The Israelites constantly looked backward when they came out of Egypt. They focused on their drug of choice, in this case slavery in Egypt, even though God gave them freedom. Every time they faced a challenge, they wanted their drug of choice. Think about that for a second. They chose slavery over freedom! Why? They focused on the challenge rather than the promises of God. They didn’t focus on the promise of a land flowing with milk and honey. They only saw garlic and leeks!
It’s the same for us. Jesus has set us free. It’s our choice to go back to slavery (Gal. 5:1). If we’re going to defeat our drugs of choice, slavery, we’re going to have to focus on God’s promises. Jesus has promised to provide living, not rancid water; abundant life, not death; and victory, not defeat. The question we must ask ourselves is, “Is my way of thinking and living working?” If not, it’s time to change. It’s time to focus on, trust in and step out on the “truths at the point of lies” that you’ve already put into your brain. (You’ve already done this, right?) Victory comes by focusing on where you’re going, being like Jesus, rather than on where you’re at, eating garlic and leeks.

Set “Free” Nowww

Yesterday, we learned that Israel stayed in their drugs of choice because their view of God was too small. Today, their view of themselves was also too small. In Numbers 13:33 they thought they were bugs! Before, God was going to get squished. Now they were going to get squashed. Neither their God nor they were strong enough to defeat the giants and yet they were “the people of God”, who could defeat them?
We’re called children of God, who can defeat us? We’re children of the King of the universe who has enough power to defeat our enemies. It’s time to believe the truth of Philippians 4:13, “I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.” What part of that verse don’t we understand? Because I’m God’s child I can have victory each and every day of my life, no matter what giant situations I face – from snippy bosses to overbearing mates.
What gets in the way of our victory? The same mental block that hit the Israelites. We have a hard time filtering out the slave mentality to focus on the truth of who we are, children of God. We’re on God’s team now and can accomplish His purposes for our lives, which means He gives us all the power we need for victory.
God is telling us to let go of the slave mentality (“I can’t do anything.” “I can’t win.” “I’m worthless.” “I don’t have anything to offer God” and whatever other garbage thinking you want to add) and believe the truth about ourselves, “We are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ;” and, “If our God is for us, who can be against us?”
Get rid of the loser mentality and grasp the truth, you are victorious in Christ. Go forward and live out the victory over your drugs of choice that is yours. Your life can be changed. You’re much bigger and more valuable than you think.

“S”et Free Nowww

Imagine picking a cluster of grapes so big it takes two men to carry it. The Israelites didn’t have to imagine it. They carried it! And God was going to give them all this and more. All they had to do was have faith in God Almighty to give them victory as they fought a few battles! Would they take the risk and enter the land despite the obstacles and fighting?
Nope. After doing a risk-benefit ratio study, they found the risks far outweighed the benefits. Why? One of the reasons was their view of God was way too small. Remember they came from Egypt where among other things people worshiped the gnat, the dung beetle, and the cow. These were the images in their heads when they thought of God. In fact, they made a cow out of gold and called it the LORD.
In Psalm 8:1 the LORD is described as being bigger than all creation, let alone a cow! His glory is above the heavens. He’s humungous! The risks were weighed against the idea that their God couldn’t handle the fighting. They were thinking God was a bug who would get squashed, rather than the maker of the universe who did the squashing.
How big is Jesus to you? Is your drug of choice bigger than Jesus, like a cow that is eaten for meat? Or, is He bigger than the universe, let alone your drug of choice? There are spiritual battles to be fought on your journey to be more like Jesus. These battles are winnable because we serve and love a humungous God!
Risk taking is easy when you know who your God is and what He can do. Keep fighting by using the FREEdom Process to filter out the garbage thoughts that lead you to drug of choice and focus on your humungous God. Taking steps of faith, risks, will transform your life to the point that your God will not only give you hope to continually go forward, but can also use you to give new hope to those around you.

Set “Free” Nowww

Butterflies are so beautiful to watch flying, especially ones that are so colorful. But what if they wanted to stay a caterpillar?
Look at all the wonderful things it would have missed. A butterfly gets to experience flight. It gets to see life from another perspective – above it all. It gets protected from animals that can eat it as it flies away. All these experiences come about because it was willing to change.
How many of us fear change? Moses did in Exodus 4:13. He saw a bush speak and burn while not being consumed. He saw a pole turn into a snake and back into a pole again. And yet, he didn’t want to trust God to send him back to Egypt to experience even cooler stuff. He got comfortable with his lifestyle – leading the sheep in the desert. Life was good. How could it get better, could it? God showed Moses how life could get better, but change meant getting out of his comfort zone. He didn’t want to do it at the start, but eventually did.
God wants to show us Who He is and what He can do. It necessitates that we allow Him to change us. Change means getting past we what we know to what we don’t know. It means letting Jesus rid us of certain behaviors, our drugs of choice, He knows are not good for us. He knows we’re afraid to let go, but asks us to trust Him.
Each day we can either choose our drugs of choice knowing how they’ll initially make us feel or we can choose to listen to and do what Jesus says to do believing He can make us feel great in the long run. We can soar over our daily challenges. We don’t need to fear change, but can embrace it as Jesus makes our lives better.

Set Fre“E” Nowww

As I’ve been reading Psalms, the word “grace” keeps popping up. Then I remembered John 1:17, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Yet I find “grace” all over the Tenach (Old Testament). It isn’t like God starting being a God of grace with Jesus. No, God has always been a God of grace.
I asked a Jewish believer friend mine why I find the word “grace” in my Jewish translation of the Bible, but find the words “mercy”, “love” and “loving kindness” in other translations. For instance in Psalm 136:1, the translators use the word “love”, but the Jewish translators use “grace”. His answer to me was that any word other than “grace” is a mistranslation of the Hebrew word used in the Old Testament.
My fellow sojourners, our God has always been and always will be a God of grace! Yes the Law points us toward holiness. Yes, it points out our imperfections, drugs of choice. This should only drive us to the One who can make us holy, the God of grace who overcame our imperfections to give us a hand up! Yes the Bible teaches that we’re to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. In reaching this goal, however, we must rely upon God’s grace to get there.
God’s grace is telling us to relax on our journey to be more like Jesus! We don’t need to kick or beat ourselves up every time we blow it. This only drives us toward our drugs of choice. Get rid of your “beat me stick” and take hold of Jesus’ hand of grace to get up and get going again. I like what one author said, “Failure only counts if it’s your last attempt.” God’s grace keeps giving us another attempt at walking with and being like Him.

Set Free No“W”ww