It’s an Indoor and Outdoor Life

Indoors-outdoorsGod tells the Jewish nation to put a Mezuzah on the door frame of their houses. It contains two portions of Scripture, one about who their God is and another about loving their Lord through their obedience. He also tells them not to wear clothes with two different kinds of threads. It was one type of thread and one type only. In other another place, God tells them not to plant two kinds of seeds in one field. For example, they were not to grow wheat in the middle of their vineyards.
A picture that emerges is that they are to love their God everywhere they go in life – whether that’s at home or at work, inside the house our outside the house. And the clothes on their back are to be a constant reminder to worship one God through their single devotion to Him.
Today, the believer must fight the lie that they are to leave their faith at the door of their house or house of worship. This thought did not come from the first half of the Book, nor is it repeated in the second half. In fact, Colossians 3:17 states just the opposite, “Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus.”
Whether we’re indoors or outdoors, we are to love express our love for Jesus through listening to and following Jesus everyday everywhere. The only way to avoid the consequences of our bad choices and experience the good stuff of our obedience is to walk every where we go using our biblical tools.
“SET FREE NOWWW”

Steam Thinking

steam thinking“Oh, how that hurts so good!” is something my mom would say to us kids when we stubbed our toe, hit that funny bone or had a small “owee”. We’d usually shake it off and keep playing.
“You’re thinking so hard steam’s coming out your ears” is something we’d say when someone actually used their brain to think through an issue. As one friend says, “Are you reasoning through or responding to your situation?”
Healthy Jesus believers realize that both revelation and reason go hand in hand. We do not check our brains at the door when we leave our houses each morning. Instead, we use them to reason through life’s daily situations using the Scriptures we’ve put into our shield of faith, which is a real defensive weapon when we’ve put specific lie defeating truths into it.
Having to think through an issue using Scripture will cause steam thinking! Your brain will be strained as you critically think through a situation using specific truths the Spirit’s given you in your Bible reading to filter out the lies you hear to stay focused on the truths that bring you victory over your drugs of choice (aka our way of handling life).
Use each day to practice using your Set Free Nowww principles. It will cause some steam thinking that will hurt so good as you continue to enjoy your day with Jesus!
S“E”t Free Nowww

Not So Smart

not smart“Oh what a stupid head” is what we as kids would say to each other when we did something rather, well, stupid. It’s those moments we knew we engaged long before we ever had a clear thought of what we were doing.
I believe the angels more than likely said this to each other as they were heading towards earth in response to their attempt to dislodge God from His throne. Adam and Eve probably said it as they were getting the boot from the garden in their attempt to become like God.
The each thought they knew better or were stronger than God even though they saw Him! Pretty dumb thinking, right? We have that same power to be stupid because of our own free will. Whenever we don’t slow life down and ask, “Jesus what do You want done here?” Or whenever we go full bore into something without asking for the Spirit’s power, we are being rather, well, stupid.
This is part of the reason Jesus came to save us…from our own stupid decision making processes. Because of Jesus, we have the power to be pretty smart by slowing life down, listening to Him and then making the decision to follow Him. Because of Jesus, the Spirit lives inside us to give us the strength to follow through on that decision. This exercise of our freewill is quite a smart move. It’s time to choose to pick up and use your biblical tools everyday everywhere to make the smart choices.
Set “FREE” Nowww

The Perfect Balance

perfect balanceJoy and disappointment are the norm for the growing believer. Hebrews 10:14 reveals the believer in Jesus is both perfect and being made perfect at the same time. Jesus has both changed us, joy, and is changing us, disappointment.
Christians often say, “Hey, I’m not perfect. I have a long way to go, but I’ve seen Jesus change my life.” This is not just a humble statement. It’s the true reality of a healthy believer who is exercising the truth as they walk with the Spirit. We are perfect in God’s eyes; and yet, we are being made perfect at the same time.
We will experience both great joy over defeating some drugs of choice and great disappointment at falling to others, quite possibly on the same day. Go with it rather than beating yourself up. This balance of joy and disappointment will be the day to day reality for those who love Jesus as they listen to and follow Him in their every day life situations.
Set Fre“E” Now“W”w

Exhale Faith

faith jumpFear is not the opposite of faith, doubt is, but it’s just as deadly. It’s one emotion that can lead me down the path to taking my drug of choice. I know what God has said in His Word will always come true. I, however, either doubt He will do what He did on the pages of Scripture in my life and/or I will have the ability or worthiness to follow Him.
It’s at times like these that I must exhale faith though I’m inhaling doubt. It’s time to exercise the truth of what the Psalmist wrote in 100:3, “Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture.”
Though we inhale doubt, let’s exhale faith and know our God better by jumping into His arms rather than our drugs of choice.
Set Free No“W”ww