Freedom: Your Lifeline
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” 2 Corinthians 3:17
I was handed a lifeline. My husband walked in the door and I walked out. Earlier that day on the phone, I had figuratively vomited all over him that it had been a life-draining, soul-exhausting, nerve-wrecking day with our little men. His suggestion was that I get out to dine in
peace, outside the walls of our crazy. Tears streamed down my face as I busted out.
I drank in the fresh air and I felt free. He had delivered me. What if my husband offered to rescue me from my day, but I didn’t take advantage of the freedom handed my direction?
God offers us a life defined by deliverance and forged in freedom. Are we living in the fullness of the freedom God offers? This is a question we will contemplate this week.
Scripture will be our guide to the life God is offering and envisioning for us. We will explore how he enables, empowers, and equips us to live a life free from any burdens or bondage.
God, as our deliverer, desires we live as daughters of deliverance. Deliverance is the act of being rescued or set free. Our freedom is not just about what he delivers us from, but what he delivers us to! He delivers us from death to life, from sin to victory, from fear to courage, from anxiety to peace, from the law to grace. This week we will uncover the vision God has for our lives. It is a vision to live free from the things that entangle us so we may experience his liberty.
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Cor. 3:17).
Freedom. Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. As believers, the Holy Spirit has taken up residence inside our bodies. As we partner with the Holy Spirit, we experience living freely as a new creation in Christ. The old has gone and the new has come (2 Cor. 5:17). But if we don’t partner with the Holy Spirit, we run the risk of becoming re-chained or re-enslaved to something, someone, or some emotion.
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Gal. 5:1 NIV).
In this passage, the author Paul, specifically warns the people of Galatia not to remain entangled to the Law of Moses but to live under grace as believers in Christ. He is alerting them that if they are still trying to comply by the rules and rituals of the day to be made right with God, they will cut themselves off from Christ.
Christ has delivered us from the constraints of the old Law into the freedom of the new. The veil, which separated God from his people, through Christ, has been removed. The veil was like a closed door separating us from God. But now the door is swung open wide and the warm light of his glory beckons us to walk confidently into his presence.
Sometimes we are tempted to make a “to do” list to feel right before God. Or we try to clean up our act before we come back to him. When we do this, we short circuit the lavish offering of grace in our lives and undervalue the magnitude of the sacrifice of Christ.
The old has gone. The new has come. We have been set free. God, through his Son, delivers us into a grace-based relationship with him. When we acknowledge his grace and depend on it, we are celebrating and honoring the greatness of God, the sacrifice of his Son, and the help of the Holy Spirit. Let’s live free. Let’s live in liberty.
Father, you did not rescue us so we would remain slaves. You saved us so we may be set free. May we loose the chains that hold us back to experience you freely and fully. Holy Spirit, you are welcome here. Break our chains. Help us overcome. Love, Your Daughters.