Freedom

Dear friends

One of my favoritest scriptures is

John 8:32
³² And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

For me personally, the truth is the greatest gift from GOD.

Perhaps this stems from my history.

I had been searching for answers, for truth, for deep spiritual explanations, for connection, for wisdom – and I had searched in all the wrong places.

Until I met GOD.

And I felt this relief, this feeling of finally arriving home after a long, exhausting and nerve-wrecking journey.

I wouldn’t say that this was HIS PEACE.
I felt that, too.
And that, too, was one of the greatest feelings and greatest gifts.
But that was different for me than the freedom and the relief I felt from knowing the truth.
Finally!
Perhaps anyone can relate?

Knowing that I had found the truth helped me relax on a level I didn’t even know was possible.

I didn’t have to run around anymore – from book to book, teaching to teaching and most of all teacher to teacher – to be excited in the beginning, thinking that “this is is now”, only to discover after a little while that something is wrong, odd, that they are contradicting themselves, that they do NOT have the answers and that I am not allowed to ask any further, not allowed to challenge, to inquire deeper or even to question them.

Of course, nowadays, I know that they had no clue, that they were selling something they didn’t have.
Truth.

For me, truth and freedom are so interconnected.

Freedom for me doesn’t necessarily mean to be physically free, and it most definitely doesn’t mean to be free to do whatever I want to do.

In fact, one of the most liberating truths for me is actually to learn that we are not our own and that the invitation to do what we want is only one way the devil is trying to lure us away from GOD, outside of the covenant, so that we would no longer be protected and he could attack us and do his best to destroy us.

It is liberating to know what is true and what is a lie.

Even if I don’t like that we can either belong to GOD or to the devil and never to ourselves, I am still glad someone told me the truth rather than lying to me and I like the content of the lie but then it will only kill me in the end.

Not sure if that makes sense to you my friend?

I also find it liberating to understand the lies in all the things the devil makes us chase.

Love – the picture of (fake)love he is painting…..and trying to make us chase after it…..
“Success” – as in success equals money and possessions, my house, my boat, my wife…….
“Good person” – righteousness for our own sake, for deeds, for works…….no need for a saviour

– just to name a few.

The truth is the answers are all found in GOD and in the bible – and only there.

Everything else is a lie.

Everything else will get us hurt and damaged and defiled.

I absolutely agree that this truth makes free.

Because there are so many temptations, teachings, doctrines, religions out there – me, I was restless before I got saved, I learned and learned and studied and studied and the more I studied, the more I felt like I knew nothing and wasn’t good enough or smart enough or diligent enough…. I was driven, running around, searching…….and I didn’t even know exactly what I was looking for, I only knew that what I had found so far wasn’t “the real deal”.

I know I was privileged for GOD to choose me, because as it says in

John 15:16-1

¹⁶ Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

We may think that it is our choice to give our lives to JESUS, but it’s the other way around.

Because if HE wouldn’t reveal HIMSELF to us, nobody would understand that they need to give their life!

If we don’t have that revelation, Christianity seems stupid to us.

Me, for instance, I was studying everything EXCEPT the bible!
It never occurred to me that there could be anything useful in there, even though I had some amount of religious education in my upbringing – nothing I had ever heard in church or in school ever stuck with me – I even believed in the New Age lies that GOD is the universe and manifesting and all that nonsense!

People who are not believing in GOD aren’t stupid, they just didn’t have the revelation yet, GOD hasn’t revealed HIMSELF to them- this is actually my main prayer for everyone I pray for, whether I pray for them with them being there or not – that HE would reveal HIMSELF to them and that they would understand that HE is real and that HE is GOD.
This is a supernatural truth and it takes a supernatural understanding for this, otherwise the bible and Christianity will only be another theory and will be very inconvenient on many levels, so they are not likely to follow it unless they will have this revelation.

Freedom from lies.

Even for the people in prison whom I minister to, it is possible to be made free inside the prison walls – free like never before!
It actually happens quite a lot.
Because they are willing to listen when they are in pain over having lost their physical freedom to move around as it pleases them…… and also because they do know somehow that what they had been doing isn’t working and that they need to change.

It’s not much different for many of us.

We may not have landed ourselves in jail, but we are likely to be stuck in our situation, in our ways, in our “prison without walls” and we need something different, something new…….something that will work and will not be another fake or temporary solution.

Only when we find out what truly works, how to be delivered from what was holding us captive – in 99% of the cases some sort of lie, some sort of false god we were worshiping and chasing – can be break free.

And the more we study and learn from GOD and HIS word, the more powerful in HIM and through HIM we become.
It is also true that the more we learn about HIM, the more we know that we don’t know…..but other than with worldly knowledge, I don’t perceive that in a discouraging sense, more like being in awe and understanding more of HIS greatness the more we learn.

When we are with GOD, we cannot but grow.
In power, in knowledge, in wisdom.
Nobody who has been a true, practicing and devoted Christian can be the same as when they started, as when they got saved.

Me, I am sometimes amazed about myself – or better, at my life now.
When I remember where I came from and all the darkness the devil and his witches literally threw at me – nowadays, I would just shrug most of it off – because I know who I am in CHRIST.
I am not boasting of my own power, GOD forbid, just noticing what HE taught me and how often and how much HE defended me and what HE brought me out of – if it were up to them, I would be dead and would never even be able to tell the story, let alone publish it so that others can be free as well.

What a shame for the enemy!

What a public disgrace!

I take liberty in talking about the kingdom of darkness, exposing them, doing my best to educate those under attack – that’s how free I am.
Free from fear that they could harm me.
There is absolutely nothing they can do to me.
I am living proof for the wimpyness and weakness of the devil and his mignions.
Because IF they were stronger than GOD, I wouldn’t be here anymore.
But they aren’t.
And this liberty, or audacity (depending on the perspective) can only come from GOD’s truth.
Had I not been taught by HIM for years, I would still be afraid of the devil and of witches.
OR I would still believe that the devil isn’t real – because that’s another trick, if people don’t believe something is real, they will never be able to defeat it! They will rather believe they are crazy than that they are under a spiritual attack by some forces they don’t believe in – which lets them be defeated without a battle.

I’ve come across a quote this week:

C.S. Lewis once said:
“If Heaven is real, nothing else matters. If Heaven is not real, nothing matters at all!”

I think this goes for the rest of the bible as well.
It’s either ALL true and then it’s the only truth – or we are all delusional.
But the thing is:
GOD’s power works.
Prayer works.
GOD opens doors, gives wisdom, supernatural guidance and advice.
HIS love and HIS peace are priceless and matchless.

And HIS TRUTH makes us free.

I hope and pray that this will inspire, encourage, heal and bless you.
And that THE LORD will bless you abundantly in all areas of your life; that He will keep you and shine HIS face upon you and bring you PEACE. In JESUS name I pray. AMEN.