I gave my life to Jesus back in April 1999 (Easter Sunday). Another way of saying that is I made Him Lord that day. I knew Him as a Savior since I was young, but Lord wasn’t something I understood. Before/around that time, I was really into mystical things like tarot, horoscopes, and dream interpretation. I knew there was more than this physical existence. I went to a Spirit filled church and quickly was drawn to the uber-spiritual things that were going on. I believe I have discernment and some prophetic gifts. I also know the enemy knows that and he tempted me into the witchcraft.
All that background to set this up. God speaks to me through many avenues, like everyone else. Writing, pictures, dreams, songs, etc. Sometimes through visions. Not like Daniel and Ezekiel visions but like, well, moving pictures.
One of those early in my Christian walk has stuck with me and is one of the first things I think of when people talk about authority, freedom, being captive, etc. I was in a jail cell; a very dirty and dried blood covered cell and I was chained to the wall. The shackles had words on them to tell me what I was chained to. A warrior (Jesus) breaks into the prison and is clean and dressed in dazzling white and riding a bright, white horse. He throws open my cell doors, loosens the shackles and chains, lifts me up with Him on the horse, I become clean, and we ride away in victory.
Isaiah 9:4 (TLB)
For God will break the chains that bind His people…
Isaiah 42:7 (NLT)
You will open the eyes of the blind. You will free the captives from prison, releasing those who sit in dark dungeons.
Isaiah 1:18 (HCSB)
‘Come, let us discuss this,’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will be like wool.’
2 Corinthians 3:17 (HCSB)
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
John 8:32 (HCSB)
You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
Pretty cool, right? There’s more though. While the freedom is beautiful, it scares me. It’s unfamiliar and I don’t know how to function. Instead of going to my Savior, I go back to the prison. My cell is still there with the gate torn off. The chains sit open on the floor. It’s still dirty and even though I come in clean, I slowly get dirty again just from being around. I sit on the floor and put the shackles back on. I can see the words and feel the weight, but they seem familiar. The words change sometimes, but the chains do not. “Lust,” “worry,” “pride,” “depression,” “shame,” “seeking approval/acknowledgment/love outside of God’s,” “inadequacy,” etc., etc. They aren’t locked anymore because Jesus destroyed all the locks. But I can still walk into the cell and put the chains on.
Galatians 5:1 (NASB1995)
It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.
Romans 8:37 (NASB1995)
But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.
Jesus will come and rescue me again when I call out to Him. I’m learning that I can walk out though. I can take off the chains and walk out of the prison because I am free, and the prison warden and guards have no power over me. I have the authority to be free. I have the authority to walk away. The guards will mock and say mean and discouraging things. If I listen, I coward in the corner getting more and more dirty. I think I deserve the punishment. But I hear His whisper calling me out, “come away!”
Song of Solomon 2:10 (NASB1995)
My Beloved responded and said to me ‘Arise, My darling, My beautiful one, and come along.’
1 Kings 19:12 (HCSB) God passed by Elijah. He wasn’t in the powerful wind, earthquake, or fire.
After the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was a voice, a soft whisper
Romans 6:22
… you have been liberated from sin and have become enslaved to God…
I was studying with leaders at a former church regarding victory over sin. One of the teachers, a wise and scholarly gentleman, was convinced that as believers, we have victory over sin and can live a sinless life through that victory. I’m not saying he was correct or not, but what I did learn, and experience is that I have a choice. Before we are born again, we are slaves to the flesh and sin. We don’t know any better. The world doesn’t know better. Christianity isn’t a behavior modification program. Insisting that non-believers act morally is making them earn their salvation. That thought process makes us legalists and Pharisees.
I digress…
A born-again believer who is under the Lordship of Jesus and has the Holy Spirit living in them has the power, the authority, to not sin. Will we? Yes! While in these bodies it will happen. But God is big enough and loving enough to show us how to not when we ask and obey.
James 1:5 TLB
If you want to know what God wants you to do, ask Him, and He will gladly tell you, for He is always ready to give a bountiful supply of wisdom to all who ask Him; He will not resent it.
2 Corinthians 5:17 declares that we are new creatures in Christ. Like a caterpillar to a butterfly or a larva to a dragonfly or a seed to a flower. But unlike those things, we have a choice in the matter.
Ready to fly and be free from the chains? You have the authority, go soar!
Bragging on the Lord 