Free Indeed

When you have lived through a hurt, your natural instinct is to either move on and try to forget it or to harbor it until it ultimately defines your life. God’s instinct is higher than yours. He doesn’t want you to isolate yourself in your pain. He wants to use what you have experienced, not only to heal you, but also for the benefit of others. God wants your willingness to open your life to Him and to those He chooses. You can discover healing from your pain, and He can use you to help others discover healing from theirs. 

Being open is a hard place to be. You might want to build a wall to protect yourself. But building a wall doesn't protect you. It imprisons your mind and heart. It imprisons healing of not only your wounds but those of others. Your wall turns your heart into a heart of stone because, in closing yourself off, you are unable to hear the Holy Spirit.

However, when you allow that wall of false protection to tumble down, the Lord turns your pain into victory, not only for yourself, but also for others. 

“I'll give you a new heart,” the Lord promises, “and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26).

A heart that yields without hesitation to the Holy Spirit is a heart that is malleable, vulnerable, and not afraid of what must be faced in order to receive healing. It's a heart that is ready to face the hurt of the past or the present head on and allow the Holy Spirit to do whatever is necessary. Willing to deal with whatever must be dealt with, this heart trusts that the Lord who has exposed the pain is capable of healing all that has caused it.

"Now the Lord is the Spirit,” Paul imparts, “and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17). 

The Holy Spirit liberates you from pain, fear, and the power of feelings to manipulate. He heals the wounds that have imprisoned you. But you must reject the enemy who wants to keep you, bound and chained, in darkness, and, instead, open yourself to the healing work of the Holy Spirit. You must be willing to cooperate with Him. 

“For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).

This is His work. Not yours. Your work is your willingness to deal with the pain. He is your protector. You no longer need to protect yourself. He will protect you and provide all that you need. You choose to lower your wall and open yourself to His Word. You choose to receive His truth that sets you free.

“For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe” (1 Thessalonians 2:13).

Welcome Jesus into your pain. Welcome the Word. Open your mind and your heart to the Holy Spirit. Jesus is your healer. He never fails you. He wants you free. He effectively works in you when you believe Him.

Is it time, my friend?

“Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).

The Unity Of God's Love

“By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

—John 13:35

 

Jesus told His disciples that His love would distinguish them from the rest of the world. Our holy living, religiousness, or condemnation of sin doesn't reveal to the world that we are faithful followers of Jesus Christ. Our love for each other causes the world to take notice, while a lack of love for each other keeps the world from knowing Jesus. 

 

Members of the body of Christ who place the utmost importance on outward appearance or continually look for fault in others are some of the most judgmental believers. Jesus Christ had no condemnation (Romans 8:1), and His perfect love doesn’t condemn (I John 4:18). Condemnation is the opposite of the love Jesus spoke of to His disciples. 

 

Jesus didn’t say everyone would know we are His disciples by our doctrine, rituals, hatred for sin, or even by how we express our love for God. He said very clearly that the one trait that would cause the world to identify us as His followers was our love for one another. In the Upper Room, Jesus prayed to His Father: “That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” (John 17:21). 

The only way that the body of Christ will be one, as the Father and Jesus are one, is through God’s kind of love. 

 

The unity of believers, which only comes through a genuine God-kind of love, is the greatest means of evangelism the church has ever known. We should not be shocked that Satan has pitted Christians against each other. This is why the body of Christ is not united in love. 

 

The early church didn’t have the media, money, and massive programs for evangelism we have today, or the ability to travel around the globe. Yet, the unbelievers in Thessalonica had something to say about Paul and those who ministered with him: “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too” (Acts 17:6). The early church evangelized the known world in less than thirty years. Before we can ever fulfill the Great Commission, there must be an awakening of God’s love in the body of Christ, where our relationship with Jesus defines us instead of religion, tradition, and offense. 

 

God’s love tolerates trying situations and persons, enduring far beyond the norm. His love is patient, generous, unselfish, and good, showing sympathy and understanding for others. It’s considerate and desires only to promote the welfare of others. God’s love is benevolent, revealing itself in actions of kindness. God’s love isn’t jealous or resentful of the good fortune of others. His love isn’t vain, self-righteous, or proud. It isn’t dishonest, nor does it violate what is right. God’s love doesn’t demand its own way. It’s forgiving and not easily upset. His love doesn’t judge another’s hardship. God’s love rejoices when sincerity and truth prevail. His love makes it possible to withstand all stress and difficulty. God’s love protects and holds off anything that threatens the benefit and welfare of another. God’s love believes the best of everyone without criticizing or looking for fault. His love persists and hopes against all odds in expecting the best in others. God’s love causes one to push through despite any difficulty. His love never proves inadequate or fruitless. It will never disappoint, prove unreliable, or fail. His love endures forever.

—1 Corinthians 13:4–8

 

“Make God’s love your greatest aim and pursuit,” Paul wrote (1 Corinthians 14:1).

 

Is this the love you aim for and pursue despite your feelings and every attempt of the enemy? Does the world recognize you as a Christian because of your love for your brother or sister in Christ? The world will know we are Christians by our love.

Paul wrote: “Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself” (Philippians 2:1–3).

When we love each other as Christ has loved us, nothing stands against our unity. The only thing that can stop Jesus’ love in us is our selfishness and pride. His love, which was freely and unselfishly given to us, changes hearts when it is freely and unselfishly given. The unity of God’s love cannot be overcome. His love changes us and the world.

 

The Holy Spirit is awaking the church to this unity. We will either love each other and the world will know Him, or we will give the enemy permission to divide and conquer. Right now, Jesus is praying for His faithful followers: “That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me” (John 17:21).

 

This awakening begins in you and me. 

 

Called To Be A Part of Him

“As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:3-4).

God never calls us to do something that He doesn’t supply the means to accomplish. When many Christians hear they need to live a holy life, they immediately feel the pressure to try harder to be holy. 

Peter says we are to “be holy” (1 Peter 1:16); he doesn’t say we are “to do holy.” In 2 Peter 1:3-4, he tells us something that directly opposes the pressure we experience to “perform” holiness. He says God’s divine power has given us everything that pertains to life and godliness. You don’t receive holiness when you are good and disciplined enough. Holiness was given to you when you received Jesus as your Savior.  God’s divine power has given you everything you need to live a godly life. He invites you to draw from the supply He’s already provided.

This supply comes “through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue” (2 Peter 1:3). God called us by His glory and virtue. God is the creator of our holiness. We aren’t. Behavior modification isn’t holiness. Performance isn’t holiness. Holiness is the revelation in our hearts of Jesus Christ living in us. As we deepen our understanding of God and our fellowship with Him increases, He begins to live through us. His life begins to manifest in us. 

Peter says that we have been given “exceedingly great and precious promises.” It’s through these promises we become partakers of His divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). We don’t “do” holiness. We partake in His. 

Paul writes: “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19)

Holiness is God flowing through your surrendered life. You’re not your own. You belong to God. You’re the temple of the Holy Spirit, and God is your source. The word “partaker” in 2 Peter 1:4 isn’t passive. It’s intentional. You intentionally draw upon God’s supply. You take part in His nature, and you receive what belongs to Him as your own. 

Obsessing over sin will never help you escape its corruption. Your obsession will keep you perpetually bound in it. Praise the Lord, for where sin abounds, His grace abounds much more (Romans 5:20)! Sin loses its hold on you when grace continually fills you. When God’s nature is alive in you, the deceit of the world loses its power. But when you constantly obsess over sin, it becomes your identity (Proverbs 23:7). Instead of living out of God’s grace, you live out of your flesh. Fixation on sin will never overcome darkness. Only grace overcomes it.

The problems we face in life can hinder the flow of God’s grace.  Drawing upon His supply protects the life and flow of the Word in us. When we remain grounded in God’s Word—when we abide in Him, and He abides in us— His life, flowing freely through us, quietens the flesh that contends for our attention.

If you get one thing today, please get this. God doesn’t call you to live a holy life by trying to mirror His holy nature. He’s calling you to live from His supply. He’s calling you to stir up the new nature within you. When you quit struggling “to do” holiness and begin living out of His supply, holiness no longer feels like something you can never attain. It’s Christ who lives in you, and the life you live in Him, you live by faith in Him (Galatians 2:20).

God doesn’t ask you to observe Him. He calls you to be a part of Him.

Fellowship With The Father Is Truth And Life

Have you heard truths taught from the Bible that were more like formulas to guide you from one point to another instead of something that quickened your heart? While the lessons themselves were valid, there was an underlying emptiness.

One day, I approached John 14:6 with a fresh perspective. Jesus declared, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can reach the Father except through me.”

Perhaps, many of us have grasped that Jesus is the Way and the Truth, yet are missing the spirit of the Life? Can we separate Truth from Life and still have Life? As a teacher and writer for years, I admit that I have been guilty of this mistake. Truth is powerful, and it sets people free (John 8:31-32), but truth (in this context—good teaching) cannot stand alone apart from Life.

Life is fellowship with God. Adam and Eve were created to walk and converse with God in the Garden of Eden. Truth, in my mind, emerges from fellowship with Him. We often speak of a “relationship” with God, but we rarely discuss “fellowship.” Relationship is inherited, while fellowship is a choice.

Truth that is disconnected from Life can be reduced to a formula. However, the Truth that emerges from fellowship with the Father becomes Life. John comprehended this and expressed it in this way: “We declare to you what we have seen and heard, so that you may also have fellowship with us. Our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3).

John’s purpose in writing this letter was to invite others into the same fellowship with the Father and the Son that he had. Everything a person needs is derived from his relationship and fellowship with the Father and Son. Those who seek only what God can produce in their lives and not God Himself will always struggle to receive. Those who cherish a genuine fellowship with the Father and Son will naturally receive everything they require as a consequence of that profound relationship. That which we witness and hear in fellowship with the Father is Truth and Life.

You cannot separate Truth from Life and still have Life. Until we choose true fellowship with the Father, we will be left with mere formulas and frustration. I have personally experienced this, and you probably have as well. I strongly encourage you to seek fellowship with the Father. Allow the Holy Spirit to reveal the Truth of His Word to you. It will never be a formula; it will be Life.

Satisfied With Jesus

 

The night before His crucifixion, Jesus told the disciples He would be leaving them soon to prepare a place in His Father’s house for them. He told them that He would return one day to get them and that they knew the way.

 

Thomas declared they didn’t know where He was going and asked how they could know the way. 

 

“I am the way, the truth, and the life,” Jesus said. “No one can come to the Father except through me. If you’d really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

 

“Lord, show us the Father,” Philip said, “and we will be satisfied.”

 

Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father’s, who lives in me and does his work through me. Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.”

—John 14:5-11 

Are we like Philip and not satisfied with the truth that is right before us? Maybe we are like Thomas and have trouble believing. The Word is Jesus. He is right before us. His promises are “yes and amen.” Yet, are we like Philip, asking Him to prove Himself to us just one more time? Was His sacrifice for our sins and sicknesses not enough to prove His love? Jesus has revealed the Father’s love to us. We no longer have to prove what only Jesus could prove. We have a righteous, healed relationship with the Father. If Jesus has shown us the Father, why aren’t we satisfied with what He has done for us? Why do we have trouble believing every Word of truth He has given us?

There is a difference between mental agreement and believing something in your heart. You can know about Jesus and not know Him. You can know what the Word says with your mind and not believe the Word in your heart. The heart is where you believe. And for the heart to believe God’s truth, you cannot connect to Him mentally with your natural understanding. Your spirit must connect with His Spirit (2 Corinthians 2:14).

 

“For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power” (Colossians 2:9).

 

Jesus is in the Father, and the Father is in Him. Jesus is the fullness of the Godhead in you. You are complete in Him. Whoever is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him (1 Corinthians 6:17). That should be more than enough to satisfy us.

 

You received the righteousness of God in your born-again spirit when you were made new in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17, 21). It’s the heart that believes this (Romans 10:10). You must believe what His Word says about your new life in Christ, and believe it’s yours. You must know in your heart, and not just in your mind, that it is well with Him. To do this, your mind is renewed by the Word until it takes root in your heart. And you intentionally draw by faith from the truth of your identity in Him. 

 

“The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. Therefore, with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation “Isaiah 58:11, 12:3).

 

Do you hunger to believe all Christ has done for you? To lay down all of your doubts and believe His truth? To taste and see that He is good? He satisfies your hunger with good things so that you are renewed! He guides you and satisfies your soul in hard times and good times with His Word that is sown deeply in your heart. He reveals to you the truths of your salvation. His living water springs up in you—to be an ever-flowing stream whose water never fails. You draw from the wells of your salvation! You draw from the Lord who is one with you in spirit!

 

“Have you been with me all this time and not known me?” Jesus asks each one of us.

 

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,” Jesus taught in Matthew 5:6, “for they shall be filled. They shall be satisfied." 

May the Lord stir a deep hunger to really “know” Him. May you hunger to know His righteousness “is” your identity. It’s the very heart of your relationship with Him. Get into the Word. If you have no idea where to begin, ask the Holy Spirit to guide you. Ephesians 1 is a good place to start. Take your time. Don’t hurry. Mediate on each word. Allow the Spirit to reveal the Father to you.

Be renewed continually in your mind with the truths of your fellowship with God. Believe by faith in your heart that these truths are true. God is faithful. You shall know He is enough. You shall be satisfied and filled with Jesus. He is your way, your truth, and your life!

 

“God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:9).

 

Discerning You, Jesus

Sin and death are linked. One affects the other.

“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—” (Romans 5:12).

Sin is the root of sickness. No sickness strengthens, blesses, or enhances anyone’s life. If given the opportunity, sickness can lead to an untimely death. 

Adam’s sin released death, and sickness is a product of the power of death in us. If we can understand sickness as a fruit of sin, then we can understand that sin is the root that must be addressed. If sin, the root of sickness, can be destroyed, then sickness has no authority and no right to be in us.

There is an unholy union between sin and sickness. David understood this connection and prophesied man’s future deliverance from both the root of sin and the fruit of sickness.

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases” (Psalm 103:2–3).

Isaiah prophesied of Jesus: “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet, we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4–5).

In quoting Isaiah, Matthew revealed Jesus as the fulfillment of his prophecy.

“When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: ‘He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses’” (Matthew 8:16–17).

Healing didn’t end with Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. 

“And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people” (Acts 5:12).

The Great Commission to go into all the world, preach the Gospel, and lay hands on the sick so they recover are promises of the church age (Mark 16:15–18). The spiritual gift of healing was given to equip the body of Christ for ministry (1 Corinthians 12:9).

If we can still receive forgiveness for our sins today, healing is also available for us to receive. Forgiveness and healing are inseparable in the Gospel message.

Jehovah Rapha is one of the redemptive names of God revealed in the Old Testament. His name is “the Lord our Healer.” He is also our Jehovah-Tsidkenu, which means “He is our righteousness.”

God’s redemptive names mirror His eternal nature. If healing were to vanish, God would cease to be God.

Jesus carried both the root of sin and the fruit of sickness to the cross so that we could be free of their power. When the power of sin was defeated, the power of sickness lost its authority. 

“Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24).

Just as there is an unholy union between sin and sickness, there is a holy union between the forgiveness of sin and healing. 

In 1 Corinthians 11:29–30, Paul speaks of taking communion: “For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason, many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.”

The holy union between forgiveness and healing is experienced when the Lord’s body is discerned. 

To discern the Lord’s body means recognizing and reflecting on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It calls for a repentant heart, acknowledging that His body was broken for us and His blood shed for us. When we don’t discern the Lord’s body properly—when we don’t recognize and acknowledge that Jesus gave His physical body not only for our sin, but also our sicknesses, sickness prevails. Some even die before their time. 

Jesus, I discerned You yesterday during communion. I experienced Your love for me on the cross. Deep within, I knew Your body broken for me and Your blood shed for me. As we took communion together, we were one bread and body in You. You are our head, our Jehovah-Tsidkenu and Jehovah-Rapha. You are my righteousness and my healer. Communion will never be the same. Discerning You, Jesus, is my healing of sin and sickness. My communion is in you.  By your stripes, I’m healed.