Freedom…we ALL need freedom in our lives. Freedom from bad habits, freedom from deceived thinking, freedom from addictions, freedom from pain. There are so many things in this world that take captive our minds, our spirits, even our souls, and our hearts are crying out for freedom from their bondage. Well that is exactly what Jesus dying on the cross did. When Jesus gave of himself and as it says in Isaiah 53:4, “borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows,” He unleashed the power of God into the world, a power so great that it can, quite literally, change everything. And this is what I am going to be talking about today; how the power of what Jesus did at Calvary opened the door to our freedom.
The first power that enables us to have freedom is the power of God’s forgiveness. The power of God’s forgiveness is so radical that it can take any number or any degree of sin and completely wipe it out of God’s record, so we can be“…perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works,” as it says in 2 Timothy 3:17. And I want you to listen to that, when it says perfect it really means perfect. So when God looks at us He doesn’t see the filth of our flesh but the righteousness and perfection of Jesus’ blood. And do you know what that does? That changes everything, that completely frees us from the guilt and shame of our all past mistakes and even from the worry of any future mistakes. And when we don’t have to worry about messing up the time, because we will, that allows us to live in such confidence because we know what our savior did for us up on that cross. And I don’t know about you but for me that is a pretty liberating feeling.
And so because of God’s forgiveness we are able to enjoy the freedom that comes from this next power, which is the power of God’s joy. Like it says in Nehemiah 8:10, “…the joy of the Lord is our strength.” This could not be more true, because when we are totally filled with the joy of the Lord, we can not help but be overcome with the power that frees us from having to live a life of negativity and pessimism. We experience the freedom of a power that turns our mourning into dancing, a power that turns our depression into rejoicing, a power that gives us the strength, that when the world is telling us that we should be down because the economy is bad, we should be depressed because our finances are bad, we should be discouraged because our families are falling apart, we should be frustrated because we can never seem to stop making mistakes, it gives us the strength to turn to that world and say “Well you can go ahead and be down and be depressed and be discouraged and be frustrated, but as for me I am going to dance and I am going to sing and I am going praise the Lord because He saved me from the fiery pits of hell and He has given me a new life free having feeling sorry for myself. And THAT changes everything.
But now its time for the last power, and what I definitely consider to be the greatest power, which is the power of God’s love. God’s love, God’s perfect, pure, infinite love is what truly changed everything. Because as we all know “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” But what we don’t always think about is what it says in 1 John 4:18 that, “…perfect love casteth out all fear.” God’s love casts out all fear??? Do you realize…that changes EVERYTHING!!! For without fear we have the freedom to live the way God created us to live, without fear with the freedom to be exactly who God created us to be, without fear we have the freedom to do all the extraordinary things that God has created us to do, and without fear we have freedom from the bondage of Satan’s lies that have bound down the power and potential and destiny that God has placed inside of us that has been waiting for something to come along and change everything. When we acknowledge what Christ did on that cross 2000 yrs ago and realize the power that it gives us for our own lives today, we become able to receive the power of the forgiveness, the joy, and the love of God…that changes EVERYTHING!
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