposing for you, says Jehovah; purposes of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you shall call on Me, and you shall go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
So often I am asked, what is God`s plan for my life? What does this mean : I know the purposes which I am purposing for you
To understand what this really means we have to go to Scripture. We have to understand correctly.
This has nothing to do with the fact or the career you choose.
The Word says: not of evil
It says: purposes of peace, hope and a future.
Luk 2:14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Luk 24:36 And as they spoke this, Jesus Himself stood in their midst, and said to them, Peace to you!
Joh 14:27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Act 2:25 For David speaks concerning Him, "I foresaw the Lord always before me, because He is at my right hand, that I should not be moved. 26 Therefore my heart rejoiced and my tongue was glad; and also My flesh shall rest in hope, 27 because You will not leave My soul in Hades, nor will You allow Your holy One to see corruption. 28 You revealed to Me the ways of life. You will fill Me with joy with Your countenance."
Often times we want to blame God for this guilt trip we have, we want to blame Him for all the misery and the corruption, but Jesus declared in John 10:10: I have come so that you may experience abundant life.
The Holy Spirit will never ever trap us or keep us tied down. No, He will convict us.
Convict us of sin, convict us of the stuff that we should rid ourselves of, the different direction we should consider.
He will always offer a way out.
Deu 30:19 I call Heaven and earth to record today against you. I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life, so that both you and your seed may live, 20 so that you may love Jehovah your God, and that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him. For He is your life and the length of your days,
God will even offer His own advice, when He presents us with the options.
Chose life, He says.
Back up to Jer. 29: 12 Then you shall call on Me
Rom 10:9 Because if you confess the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, "Everyone believing on Him shall not be put to shame." 12 For there is no difference both of Jew and of Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call on Him. 13 For everyone, "whoever shall call on the name of the Lord will be saved."
Freedom from bondage lies in this!
Joh 8:31 Then Jesus said to the Jews who believed on Him, If you continue in My Word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
And
Joh 8:35 And the slave does not abide in the house forever, but the Son abides forever. 36 Therefore if the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.
Remember: bondage - slavery or involuntary servitude; serfdom.
Rom 7:5 For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sin worked in our members through the law to bring forth fruit to death. 6 But now we having been set free from the Law, having died to that in which we were held, so that we serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness of the letter.
Why should we continue to struggle?
Why should we remain the same?
Gal 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty with which Christ has made us free, and do not again be held with the yoke of bondage
Nothing we do, can make God love us more and nothing we do, can make Him love us less, But He loves us too much, too leave us, the way we are.
There is nothing we can do to save ourselves.
Rom 3:23 for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness through the passing by of the sins that had taken place before, in the forbearance of God; 26 for the display of His righteousness at this time, for Him to be just and, forgiving the one being of the faith of Jesus.
This is the plan and the purpose God has for us.
This is the future, the hope and the freedom.
It is not about the toys and the bells and the whistles.
It’s about the freedom we have in Christ, the freedom from the penalty of sin, which is death.
Once I truly know and understand this, I can move on and begin to accomplish big things.
Isa 55:11 so shall My Word be, which goes out of My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall certainly do what I sent it to do. 12 For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break out before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Who is this Word? What is this Word?
Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and without Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
Jesus:
Jesus is the answer. What is your question?
No comments:
Post a Comment