Adam Brown’s wife, Kelly (I shared part of their story a few days ago) tells how she fought on her knees for her husband. She relates that she prayed for Adam to have strength against his addiction. It “was the only thing that would stop him. I couldn’t forget how Adam would tell me, every time he messed up, ‘It calls my name.’” She was praying that her husband would hear the only voice that could override the other one – Jesus’.
Our drugs of choice do call out to us. They have our number and know where we live. Our enemy wants us to handle life his/our way. Even when things are going smoothly, don’t be surprised when your enemy dials up your number.
Remember, you don’t have to answer! Victory comes through listening to the right voice. This is why it’s so important to live each day listening to and following Jesus everywhere you go. It allows you to filter out all voices but the One that can save both now and forever – Jesus’.
Set “Free” Nowww

“Man, I was walking uphill the entire time!” It’s what I thought when I looked back over the stretch of road I had just walked near my Dead Sea hotel. I’d been walking 4.5-7 miles per day 7 days a week for a few months so my heart and breathing never changed even though I’d been walking up hill.
Then there’s the Snake Path up the side of Masada. We weren’t able climb it this year due to rainy conditions. Yet in years past, my heart and lungs would definitely let me know I was walking uphill. My legs would even throw in their two cents.
On one walk I didn’t recognize my need for help while on another I did. The difference was my conditioning. My body had been trained to handle one hill, but was struggling to catch up to the other.
Jesus uses life’s uphill climbs to strengthen our faith and replace our worn out character with His. He strengthens our faith so we can face our daily challenges without skipping a heart beat. Some want to stay there, however, so God allows us to face bigger hills that will hopefully create the desire within us to know Him better. It’s only as we face new challenges that we are forced to realize that our worn character (i.e. flesh) can’t cut it and needs to be replaced with Jesus.
You can either embrace and walk up the hill and meet your God at the top (though He’s walking every step with you) or stand at the bottom looking up wondering what it would be like to know who your Jesus is.
Uphill climbs are good for us. They hopefully force us to say, “Lord help me!” Some of the strongest words we can ever say. Uphill climbs are good for us. They help us see that our faith in Jesus continually needs to grow. Uphill climbs are good for us. They’re used by the Spirit to make us more like Jesus, if I let them.
Stop wondering and start experiencing your Jesus today. Oh by the way, uphill climbs are good for you!
Set Free Now“W”w

“Joshua went and defeated the Anakites…only in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod did any survive. So Joshua took the entire land, just as the LORD had direct Moses and he gave it as an inheritance to Israel.” (Joshua 11:21a,22b-23)
Joshua modeled for the entire Israeli nation how to listen to and follow their God all the way to victory. He even showed them how to take down the giants in the land!
Yet there was one thing Joshua couldn’t do. He couldn’t fight their battles when it came to gaining full possession of their individual lands. Each tribe and each succeeding generation had to fight their own battles as they drew upon the lessons learned from Joshua and their leaders.
Like Joshua, Jesus has taken out the giants in the land on the cross and has the power to defeat the giants in your life due to His resurrected life. He will show you how to defeat those giants, if only you will listen and follow Him throughout your day. He will give you victory over your drugs of choice, if only you’d pick up your biblical tools and use them.
No one can do that for you, except you. You must choose victory; no one can choose it for you. It’s as one author said, “The choices we make in this life, small or large, are ours alone.” Victory over your giants is a guaranteed done deal, if only you choose to use your biblical tools, the truths the Spirit gives you from God’s Word, in each and every situation you face.
Go ahead. Make Jesus’ day. Knock down a giant or two today.
“Set Free Nowww”

In the book Fearless, the story of Navy Seal Adam Brown, the author shares about Adam’s checkered past, which if known to those in his group, could have sunk his career. One day while relaxing on a pier watching a fisherman, Adam opened up about his past with a fellow SEAL. Something neither had done during their intense training to become SEAL’s in the first place.
Adam shared about his past drug use, the still tempting voice to go back to that drug, his jail time, the heartbreak his drug use had caused his wife and family and how as a believer in Jesus, becoming a SEAL was not just a dream, but his last hope.
His buddy shared, “I was awestruck. I was glad to know that he had his demons too. I know I sure did. Weakness makes people real, and he let me know his, and that took serious trust. If the wrong people got wind of his past, that could have been bad for him. Something in him trusted me and so I shared my demons with him. As we walked away from that pier I thought, This guy is good to go. I could trust him completely.”
It takes tremendous strength to share your weakness with another believer; and yet, James 5:16 states it’s the only way to see your life changed. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12:10, “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” This is not an oxymoron. The truth is that when we realize we’re weak, we can run to the only unlimited source of strength there is in this world – Jesus. And more often than we may care to acknowledge, He will use other believers to give us the strength we need to defeat our past and current drug of choice use.
It’s time to trust the Word of God. Let others in on your dirty secrets so the Spirit can clean them up and out.
Set Free No“W”w“W”

Today we learned from our Arab brothers in Bethlehem about the ancient world’s version of a flashlight.
People would take a clay lamp, like the one pictured here, fill it with a little olive oil as to not spill it and then tie one to each foot. This lamp contained a very small wick; thus, it would give the person just enough light to walk one step at time in the darkness.
Kind of gives meaning to the Psalmist words, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” (119:105) Notice it’s “a lamp to my feet” not my head or eyes. The author was telling the reader that God doesn’t necessarily shine His light very far down our path. He is asking us to trust Him with each step we literally take in following Him.
If you’re in His word listening for specific lie-fighting and filtering truths, you can make the right choice to turn to Jesus in any moment of any given day.
Don’t let tomorrow stress you out. It will only lead you down the path to your drug of choice. Instead, keep walking one step at a time in the presence of Jesus using the truths He gives you. As you do, you’ll find all that you’re looking for in life – love, significance and security.
S“E”t Free Nowww