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CAT | It Is For Freedom……….

Jan/11

31

It Is For Freedom…….

Rom 8:30 Having called them, He gave them right standing with Himself. (NLT)

Another bondage for many Christians is that of righteousness. Grace is not what we can do for God but what God has done for us; And He has justified us, that is, given us right standing with Himself.

Until we have a revelation of this truth we will always have a problem receiving everything God’s given to us through the cross; His forgiveness, mercy, love, joy, peace, healing, provision etc.

First: He does not count our sin against us.

2 Cor 5:19 God was in Christ, restoring the world to himself, no longer counting men’s sins against them but blotting them out.  (TLB)

Second: He has imputed His righteousness to us. Rom 4:3 Abraham believed in God, and it was credited (imputed) to his account as righteousness (right living and right standing with God). (AMP)

Now we have His righteousness (right standing with Him) we can stop trying to please Him with our self righteousness. Eg – Matt 6:33  But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (NIV). In this story Jesus is teaching the disciples that if they will seek first God’s righteousness, He will provide everything they need materially and spiritually.

If we don’t have a revelation of God’s righteousness we will view this scripture as saying that our lifestyle must become holy and righteous and we have to seek God before He will provide for our needs; But Jesus spoke this before the cross. After the cross His righteousness is revealed through His son, therefore because we are born again we now have His righteousness, (right standing with Him) and qualify for God’s provision. We don’t have to fulfill any rules or change our lifestyle, we simply claim the promise He’s made to us in Christ.

“Thank you Lord I am now the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Cor 5:21) and I trust you to meet all my needs”.

As we hold fast to this scripture in faith we will see God’s provision flowing into our lives.

Meditation point: 1 Cor 1:30 But it is from Him that you have your life in Christ Jesus, Whom God made our Righteousness [thus making us upright and putting us in right standing with God]. (AMP)




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Jan/11

17

It Is For Freedom…..

Theo Phobia: The Fear of God

Isa 6:5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone.   (KJV)

Another bondage brought on through following the law is the fear of God. Many Christians have a phobia today and it’s called, ‘Theo-Phobia: The Fear of God’.

The law has conditions attached to it. If we fulfill the law we are blessed, if we break the law we are cursed. Hence when we do wrong, if we don’t have a revelation of the grace and love of God we will fear Him and suffer guilt and condemnation. We’ll fear coming to Him in prayer, praise and worship and remain in the outer court of His presence; we’ll fear the consequences of our actions and what He will do to us.

Fear steals our peace, joy and rest in God. It saps spiritual energy from our life and instead of being as bold as a lion we become quiet as a mouse; we lose our authority and power and become weak and insipid.

When Jesus died on the cross He died as our representative and on our behalf. He fulfilled the conditions of the law perfectly by loving the Lord His God with all His heart, mind, soul and strength. Thus God was able to lavish upon Him the fullness of His unconditional love; and because you and I are now in Christ, we too become the recipients of His  unconditional love. It doesn’t matter how many times we fail, it doesn’t change God’s love towards us.

1 John 4:17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; There is no fear in love, perfect love casts out fear  (NKJV)

John is here saying that God’s love has been perfected in our hearts thus removing all fear; we can now come into His presence with boldness knowing we are fully accepted no matter our spiritual condition. So if we are struggling with worry, resentment, unforgiveness, shame etc, we are still fully accepted by Him. This emboldens us to come to Him in prayer, praise and worship and receive the strength and cleansing  from our weaknesses; so when things go wrong – we don’t run away from God, we run to God.

Knowing we no longer have to fear God releases us from bondage into total freedom. It was for freedom that Christ has set us free………

Meditation point: Do I know the Fathers’ unconditional love. Do I know his complete acceptance. Have I been delivered from all fear of God. If not, “then Father , open the eyes of my heart to see the fullness of your love for me”.

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Jan/11

11

It Is For Freedom……

UNWORTHY

Luke 18:13 But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’   (NIV)

Read Parable: Lk 18:9-14

Continuing with our series of breaking free from the law; let’s look at the subject of being worthy. There is an inbuilt default psyche in many Christians of being unworthy, hence when we sin or make mistakes we see ourselves as unworthy before God. This is to misunderstand the position and relationship we now hold with God.

We’ve used the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector to teach Christians not to become proud or arrogant about our status in life but to remain humble and to remind ourselves we are but sinners saved by grace.

I would like to challenge this view. The Pharisee was proud and arrogant because he was a religious hypocrite who had a knowledge of God but didn’t know the power of God; whereas we as Christians have been created anew in God’s image. We are no longer sinners but are righteous beings. Christ has made us Kings and Priests to God and we co-rule and reign with Him in His now Kingdom. God has lifted us out of the rubbish heap of sin and death and He’s seated us among Princes. We are now seated with Christ on His throne at the right hand of God.

Therefore we are not unworthy sinners who daren’t lift our heads in the presence of God. No a thousand times NO. We’ve been made worthy by the Father who has clothed us in the royal robes of righteousness, robes of glory and honour. Robes of distinction, esteem, authority and power.

So let us behave in life as befits our station as sons of God; and if there is found any pride or arrogance, God has His ways of revealing such and how we can rid ourselves of it. We must hold our heads up high, throw back our shoulders and walk with confidence and speak with boldness.

We come before God’s presence and use such phrases as: we are so unworthy, without you we can do nothing, I am but a weak man/woman etc etc. Friends, all those things may be true in the natural but you and I are now in Christ and are to approach God’s throne with boldness and confidence.Prov 28:1 The righteous are as bold as a lion.  (NIV)

It’s knowing who we are in Christ that sets us free to be worthy, sets us free to walk and talk as a King. It’s this revelation that breaks the power of low self esteem, insecurity, shame, fear and rejection. John the Apostle encapsulates this truth in 1 John 3:2  Now are we the sons of God  (KJV).

Meditation point: God has imparted His righteousness to me as His son and made me completely worthy.


Rom 5:19 corrects the error of believing that we are only positionally righteous; If we were literally sinners then, we are literally righteous now.  (Steve Mcvey)


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FORGETTING THE PAST

Phil 3:13-14  But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.

OK – we are looking at those areas of life where we are living under the law which is bondage instead of living under grace which sets us free.

Today I want to look at the past. Everybody has a past of making mistakes, failures, broken relationships, under achievement and sin. When Jesus died on the cross He took the punishment of the judgement of God for all our sin – past, present and future; thus His blood washes away all our sin and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Jesus exchanged His righteousness for our righteousness so we are now the righteousness of God in Christ: 2 Cor 5:21.

As far as God is concerned all our sinful past no longer exists, not because He’s forgotten it but because He chooses not to remember it, yet many Christians still harbour thoughts of guilt, condemnation, fear and shame over past behaviour. Why is this? It’s because although we have asked God to forgive us for those things, we are still allowing them to remain on our conscience, and instead of looking towards the cross where Christ set us free which is to be righteous conscious and  releases peace and joy, we constantly look inward at the things we have done wrong making us sin conscious and stirring up guilt and condemnation etc.

Under the Old Covenant on the Day of Atonement which took place once a year, the nation of Israel would gather at the door of the tabernacle. The high priest then performed the ceremony that assured the nation there sins would be forgiven for one more year. This took place in 2 stages:

First: a goat was brought for a sin offering; The priest would lay his hands on the goats head and confess over it the nations sins for that year, thus transferring their sins onto the goat. The goat was offered as a sacrifice for death and when God saw the blood it was a reminder to him that the punishment for their sins had been taken out on the goat. God was now able to release His mercy upon the nation in forgiveness.

Second: another goat was brought and the priest laid hands on the goats head and confessed the sins of the nation again, transferring their sins onto the goat; but this goat wasn’t sacrificed, it was set free to escape into the wilderness never to return. It was named,’ The Escape Goat’, or as we would call it, ‘The scapegoat’. In this , God was saying that not only had He forgiven their sin but He had also taken it away never to recall it again. Here we see the 2 fold stage of God’s forgiveness. First He forgave their sin and second He took it away never to recall it again.

When we come to understand this 2 fold stage of forgiveness we see that Jesus not only forgave our past sin; as our scapegoat He has carried our sin away never to recall it again. It’s not that God forgets our sin it’s that He chooses not to recall it. It’s the same for us. We must receive God’s forgiveness for our past sin and allow Christ to take it away to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Then if perchance these past sins come to remembrance, we to must forget them, we must choose not to remember them by putting them back on Christ again and as our scapegoat allow Him to carry them away. We can do this as many times as is needed until such time we find release from them and at long last experience a clean conscience leading to freedom from  guilt, condemnation, shame and fear. It was for freedom that Christ has set us free.

Meditation point: My sins past, present and future have not only been cleansed by the blood of Jesus; Jesus as my scapegoat has also carried them away never to recall them for all eternity.

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Oxen Yoked Together

Gal 5:1  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.  (NIV)

Although many of us know we are saved by grace, if we don’t come into a full revelation of grace, we will live a life of mixture of law and grace; consequently we will not experience the total freedom that grace brings to our lives.

This is why Paul wrote his letter to the Galatian Church. They started out under grace but slipped back under law and were living in the mixture between the two. Gal 3:3  Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh?  (NKJV)

Paul describes law and grace like wearing a yoke around our necks like oxen are yoked to pull a plough. There were two types of yoke, a wooden yoke or an iron yoke. The wooden yoke was light, sat easily on the neck allowing the oxen to pull the plough all day long. The iron yoke was heavy and ill fitting, the skin would chafe and break exposing the flesh and bruising the neck; and by the end of the day the oxen was worn out, exhausted and weak.

It’s easy to see that the wooden yoke represents grace; grace is light and frees us to live a life of joy and peace, a life that ploughs a furrow of good works not dead works.The iron yoke represents the law; the law is oppressive, it highlights sin in our life leading to guilt and condemnation. We become bowed down and exhausted through living a life of defeat, hopelessness and shame.

In subsequent blogs I will be applying grace to these areas of bondage bringing the freedom that Jesus sacrifice won for us on the cross.

Meditation point: Prayer – ” Holy Spirit, reveal to me areas of my life where I am living by law not grace and show me the way to freedom”.


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