Freedom预览

THE GATEWAY TO FREEDOM (MODULE 1)

SMARTPHONES. Where would we be without them? At this point in history (2024) over 85% of the world’s population own a smartphone. Whether you find yourself in the most technologically advanced city on earth or a rundown slum somewhere in the developing world, you are guaranteed to find a smartphone being used. For the very few of you who are not doing this devotional on a smartphone right now, please take a moment to find your phone and place it in your hand. It is believed that this very device you are holding right now has more technology and power in it than the supercomputers used to send the first man to the moon. Let that take a moment to sink in.

Despite the power that we have available to us, many of us would only ever use our phones to make calls, send text messages, scroll through social media, and crush a bit of candy. But smartphones have a much greater capacity. From checking your heart rate to assisting in real-life surgeries, from live language translation to full cinematic movie editing, from 3D mapping to GPS navigation, this list goes on and on. If only we would realize the fullness of what we have access to every day.

This is unfortunately an accurate picture of Christianity today. So many believers don’t access the FULL life that is available to them. They accept their salvation. They tick their weekly church attendance box. They read their bible twice a year. But they still find themselves stuck in the same cycles of sin. Bound to addictions. Riddled with unforgiveness. Consumed by disappointment and identified by their past.

I am here to remind you that THERE IS SO MUCH MORE. Yes, we are saved. Yes, our future is secured. But Christianity is so much more than us going to heaven someday - it’s about heaven coming to you today. Did you know that you can be free TODAY? The power of sin has no hold on you TODAY. You are more than a conqueror TODAY. Right here, right now, you can access the free life that Jesus came to give you.

As you step from one season into the next, there are several keys that are important to understand as you start your journey to freedom.

REALISATION
The first step is realizing that you are stuck and that you need to be set free. Romans 3:23 reminds us that we have ALL sinned. We all fall short of God’s plan for our lives. Every pastor. Every believer. Every atheist. And everyone in between – we have ALL sinned. And that means we ALL desperately need Jesus. In fact, 1 John 1:8-10 reminds us that if we don’t believe we have sin in our lives, we lie to ourselves. The best place we can be is to realize how messed up we are and realize how much we need Jesus. God cannot change who we pretend to be; He can only change who we really are. So being real and honest with yourself is the first step into freedom.

DESPERATION
The second step is having a desire to get free. There is an amazing story in the bible about a blind man named Bartimaeus. He hears that Jesus is passing through his town, and as Jesus walks by, he begins to cry out to Him out of desperation that Jesus would heal him and restore his sight. The crowd tries to silence Bartimaeus, but the bible says that he shouts all the more. Eventually, he catches the attention of Jesus, who hears him, and then heals him. This is a powerful story where grace meets desperation. I would suggest that Jesus was not drawn by the volume of his shout, but rather by the faith of his heart. And that is what desperation is: it is an expression of our faith. When we are desperate, we put our faith into action. A lot of people don’t see a breakthrough in their life because they aren’t desperate for it. His desperation for a miracle caused him to create a disruption in the crowd. In the same way, we must be willing to do whatever it takes to get the freedom that Jesus paid for.

CONFESSION
The final step is to confess where we have sinned, repent, and turn back to God. James 5:16 tells us to confess our sins to one another and pray for each other so that we may be healed. This passage is essentially giving us a formula for healing. That’s right - we can see healing in our lives, but it is based on two things: prayer and confession. Prayer is taking things to God, but confession is taking things to each other. Yes, we can be open with God, but healing comes when we are open with each other. The truth is confession is uncomfortable. We don’t want to let people down, we don’t want to let people in, we don’t want to be rejected or isolated, and we don’t want to hurt others, so we often try to keep everything to ourselves. We carry all our sins ourselves and just hope that God will deal with them privately. But something happens when we bring things into the light. When we expose our sin, we are choosing humility, submission, and teachability; and THIS is the kind of heart that God can work with. God cannot work with a hard, prideful, ‘know-it-all’ heart. But a humble heart is soft and malleable, and in the hands of God can be healed. Every time we confess to one another we are killing any pride in our lives and we are laying ‘self’ down. Confession is uncomfortable, but it is necessary – and it is one of the keys to finding freedom in your life.

One of the most important steps you will take in this journey to freedom is finding someone to walk with. Having a leader or someone you are accountable to is vital to the journey of freedom. As you take these steps, you will move from a place of living stuck, to a place of living free. You will see the breakthrough others won’t because you have the desperation others don’t. Today is a new day to step into a new life of freedom.