What is True Freedom?-Part One
From The HeartPublish date: 07/13/2014
Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 2 Corinthians 3:17 NKJV
Only in the presence of God is there true liberty - liberty of spirit, soul, and body. The most important and most powerful liberty comes from within when Jesus moves in after you invite Him and receive Him. Nothing else on earth can compare to the liberty of life and spirit of a believer who has allowed the Holy Spirit to have His way in him/her.
Freedom comes through the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – and through the Word of God:
Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:31-32 NKJV
We are free from spiritual bondage and fear of punishment and death:
And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Hebrews 2:15 KJV
For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." Romans 8:15 NKJV
We are free from slavery to anyone but Christ, Who bought our freedom:
For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord's freedman. Likewise he who is called while free is Christ's slave. 23 You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men. 1 Corinthians 7:22-23 NKJV
As long as we serve God, we also willingly obey Him. The more we submit to Him, the more freedom in which we walk.
We are free from the Law:
But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. Romans 7:6 NKJV
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:2 NKJV
We do no longer serve God out of fear of punishment for transgressing the Law, but now we serve him from the heart, with joy. We walk in the reality of forgiven sin.
We are free from the fear of death:
Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Hebrews 2:14-15 NKJV
We are free from the curse of the Law:
Christ purchased our freedom [redeeming us] from the curse (doom) of the Law [and its condemnation] by [Himself] becoming a curse for us, for it is written [in the Scriptures], Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (is crucified). Galatians 3:13 AMP
We are free from the control and power of sin:
For he who has died has been freed from sin. Romans 6:7 NKJV
And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. Romans 6:18 NKJ
We are free from corruption:
Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Romans 8:21 NKJV Our physical bodies may die, but God has promised us a glorified body that cannot die or grow old and perish. All of creation will one day share in this glorious liberty!
We are free from the bondage of or to man:
For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more.
1 Corinthians 9:19 NKJV
God has set us free from the opinion and control of man – only God’s opinion of us, and His will for us, counts. We take our orders from God alone; even so, we choose to love and serve others at His direction.
We are free from religious ordinances:
Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. 4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Galatians 4:3-5 NKJV
Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations — 21 "Do not touch, do not of the taste, do not handle," 22 which all concern things which perish with the using — according to the commandments and doctrines of men? 23 These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. Colossians 2:20-23 NKJV
When you are a child, you need outer boundaries to protect you and to lead you in a form of discipline and training. As you grow, you learn to form inner boundaries. An unsaved person needs the outer boundaries to keep them on track, such as the Law. A spiritual person is governed by the Holy Spirit within, and he is led and directed by the spirit, and not by the flesh. God is not impressed with mere religious rituals; He looks for worship - in spirit and in truth - from the heart
There is no freedom for the wicked:
Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. 35 And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. 36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. John 8:34-36 NKJV
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Romans 6:20 NKJV
The freedom to sin is not freedom. Submission to sin is submission to bondage and the devil. True freedom comes from yielding to righteousness and the Holy Spirit.