John 1:16-17 (Amplified) tells us, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and even favor upon favor and Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth, came through Jesus Christ."
Many of us in the Body of Christ, have never come to the real understanding of who and what we've become in Jesus. We've been saved and born-again, but have little knowledge of what this means in our lives. Jesus told us in John 4:24 (Amplified), "God is a Spirit (a Spiritual Being), and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and Truth (reality)."
How do we worship in Spirit and Truth or reality? What is the Truth or reality, in the Spirit realm? Are there realities in the Spirit, that we don't know or understand? Are some of the things we accept in Christianity really Truth or are they tradition? John 8:31-32,36 (Amplified) says, "So Jesus said to those Jews who had believed in Him, If you abide in My Word (hold fast to My teachings) and live according with them, you are truly My disciples And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free." He continues in Verse 36, saying, "So if the Son liberates you (makes you free men), then you are really and unquestionably free."
Paul writes in Romans 8:1-2 (Amplified), "Therefore, there is now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live and walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit. For the Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus, the Law of our new being, has freed me from the Law of Sin and of Death."
Recall being in history class and learning about the Emancipation Proclamation that came after the Civil War ended, whereby the slaves were set free. Since this Proclamation was enforced and put into motion, those who had been held captive and were in bondage, were suddenly free. There had been certain laws established in America, that made it unlawful to teach a slave to read or write, so most of the slaves were unable to do so.
Many of the slaves brought here from other countries, couldn't even speak English. Generations weren't only sold into slavery, but were born into it. These people were suddenly made free and were on their own in life. Freedom was theirs. However, most of these people had no education, couldn't read or write, owned no land or had a house to live in, and had no money of their own. They only had what the master or their previous owner had allowed them to possess. What on earth were they expected to do with their freedom?
Sadly, many had no choice except to return to the plantation of their former owner. They didn't do so because they weren't free, but because they had no provisions of their own. It wasn't because they weren't as smart as others, but because they didn't know how to walk in and maintain their freedom. They only knew what the previous owner had allowed them to know.
Jesus said, "Whosoever the Son sets free is free indeed." When we get born-again, we don't know about the Laws that govern Heaven or God's Kingdom. We've never been taught how to maintain the freedom that Jesus brought us, by previous generations. We only know the things our previous owner, satan and the world, allowed us to know. How do we live, now that we're born-again and are free from satan's bondage and he has no right to us? Do we do like many of the slaves who were freed with Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and go back to what we know from our previous master? Do we continue serving our old master, because we don't know how to function as free people? Many of the former slaves returned to picking cotton, planting tobacco and living under the same bondage. Even though they were now free, they didn't know how to maintain their new found freedom.
Today, many in the Church are doing the same thing and have returned to the world. They're not doing this because they're not free, but because they don't know how to live any other way. Paul calls this the "carnal Church." We are Spiritually free, but still living under the carnal, fleshly way of life. Many of the former slaves, set out to learn, grow and maintain their freedom. They became great teachers, doctors, lawyers, politicians, inventors and leader, because they sought what would KEEP THEM FREE.
Freedom isn't freedom, until you're free. Even though this is Truth, it's still unknown. Jesus said in John 8:32 (Amplified), "And you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you FREE." This tells us that we must set our minds and hearts towards knowing the Truth! How can we walk in this freedom, if we don't know what will keep us free? We will learn from God's Word and the Holy Spirit ,the things that will set us free. We learn that our sin is forgiven and that is Truth, but now that this part of the Truth has been revealed to us, how do we maintain this Truth? Obviously, we should now adjust our lives and put a check on how we live our lives, but what about the rest of the Truth?
James 1:25 (Amplified) tells us that God's Word is the "Perfect, faultless Law of liberty," saying, "But he who looks carefully into the faultless Law, the Law of liberty, and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer who obeys, he shall be Blessed in his doing, his life of obedience."
Simply being a heedless hearer, will not bring about the liberty in our lives, even though the liberty belongs to us already. If you're born-again, then you're free, just like the slaves at the Emancipation Proclamation were free. But, if you don't learn how to live free, then you'll go back into the bondage were in, even if you're voicing your freedom. Some even blame the One Who set them free, saying that "God still wants to see us in bondage."
If you were born in America, then you were born a citizen of America. The freedom we live in here, was yours at birth, but as you grow up, you are responsible to maintain that freedom. Through the years, we haven't been taught how to maintain our freedom and have therefore, lost some of them. God says in Isaiah 55:8-11 (Amplified), "For My thoughts are not your thoughts; neither are your ways, My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and snow come down from the heavens and return not there again, but water the earth and make it bring forth and sprout, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater. So shall My Word be that goes out of My mouth, it shall not return to My void, without producing any effect (useless), but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it."
God's thoughts and ways are higher than our thoughts and ways. God said that His ways and thought are higher than ours, but He didn't say that we can't learn His thoughts and ways. In order to maintain our freedom, we must learn to do what Jesus instructed in John 8, where He said, "Abide in My Word and teaching and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free."
1Corinthians 2:9-12 (Amplified) says, "But, on the contrary, as the scripture says, What eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, all that God has prepared (made ready and keeps ready) for those who love Him and hold Him in affectionate reverence (promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed) Yet to us God has unveiled and revealed them by and through His Spirit, for the Holy Spirit searches diligently (exploring and examining) everything even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God; the Divine counsels and things hidden and beyond man's scrutiny (His ways and thoughts) Isaiah 55:8-11. For what person perceives (knows, understands) what passes through a man's thoughts except the man's own spirit within him? Just so, no one discerns (comes to know and comprehend) the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God Now we have not received the spirit that belongs to the world, but the Holy Spirit Who is from God given to us that we might realize and comprehend and appreciate the Gifts of Divine favor and Blessing so freely and lavishly bestowed on us by God."
We have been given access to God's ways and His thoughts of being free, but we must seek Him in Spirit and Truth and reality to learn and maintain them. We must not return to bondage, but we must seek God's way of being free.
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