Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images and lyrics from Nichole Nordeman singing her song Finally Free ... poignantly singing of the freedom we find when we follow Christ’s love and receive His sanctifying grace.
Highlight Verse[s]: Galatians 5:1, …13 [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. …
21 Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.”
... Paul preached the truth that we are only free when following Christ and by following Him we show His love to others.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Galatians 5:1, 4-14 [NLT] ... USE THIS LINK ...
... Paul exhorted fellow Christians to free themselves from the law by obedience to Christ.
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Reference Passage : ... Luke 9:23 [NLT] ... 23 Then He said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow Me. …”
... Jesus commands His disciples to follow Him as the only way to true freedom.
Reference Passage : ... John 8:31-26 [NLT] ... USE THIS LINK …
... Jesus teaches that the only way to freedom is in and thru Him … that we become free when we walk as slaves to Him.
Reference Passage : ... John 14:21 [NLT] ... 21 Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.”
... Jesus shows His inner 12 that the only way for them to show their love for Him was to obey His commands.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Mike Wittmer, uses a word picture of a dog being constrained in a pen and unable to walk free having been trained by the dog pen…. The ODB author wrote: A classmate gave my family a registered collie that had become too old to breed puppies. We soon learned this beautiful dog had, sadly, spent much of her life inside a small pen [see photo]. She would only walk in tight circles. She couldn’t fetch or run in a straight line. And even with a large yard in which to play, she thought she was fenced in.
The first Christians, many who were Jews, were used to being fenced in by the Mosaic law.
Those early Jewish Christians found it difficult to truly walk in the freedom of their relationship with Christ because they had been so used to being “penned up” by trying to walk under God’s Law, which ironically had been given to them to show that they could only walk free when they would - and could - follow Christ. It is the ultimate paradox of Christianity that one will only be free when they submit themselves to humbly and obediently follow Christ (see reference scriptures above).
And I pray that all reading here with me are, as Nichole Nordeman sings in the linked song, “finally free,” … in a deep and abiding relationship with Christ, … following Him wherever He leads us.
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My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Lord, ... for giving us our freedom to follow You into glory.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray, Lord, that all reading here are able to find freedom by obediently following our Lord today. … Amen
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.</ span>
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