05/22/2024
If you’re tired and you are thirsty, there is freedom.
A Life of Freedom
“At last we have freedom, for Christ has set us free! We must always cherish this truth and firmly refuse to go back into the bo***ge of our past. I, Paul, tell you: If you think there is benefit in circumcision and Jewish regulations, then you’re acting as though Christ is not enough. I say it again emphatically: If you let yourselves be circumcised you are obliged to fulfill every single one of the commandments and regulations of the law! If you want to be made right with God by fulfilling the obligations of the law, you have cut off more than your flesh—you have cut yourselves off from Christ and have fallen away from the revelation of grace! But we have the true hope that comes from being made right with God, and by the Spirit we wait eagerly for this hope. When you’re joined to the Anointed One, circumcision and religious obligations can benefit you nothing. All that matters now is living in the faith that works and expresses itself through love.”
Galatians 5:1-6 TPT
Religious Bo***ge
Friends: let’s break free from the bo***ge of religion! That includes MIXING Old Testament law and works with New Testament grace and faith. The Old Testament paved the way for the Messiah and it all points back to Jesus, THE bo***ge breaker!
Why do we feel the need to bring the law of works back on us? Two reasons: 1. Because as human beings, we feel we HAVE TO EARN and WORK for everything! Receiving anything for FREE just cannot be! FREE gift of salvation? FREE gift of grace? FREE gift of righteousness? FREE gift of unconditional love from a Heavenly Father? Like the saying goes: anything for FREE is just too good to be true! Well friends, this is too good and this is TRUTH!
2. Because we love to take credit for the things we’ve done when in reality, we’ve done NOTHING because it was Him working through us and without Him, we can’t do anything. It’s called spiritual PRIDE.
We have gotten conditioned to work for everything in this world…. When Jesus said His yoke is easy and His burden is light, he literally meant EASY because it’s HIS yoke not ours. We simply YIELD to Him.
““Are you weary, carrying a heavy burden? Come to me. I will refresh your life, for I am your oasis. Simply join your life with mine. Learn my ways and you’ll discover that I’m gentle, humble, easy to please. You will find refreshment and rest in me. For all that I require of you will be pleasant and easy to bear.””
Matthew 11:28-30
So what does this mean? It means that when we’re in LIFE UNION with Jesus, we don’t have to work or earn anything from Him: we just abide and BE IN HIM.
And if you’re abiding IN HIM, striving stops and we live by the power of Holy Spirit.
ABIDE AND REST IN HIM and decide right now to let go of RELIGIOUS BO***GE!
The OLD paradigm of trying harder; doing more; praying more; fasting more ENDS! I am NOT saying not to pray, fast, or do. If the Lord calls us to pray and fast, and do, we obey. But HE directs the paths for us and it no longer becomes a “religious duty” to earn something from God. He’s already given us EVERYTHING we need. We need to come to this revelation and learn to walk in it IN FAITH.
“And since we are his true children, we qualify to share all his treasures, for indeed, we are heirs of God himself. And since we are joined to Christ, we also inherit all that he is and all that he has. We will experience being co-glorified with him provided that we accept his sufferings as our own.”
Romans 8:17
“Now is the time for us to progress beyond the basic message of Christ and advance into perfection. The foundation has already been laid for us to build upon: turning away from our dead works (dead works are the attempts of people to please God through religion, keeping religious laws and traditions and serving others to gain influence with God) to embrace faith in God, teaching about different baptisms, impartation by the laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. So with God’s enablement we will move on to deeper truths.”
Hebrews 6:1-3
Why am I stirred to write this? Because I’m SEEING how this mixture is keeping the Bride in the bo***ge of constant striving, and that is NOT the new covenant of grace that Paul and the apostles preached and what Jesus died for!
It’s actually the enemy’s plan to keep us in that constant hamster wheel of trying harder, and never fully attaining, and that is the trap of RELIGION. It takes the UNVEILING of our spiritual eyes and ears to truly understand the magnitude of what Jesus accomplished at the cross. We must understand the roles and purpose of the law (Old Covenant) and what Jesus’ death means for US as the ekklesia (New Covenant). Once we truly understand this, then we can understand His Lordship and wherever He is Lord, there is freedom!
2 Cor 3:17- Now, the Lord I’m referring to is the Holy Spirit, and wherever He is Lord, there is freedom!
