June 19, 2023 … Free Indeed!! …

Berry Patch Devotions in 2023 - Day 170 

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...  Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from Austin French singing … Freedom Hymn … Powerfully singing of how we find freedom from ourselves by being slaves to Christ’s love and grace. 

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Highlight Passage: … Galatians 5:1 [NLT] … 

1 So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.. . 

… Paul shows that Christ has set us free to be slaves of God’s law of love.                        

                         

Highlight Passage (Context): …Galatians 5:1-7, 13-15 [NLT] …  USE THIS LINK …  

… Paul describes how born-again Christians live free from the requirements of the law by being slaves to follow Christ in obedience to His law of love.                                                    .               

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Reference Passage: … Isaiah 61:1 [NLT] … 

1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted  and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed..  

… God, thru Isaiah, promises freedom for all who believe in and follow The Messiah.    

Reference Passage: … John 8:34-36 [NLT] …  USE THIS LINK … 

… Jesus proclaims that anyone who becomes a slave of the Son of God will become truly free.  

Reference Passage: … Romans 8:1-2 [NLT] …  USE THIS LINK … 

… Paul teaches fellow Christians how when we become slavs to God’s Spirit Christ frees us to obey and follow His law of love. 

Reference Passage: … 2Corinthians 3:17 [NLT] … 

17 For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.   

… Paul exhorts fellow Christians to live following God’s Spirit, which sets us free from following our own flesh.        

     

Reference Passage: … 1Peter 2:16 [NLT] … 

16 For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil.  

… Peter teaches fellow Christians that the freedom which comes from our slavery to God’s Spirit never gives us the license to follow the flesh. 

                                                                                                                                         

My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Lisa M Samoa… AT THIS LINK …  wrote how this date - June 19th - often referred to as “Juneteenth” by African-Americans - the day all slaves were set free by President Lincoln in 1865.   However, … the fact was, in the ODB author’s home state of Texas, many slaves didn’t know they were free for at least two years after “Juneteenth.”    

Well, … to all my fellow Christian readers, I pray we know personally what you will hear and read in the linked song and the truth of the Scriptures above, … that when we believe in the finished work of Jesus on the cross and His resurrection to break the chains of death, WE ARE FREE forever as we become slaves to God’s Spirit, which leads us to freedom from our own chains of sin (see photo) by following God’s law of love.  

Yes, we are free in Christ; … <b><i>free indeed!!</b></i>         

My THANKFULNESS ... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, … for giving me my freedom from myself in my relationship with You.       

My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray that all reading here will join me, … to walk in freedom today from the slavery of sin by surrendering to follow You, Lord. … AMEN 

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Blogger Note:  Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled “Our Daily Bread,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries.  If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.