Free Indeed!!
So I’m just going to say right now that I can take practically zero credit for this article. This is simply me sharing a word I received from the Lord a few weeks ago that spoke right into my struggle and it’s been on my heart to share it with all of you.
I know I’m not the only one who constantly falls into the same sin pattern again and again and again. And I don’t know about you guys, but I can’t help but feel discouraged when I’ve sworn to God that I’ve surrendered it to him or I promised that last time was the last time, but then I find myself falling into that sin again. Sometimes I even think at this point, why even try to surrender this to God? I know I’m just going to mess up again. So what’s the point? But friends, this is not the mindset God wants us to have when it comes to our sin! He is a God who convicts us and calls us higher, but never condemns. He is also abundantly patient and loving. And before I continue with my own mediocre words, here is what God spoke over me while I was laying in bed at 1:30 am asking those exact questions above.
In bed at 1:30 am…
“You ask “why am I not free of this sin yet? Why do I keep stumbling over and over? Why do I even want to try to stop when I know I’ll just struggle with the same thing again?” The lie you’re believing is that you’re trying to get free from your sin in the first place. You are already fully set free from sin. Even when you stumble, it doesn’t change your freedom. You’re no less free from sin today than yesterday even though you messed up. But you are still living in the result of a fallen world. So you will still continue to struggle with sin while you are here. Sometimes, that might be the same sin again and again. But that’s not a reason to be discouraged and stop trying to surrender it to me. Inviting me in and allowing me to give you the strength to fight off sin will allow you to experience my glory and power and my presence. You will FEEL that freedom deeper because you’re walking in it. When you don’t invite me in to fight for you, your identity as set free doesn’t change, you’re just not walking in the freedom that’s yours in that moment. But this happens everyday. I’m growing you to learn to invite me into your sin struggle not even for your own benefit but for my glory (which means you need to share it). And every time you do that’s a victory to celebrate! But if you mess up, which you do everyday that’s why you need me, it doesn’t mean you’re back at square one. If that was the case every human on earth would be negative one million squares back. I died for every sin you commit daily. So your focus isn’t on getting free from this one particular sin, it’s walking in the freedom that you already have! Because in this life time you are never going to escape sin fully. Not until I return. So whether it’s the same sin over and over, or a different sin everyday, it’s no different- the price is still the same but it’s a price I already paid so you don’t have to live in guilt and shame. Walk in the freedom that’s already yours.”
Wow. Just wow. Like do I even need to write anything else???? Nothing I could say can top a word like that. But I’ll just reiterate the idea that you are not trying to become free from your sin. YOU ALREADY ARE! I’ve heard it said in church a lot I’m praying that God sets me free from this sin. Or I’ve been freed from anxiety and depression. And that’s not bad it’s just the wording that throws me off because you aren’t trying to GET free of anything. Thinking that way has always made me discouraged and caused me to think God what’s taking you so long? Why aren’t you freeing me? Or on the flipside, God what’s wrong with ME? Why can’t I be free of this? But that mindset is totally off! God has already bought us our freedom and it’s a choice moment by moment to decide if we are going to walk in freedom or not. I think of choosing sin as choosing to stay inside a prison cell when the door is wide open and your chains are gone. Maybe you venture out and see the beauty that lies in the world, but you were in that prison cell so long that it feels familiar and you keep going back, even though it’s full of darkness. But if another person walked by and saw you in that cell with the door open and the chains off, they’d say “what are you doing?? You’re free! Why are you still sitting in this cell?” So has your identity as “free” changed while you’re sitting in the cell? No. But you’re choosing not to live in the freedom that has been given to you. And God calls us all to live in that freedom. Because we live in a fallen world, sin is going to be inevitable and that’s why Jesus came and has given us his Holy Spirit. We need him in every moment every day. But it’s not an impossible standard, but rather a beautiful invitation for intimacy with the Lord as he meets us there with love and patience. Here are a few scriptures to encourage you further in this idea:
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” -Galatians 5:1
“What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer…” “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin- because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.”
-Romans 6:1-2 & 5-8
“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. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” -Romans 6:22-23
“Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to it’s rules” -Colossians 2:20
If you’re reading this, I pray you will receive the abundant grace the Lord, has for you, invite him into your struggles, and experience more and more of the abundant life he has in store for you.
