Monday Declarations – 24/02/2025
I am Free
Passages: John 8:36
Song: Jubilee Worship – No bondage (feat. Jennifer Ese & Anthony Brown)
Let me start by asking one question.
Are you free?
You can take your time to think about your answer.
What is freedom? Freedom is having the power or right to act, speak or think as you want or a state of not being imprisoned or enslaved. Freedom however, goes beyond physical slavery. You may be physically and financially free, but you can still feel enslaved. Slavery can come in the form of sin, addictions, fear, spiritual oppression, physical ailment, guilt over your past.
Permit me to ask this big question. Can you be a Christian and still lack freedom?
What is your answer?
My answer is Yes and No
I’ll start with the easier answer, No, you cannot be a Christian and lack freedom because freedom is the our heritage, our inheritance, our birthright and endowment. The bible says in Galatians 5: 1 ERV that “We have freedom now, because Christ made us free” and John 8:36 (NLT) says “if the Son sets you free, you are truly free” TPT version says “So if the Son sets you free from sin, then become a true son and be unquestionably free!” So my first answer is that if you are a believer dear brothers and sisters you are “unquestionably free”.
So what are you free from?
- Sin and the weight of your past sin.
Acts 13:39 (NIV ) says “Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses.” This means the new covenant that came as a result of Jesus’ sacrifice has set us free from sin. So you have been freed from the guilt and shame of your past. No matter what you have done in the past the sacrifice of Jesus has wiped your slate clean. Isaiah 1:18b (NIV) says “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they as red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”
Walk with confidence knowing that you are forgiven.
- Bondage
Bondage is the state of being bound, of being a slave or someone’s property. A slave is someone that is in control of another. Bondage can come in the form of affliction, addiction, mental and spiritual oppression, poverty, ancestral covenants. This bondage may have been self inflicted due to our bad choices or superimposed on us by circumstances or powers beyond us. But God is telling you today that He has set you free, free from every captivity and bondage and no voice or person can say otherwise because he the Son has set free is free indeed(John 8:36). Isaiah 49:24-25 says “Can plunder be taken from warriors, or captives taken from the fierce? But this is what the Lords says: “Yes captives will be taken from the warriors, and plunder retrieved from the fierce; I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save.” No matter how deep you have gone or how strong your slave master is, the Lord can and will contend with those forces for you. But you must play your part refuse to be bound, continue to reaffirm your reality as a free person, stand firm. Gal 5: 1 NIV says “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by the yoke of slavery”.
So walk out from that prison, that slave master, that place where the devil has trapped you because you are unquestionably free!
Don’t worry I haven’t forgotten about my second answer. Yes, you can be a believer and lack freedom. Hear me out. The reality is that everyone is a slave to something it could be money, self, ambitions etc. Even those who claim to be absolutely free are slaves to their flesh and desires. Everyone has a master, everyone is controlled by someone or something. I was reading a book where the author said “Those who are truly God’s own are not free.” According to him, “common people do what they want, when they want, where they want, with whom they want and how they want. But those who are truly God’s own are not free. Yes they are free from sin, yet bound unto God.” This made me realize that among the many masters, God is also a master albeit more loving and undeniably the best master one could have.
As believers who strive for spiritual growth and maturity we must ask ourselves; “what is my freedom for?” “who is my master?” Sometimes it fascinates me how the bible written so many years can be applied so seamlessly in our dispensation and to our questions like it was written yesterday. I say this because we presently live in a society where everyone strives for freedom to do whatever they like including Christians but 1 Cor. 6:12 NIV says “I have the right to do anything,”you say- but not everything is beneficial. Ï have the right to do anything”- but I will not be mastered by anything.”; Gal 5:13 NIV Says “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.” So yes, siblings in Christ, you can do what you want but it must be within the confines of what your master wants just like how you may be free to throw yourself into a burning flame but that’s not what your body wants, your body doesn’t like pain naturally. So like Romans 6:22 (NIV) says “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.” You have become slaves of God and your actions must be for his glory. ERV says “But now you are free from sin. You have become slaves of God and the result that you live only for God. This will bring you eternal life.” And finally, 1 Peter 2:16 NIV says “Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves.”
Prayer
- Isaiah 49:24-25 and Acts 12:5-10 gives me the confidence that there is no prison or bondage too strong that the lord cannot deliver me from. Therefore I receive power from God to break out from every prison and bondage.
- 2 Cor 3:17 NIV says “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” Ask the Holy spirit to walk into your life and bring freedom in every area of your life where there is bondage, fear, guilt, shame, anxiety, depression.
Food for thought
Everyone has a master. It is up to you to decide who your master will be. So choose wisely.
Fore more watch the drama performance by the creative unit of the organization.
By Lois Oko-Jaja| FB:Lois Oko-Jaja| IG:luizejay
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