Monday 16 February 2009

True Freedom (from ourselves???)

I found it really interesting listening to Adam's sermon on Sunday about how we can experience the freedom of the Kingdom of Heaven right now, that we don't have to wait and struggle through this life being bound up with different things until we pass on and get our new bodies but that it's accessible now and we need to live out of that place of faith and freedom that Jesus has already 'ransomed' us into with His blood (Hebrews 9:15).

Then it got me thinking - How free am I?

True freedom with human eyes is to be able to do what you want, when you want, however you want with whoever want... no matter what the consequences. God made us with our own free will but we are born into a world that is full of sin, a world that is built around structures that manipulate us, that restrict us with boundaries and suggest to us the way in which we should live and how we should make decisions.
My rambling thoughts got me wondering what I truly see freedom as in my own life (it's all very deep I know!)

God gives us freedom on a plate, we don't have to earn it or struggle for it, all we have to do is ask for it by accepting Jesus into our lives and then we are bought out of slavery and released into freedom in the Kingdom. In the world people have fought and strived for freedom of different people groups, nations, individuals and principles since the day that man was cast out of Eden. The devil has a cunning way of ensnaring people with his devious ways and we soon become our own worst enemies as we become deceived and slowly walk the way that leads us further away from our true freedom and into slavery through sin (the wages of which are death - Romans 6:23) more and more each day.

So what's the big deal with experiencing this 'true freedom' that comes direct from the Kingdom that we have access to now through our position in Christ? (Ephesians 2:6) Surely we just receive it and that's it, God's happy, we're happy, and as a result everyone else around us starts to become happy as they encounter the true freedom of heaven that is with us - The kingdom of heaven is near (Matthew 4:17) & The kingdom of heaven is within (Luke 17:21).

I've had tastes of this wonderful experience of freedom (at least I think I have), but those experiences have been very much moments of glory that end up getting covered up with things of this world like the shine on Moses face when he stepped down off the mountain after encountering God (Exodus 34:29-34) - In my case it stays with me for a while and then becomes more and more difficult to see and hold onto than when it first came, and eventually the memory of the radiance of God's glory and the freedom that it brings can become so distant that I sometimes wonder if I even experienced it at all!

My experience of the Holy Spirit is very similar, I get 'whacked', God impacts me on a deep level and I'm on top of the world for a week and then slowly the world gets its hooks back in and I start to back off from the relationship and I start to lose that intimacy with Him again, just like the last time, and the last time, and the time before that, and the time before that... getting the picture!!!

When I finally look at it I've decided that my experience of Kingdom freedom and of the Holy Spirit are intimately connected - Without the Spirit resting upon me 24/7 I can never expect to truly experience true freedom - It's me that gets in the way of this intimate relationship with the Spirit, it's definately not Him! It's me that makes it complicated, and all I need to do is freely receive and then 'freely give' to others that God brings my way (Matthew 10:7-8).

So I'm off now to go and get close to God, because without that intimate relationship I'm just trying to work it all out myself and denying His Holy Spirit the 'true freedom' it desires and deserves in my life for the outworking of God's love in and around me!

Be blessed!

1 comment:

  1. I think we all struggle with experiencing God in the difficult parts of everyday life. God really blessed me at the last encounter evening, then I had a terrible week when everything went wrong!(mostly because of me) That does not detract from what God did. It does mean I need to learn to do normal life His way. It is quite an adventure finding out how He wants me to do that.

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