When Slaves Are Really FREE!

You showed me a powerful truth today, Lord, in a way that helped me grasp it like never before.

You have called me to some priceless work.  The work of encouraging my clients to draw near to You, so You can help them break free from fears, blocks and limiting beliefs — whatever holds them back from finding and embracing the Life You have dreamed for them.

I love how You prepare me for this (and any) work — through gentle whispers or not-so-gentle 2×4’s.  Whatever will get my attention so You can help me break free from my own.

Today, You taught me a powerful truth about Freedom.

The 13th Amendment to our Constitution abolished slavery in the United States on December 18, 1865.

“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

But the key question is this:  How many slaves were there on December 19th?

In Truth, according to the new law of the land, NONE.  What a concept!!!  In practice, however, the number was many  because many still lived like slaves.

Why would anyone do this, Lord?  Why would anyone who is actually free continue to live like a slave?

I suspect there were many who had not yet learned the Truth about their freedom.  Regrettably, there may have been many in positions of authority who wanted to — and worked actively to — hide this Truth from them. Perhaps some knew the Truth about their freedom but chose — willingly or unwittingly — to live the life they had always known.

But doesn’t this whole question also apply to every Christian on the planet, Lord?  Why do we, all too often, continue to live as if we are still “slaves” to sin (our old nature) when we are actually “new creations” who have been set free from sin?

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has gone, the new has come.”  (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Are we ignorant of what You have really done for us, Lord?  Do we not really believe it?  Do we consider our continuing struggles with sin habits to be “proof” that we are not really free?  Do we cry out to You in desperation, asking You for the very deliverance You have already made available to us?

“The Lord sets prisoners free, the Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down…”  (Psalm 146:7)

“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”  (2 Corinthians 3:17)

You gave a dear sister-in-Christ a “taste” of True Freedom yesterday.  For weeks, You have been revealing the lies that had been her steady diet for decades, producing a bitterness in her that went far beyond her taste buds.  By Your Grace, Lord, she has begun to “taste” — to grasp — The Truth!  And You have begun to replace that bitter taste with a SWEET JOY unlike any she has ever experienced!

Clearly it is only The Beginning.  Yet it IS The Beginning!  The Beginning she previously thought was impossible.

“Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”  (Matthew 19:26)

I can only imagine how radically her life will be transformed, Lord, when she more fully moves from ignorance to Awareness to Knowledge to Understanding to BELIEF!!!  I can only imagine how radically my own life will be transformed, when, by Your Grace, I do the same!!!

Isn’t that kind of Radical Transformation availabe to every one of us, Lord?  As we discover the fullness of all that became TRUE — for us, in us, about us — on the day of our own Spiritual Emancipation Proclamation?  The day we opened our hearts and became Yours forever?  The Radical Transformation that is made increasingly evident as we then “walk out” Your Truth by faith, in the power of Your Holy Spirit?

“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!”  (Ephesians 3:20)

With eager anticipation,

Abba’s Girl

 

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