Author: marquitabp

Are You Holding Yourself Prisoner?

 

"For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."  2 Corinthians 3:17

 

I'm not sure if I read this or someone told me this, but when you isolate yourself, not even God can reach you.  Like a person in prison, you are kept guarded away from society, under the lock and key of your own mind.  Some people are in prison.  Not just in their minds, but in their homes, in their families, in their work environments, in bad relationships, in physical pain they imprison themselves because they do not seek their freedom. 

 

The word Liberty means "The condition of being free from restriction or control; the right and power to act, believe, or express oneself in a manner of one's own choosing."  One of the most famous quotations from one of our founding fathers, Patrick Henry, is "Give me liberty or give me death."  Let me explore this for you.

 

Before Christ, before He freed us through the gift of the Holy Spirit, we were destined to die.  Why?  Because we were outside of the covering and the covenant of God.  We were not redeemed, we were not victorious until Christ died.  He defeated the enemy and saved us.  We were not "given our liberty (freedom)" until the veil was torn when Christ gave up the ghost on the Cross. (Mark 15:37-38)  We did not break free until He rose on the third day (Mark 16:6).  We did not gain that liberating Spirit until Jesus returned to the Father and sent His Spirit to lead, guide, direct, and comfort us(Acts 2:3-4).  Before all of this, we were doomed to that death!

 

But here is how many people still keep themselves imprisoned; they do not realize that God has given us freedom through the Spirit, which is of Him, and therefore is Him!  By staying imprisoned in the ways of the world, we miss out on our freedom.  By staying trapped in our pasts, we deny ourselves God's grace and the love He has for us that is shed abroad through the power of the Holy Spirit.  We have been freed–freed from death, freed from separation, freed from eternal damnation and liberated into the body of Christ! 

 

"Creation was subjected to frustration but not by its own choice. The one who subjected it to frustration did so in the hope that it would also be set free from slavery to decay in order to share the glorious freedom that the children of God will have." 

Romans 8:20-21

In Crisis Time

 

"If you faint in a crisis, you are weak."  Proverbs 24:10(GWT)

 

 In periods of crisis and difficulty, the most common reaction is to flee or faint.  Think about all of the wars across history.  People do not make the most rational decisions.  Everything from financial crises to famine, family blowups to battles of the mind, it seems easiest to give up and give in to defeat. 

 

But being realistic, in trying situations, I know my first instinct is not always to seek God.  And you know why, after years of negative programming, the mind does what is natural for it to do.  It will send complaints to your mouth and repeat "defeat" in your brain.  Once you say it and it gets into your heart, its hard to react any other way.  The cure for this is to break that programming; rather, reprogram your mind with faith-filled words.  A commentary of the above scripture goes further to say "Under troubles we are apt to despair of relief. But be of good courage, and God shall strengthen thy heart."  Our hearts are weak because we do not give it what it needs to remain strong.  The only One who can get us through troubles is God.  The only One who can equip us with the tools is God.  But He already gave us the most important tool to stay focused and strengthened in the midst of trials…His Word!  He already sent Christ to redeem us.

 

"For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."  Hebrews 12:3