ACQUIRING FREEDOM 101

Dear Beloved, I am so joyful that you have come again to share the Living Word with me. Can you believe that another year has come and gone? Maybe the Lord will come back for us this year. Only He knows the hour, but we surely know the season. I feel a home going coming on. Let's be ready at all times....walking in love, having great faith, serving and praying. The following message came about because of a dear brother's message to me a few days ago. He was in need of a Word. He was in need of prayer and encouragement. He was in need of freedom.

Side note: The above picture usually represents freedom, regardless of where you live in the world. But, you can have someone in certain parts of the globe who may be jailed for owning a Bible. Did you know that in that case, that person still may have more freedom than most who live in the U.S.A.? So, yes, you guessed it ! We are going to talk about spiritual freedom and liberty.

Let's pray, Wonderful Jesus, our Bread of Life.You are our Savior, Redeemer, God and friend. You are the One who holds the key to our liberation. Free us we pray from all things which hinders us from being one with You. Remove our chains. Remove our yokes. Remove our burdens. Help us to take your yoke upon us for it is easy and light. Save us to the uttermost we pray. Holy Spirit, teach us now about the good things the Father has for us who believe. Give us ears to hear. We love You. In Jesus name we pray................AMEN.

My dear brother (I mentioned earlier) and myself, have found that there is a sin in our life which we just can't seem to shrug off. It is a besetting, or habitually besieged by, cursed thing. We read the Word. We eat it, digest it and do it. We spend quality time with the Father every day. We pray often. We worship and praise Him. We have stood in prayer lines over and over again, in hopes that we would be delivered from this hideous thing. But, we just come away with oil dripping from our beard to our garments and bald spots from multitudes of, "laying on of hands." We are sincere. We love the Lord. But we just can't seem to find our way free of the sin which continues to plague us. Are you in a similar situation? If so, then this message is for you. I am not promising a cure all. In fact, I don't know the answer. Nobody does, unless they are given a word or special wisdom from the Holy Spirit. And, even then we may still go on, forever it seems, with the same condition. But take hope in this message and don't give up. We will all be delivered. Some before others, but we will all find freedom. I know that I know. Can't you feel it? Hope is building all ready.

I will confide with you my sin. With me it is anger. I will be going along just fine one minute and the next I will be out of control. The most stupid of things will set me off. Oh God, I hate it so. From there I will go into a tail spin for days. If you get in my way, then look out because at that point I hate everybody and everything...especially myself. My poor wife. Oh the words she has heard come from these lips. Bless her Jesus. Thank God she understands and prays. During this course of hatefulness I don't even think of getting out. It's almost like it has to run it's course until I finally want to disappear. To the point where I wonder if I am born again, or even can be. But always...always (so far)(thank God), a light shines in my heart and everything is put back to normal again. God does it, I don't even know how, but He does. It's like a cycle which must run it's course. I am redeemed from the curse, so in time, this madness will be broken off of my soul. It will for you too my dear brother or sister. Whatever habitual sin you may, or may not, have. God wants it gone more than we do. PRAISE GOD, HALLELUJAH !

"But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." (2 Corinthians 3:16-18) We see here that the Holy Ghost (whom God has given us) will give us freedom as we continue to gaze upon and abide in the Lord. Freedom from what? Many things. But for now let's just plug in yokes which have us tied to a besetting sin. A yoke is simply a device used to harness two farm animals together so they would go in the same direction. While we are talking about yokes, check out this verse in Isaiah 10:27. " In that Day (we will talk about that Day in the next paragraph) their burden will be lifted from your shoulders, their yoke from your neck; the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing." The anointing here represents the fatness, the richness, the power of God. The Holy Ghost endows us with such power.

In Luke 4: 17-21, we read the following: "The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him (Jesus). Unrolling it, He found the place where it is written: 'The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release (set free) the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.' Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on Him, and He began by saying to them, Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." Boy, I bet you could have heard a pin drop. Super cool !! This was the Day we read about in Isaiah chapter 10. It was the Day of Jubilee...the Day of Freedom.

Wow, we have learned a lot so far. We know that God want us completely free, and He has given us the precious gift of the Holy Spirit to accomplish just that. Of course we must believe. We must pray. Yes, we continue to refresh ourselves in His presence and find ourselves in the prayer lines as the Spirit leads. Another wonderful passage about the freedom Jesus died for to give us is found in Isaiah 58. I encourage you to read the whole chapter. A real good discourse on fasting. Remember that Jesus said, "when you fast." He also told the disciples that certain demonic activity came off by prayer and fasting. So, fasting is another great weapon we have against the yokes of the enemy. Isaiah 58:6 says, " Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and beak every yoke?" Remember, read the whole chapter.

The work that Jesus started in us dear beloved, He will finish. Right now satan knows his time of doom is at hand and he is pulling out all the stops. But God is also shaking us and purifying us. For what? For His Glory to fill the earth....through us. Can you believe it? Believe it ! Let's close with a most wonderful scripture of faith and hope. It is found in Ephesians 6:10-18. I know this will be long, but worth it's weight in gold. "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power (anointing). Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

"Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then(keep on standing), with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Above all, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests."

I promise you this thing: If you continue to look upon the face of Jesus, you will experience victory. Because in His face (abiding with Him) you will find the anointing, His presence, His glory..........His love. And, do you know what else you will find? FREEDOM !!