Devotional Song: … Go to this link… Please go this video link to hear Nichole Nordeman singing a song of freedom in Christ, Finally Free, which reminds me of the reality which I must believe … that in Christ, my Savior, I’m finally free of sin and self.
RESTRAINED in Self
RELEASED in Christ
==============Highlight Passage - Romans 8: 1 [NKJV] …
There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
==============
Highlight Passage [Context] - Romans 8: 1-11 [NKJV] … Go to this ink
Reference Passage #1 … Proverbs 23: 7 [NKJV] …
7 As a man (or woman] thinks in his [her] hear, so is he [she].
Reference Passage #2 … Romans 8: 28 [NKJV] …
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
My Journal for Today: Fellow Christian, are we free today?
Well, today’s Our Daily Bread devotional [ODB], authored by Poh Fang Chia, essentially asks that question by using a life analogy involving the training of domesticated elephants. … As any Christian can see from the first attached photo, when one sees an elephant restrained in a circus, they will note that the largest, most powerful, land mammal is usually restrained by only a stake in the ground with a short chain and a rather flimsy chain or rope. Of course, the elephant could pull free from the restraints at any time; but even the large bull elephants don’t because he’s been trained to believe that he cannot break free from the simple stake with a rope (or chain) attached to a flimsy ring around the animal’s ankle. The elephant could free himself from the restraints with one good tug; but he doesn’t because he believes he can’t.
Quite often in my ODB devotionals this year, I’ve been reminded of the truths in Romans, Chapter 8, revealed by the Apostle Paul, who had made the comparison of the self-imposed bondage of self-pity and mistaken beliefs in Chapter 7 of his letter to the Romans and the freedom which any Christian really has if he/she REALLY BELIEVES in the reality of what God’s Spirit provides for us through His prevenient, saving, and sanctifying grace.
As the second photo above reveals and today’s linked song reminds us, WE ARE FREE IN CHRIST!!! But do we believe it? Because, like the elephant (and the truth of Proverbs 23:7 reveal) if we believe, in our hearts, that we can’t break free from the bondage of the strongholds of sin which have us bound up in habitual behavior, we are captive to those restraints.
I lead a ministry (SEE THIS LINK for Battle Plan Ministry) to help men break free from the bondage of habitual sexual sin. And the prognosis for these men breaking free from their own self-imposed bondage of recurring sexual sin is whether they, as born-again Christians, can come to believe, in their hearts, that Christ, with His finished work on the cross, has set them free. As long as they believe, as Paul wrote about in Romans 7: 14-25 that they are captive to the law of sin in their flesh, Satan has them totally restrained from the freeing power of God’s enabling/empowering grace.
BUT (and this is such a big “BUT”) if/when these men can – and do – believe that Christ has set them free by His sanctifying grace, THEY WALK FREE and will make sin-defying choices which honor God rather than dishonor His Name. I pray today that all Christians reading this have broken free from the self-imposed belief that sin rules in our lives … so that we can walk free, following the mandate of Christ, who called all disciples to follow Him (I hope you know Luke 9: 23 by now).
My Prayer for Today … Lord, in my relationship with You, I’m a free man, … free to make Savior choices rather than selfish choices … free from my own sin to break the bondage of self-imposed misbeliefs and to walk free, … following You. ... Amen
Blogger Note: Every day during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread [TGIF], distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK; on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read the Our Daily Bread blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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