We love our routines. We like it when life sails along on our schedules. They keep us at peace with ourselves and our worlds. “And Lord, help the person or situation that blows up my routine!”
Routines are not always a good thing, though. In fact, they can slow our walk with Jesus to a standstill. Routines keep us from hearing Jesus. We don’t need Him to speak to us as we’re in control. “Jesus, I know what to do and how to handle what’s coming next. I’ve done it before.”
They keep us from drawing closer to Jesus. “Sorry Jesus, I know You’re there, but You can go help someone else who really needs the help.” They also keep us from getting to know new things about Jesus. Why? You need new situations in order to see Him work on your behalf. Yet, you can’t get into new situations if you’re stuck in your old routines!
There is a saying about routines. “Routines are like ruts. They’re just an open ended grave.” They go on and on and on, and you’ll never go anywhere but where the rut takes you. Jesus came to give you life, which is outside of your ruts.
Will you take His hand out of your routine by giving Him your schedule today? A Biblical worldview filters everyday of your life, not just on Sunday. Today, will you listen to Him and stay at certain appointments longer? Will you let Him replace some items on your to-do’s list with items from His? Routines might make you feel good, but they keep you in bondage, which ruins your health. Choose today to hear from Jesus. You might even see Him show up in your life and learn something new!

We’ve all faced dropped calls or couldn’t hear the person on the other end of the line. When this happens to me, I usually end up calling the person back hoping to get better reception.
Our enemy loves to mess with our reception – the ability to hear from Jesus. He wants our calls to be dropped through distractions. He likes to create static through the various voices in our heads (the lies we and/or others have put there). He especially loves to create confusion by giving us tons of conflicting view points or too much information.
Living with our biblically-based truth filter turned “On”, is the only way to get clear reception. God has given us equipment to victoriously fight this battle against our enemy – the armor of God. If you read Ephesians 6:10-18, you’ll notice that every piece of armor is a specific biblical truth. The more you’re in the Book, the more you’ll catch on to how Jesus, the Word of God, thinks. This will enable you to quiet the voices and see through the conflicting view points.
You also were given a heavenly cell phone to keep in touch with your Chief Freedom Fighter – Jesus. We are told to “pray in the Spirit at all times” so we can cut through the distractions in order to hear from Jesus. You’ve got to keep your phone “on” if you want to hear what Jesus wants you to do in any given situation.
Want to experience freedom throughout your day? Put the truths into your head. Keep your filter on. And stay on the line! Jesus wants to talk with you. Can you hear Him now?

A friend of mine told me about the following stencil on the back of a truck. It read: Godisnowhere. He was intrigued by this bold statement. God is no where. He thought this had to be some sort of atheist group. He plugged the phrase into Google and discovered it was a Christian organization!
They were using it as a teaser to talk about Jesus. How? If you rearrange the letters of that stencil it can read: God is now here. Same letters. Same order. But what you take out of it can be entirely different.
There are two lessons in this story as it relates to living with a Biblical worldview. One, we see what we see, but are we always sure of what we see? We need the Word of God to help us interpret what we see, so we can live out the truth that sets us free. Second, sometimes we need other believers to help us see the truth we need for freedom. It took looking up this phrase on the internet to be told what was really meant by the letters. We can see that God is no where or have others help us to see that God is now here with us.
Are you going to allow your worldview to be shaped by the god who is no where or the God who is now here? Someone will shape your worldview; will it be Jesus using the Word and People of God or the god of this world and his evil agents? The choice you make will determine whether you enjoy the benefits of freedom from or consequences of bondage to your drugs of choice.

Here we are. It’s Monday morning. Hopefully, you spent some quality time with believers this past weekend: encouraged by conversations, comforted by the prayers and/or challenged by the Word. Here is what I want you to think about this morning. What truths did you add to your filters that will enable you to experience greater victory this week?
If you only came away from the “church” service with warm fuzzies, you missed the point. What did you hear from Jesus? Did He give you new truths to make your filters more effective at screening out your enemy’s lies? Or, did He strengthen the truths already in your filter? Either way, I encourage you to not be like the people James admonished in James 1:22 who were hearers, but not doers of the Word. The truths they heard from the Word became useless to them in fighting the battle of everyday life. Learn from their mistakes. Use the truths Jesus gave you this week to recognize the lies that must gotten rid of and to focus on the truths that set you free from your drugs of choice. Happy practicing this week!

Is your faith stronger now than it was on Monday? Hopefully you can answer with a resounding “yes” as you saw Jesus all over your life.
A stronger faith is made possible by having a mature faith as described in Hebrews 5:13-14. A mature faith is the ability to discern good and evil and then make right(eousness) choices based upon that information. In other words, a biblically-based truth filter is kept on, risks were taken by obeying the truths the Spirit put into your brain, and victory was gained over a drug of choice. This is what is meant by living with a Biblical worldview.
A mature believer uses the Set Free Nowww principles to experience the Spriit draw them closer to Jesus, even in defeat. They fulfill the purpose God gave them as He changes their life and affects the lives of those around them where they are, which a weekly BIG makes happen.
A weak faith stays the same at best or loses ground at worst by focusing on doubts, religious practices, people and/or fear (Hebrews 6:1-3). In other words, life is lived with “the nothing gained, nothing lost” attitude. Status quo is a good thing. This attitude slowly commits suicide by wasting time not getting closer to Jesus, which means BIG is not on their schedule.
I hope you experienced Jesus – the author and finisher of your faith – this week!