“So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.”  John 8:36

Truly

Walk His Way Revisited

A friend recently shared one of her struggles with me. I felt humbled that she would risk telling me these painful truths. If someone is willing to be vulnerably honest, I hope to always remember that I have been entrusted with something delicate. It must not be taken lightly; it must be specially tended to. I must keep in mind that this friend exercised courage by confessing.

“Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” (James 5:16).

In this instance, I could relate and was able to say, “I have struggled with that too. Thank you for trusting me; I will pray for you and share with you what has helped me.”

I am sure that there are struggles or temptations in all of our lives that we pray and pray about, but deep down, we believe we will never truly be healed from until we are in heaven. I hadn’t even realized that I was no longer struggling because I had always assumed that during this lifetime, I would struggle with this thing. It took my friend’s confession for me to realize that I had been free for some time. The prison cell that was once my home was no longer decorated and comfortable. I no longer kept a shrine there; that place had been cleaned out and did not look like any home to which I had any desire to return.

Finally! My freedom wasn’t just Bible verse knowledge that sin could no longer control me, but I actually understood it in my mind and felt it in my heart as well.

Is there an area in which you struggle? Keep taking it to the Lord every day. I know that I must continue in my freedom by daily praying, “Lord, I submit this area under Your divine sovereignty again today.” Yes, I have been set free, but in order to remain free, I must never stray from the feet of Jesus. I must never think, “I’m good now, thank You for the healing, but I’ll take that back from You, Jesus. I can manage it alone.” Never!

Once we are free, we have a choice: we can continue to live in freedom, or we can return to our familiar chains.

“So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law” (Galatians 5:1).

What will you choose today?

Dear Lord Jesus, thank You for setting us free! Teach us to walk in our freedom every day, for it is only by Your grace that we can be free. Jesus, if You have said we are free, then let us no longer listen to the voice that wants to keep us believing that we can never be free. In Your all-powerful Name, Jesus, Amen.