“Ouch, that hurt!” Do you realize this is what good friends do for us? “Let a righteous man strike me – it is a kindness; let him rebuked me – it is oil on my head.” (Psalm 141:5) I wonder if David was thinking of Jonathan, his good friend, when he wrote that statement.
Another statement I’ve heard countless times is, “I don’t need church. I walk just fine with Jesus on my own.” Smack. “Ouch, why did you hit me upside the head?” “Because what you said is a lie and it’s time to filter it out of your head that’s why.”
“Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.” (Proverbs 27:6) True friends will listen to us using their biblical tools and then not be afraid to expose the lies in our thinking – even if it hurts at the moment. Therefore, you need at least one other believer if you want to get closer to Jesus (see James 5:16).
Who are your true friends? You’ll know by their ability to use their tools in their own lives and in yours. Get one and start BIG with them. By the way, when you do, you’ll be church rather than going to it.
Set Free Noww“W”

Psalm 140 is a great reminder of why secure children of God desire to see Him touch their lives throughout their day.
David spent the first 11 verses talking about being under horrendous verbal and physical attacks, both of which led to mental anguish. In verse 12 he says, “I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted and will execute justice for the needy.” The word for “know” is not mere head knowledge or agreeing with a set of facts. David knew what he was talking about from experience. There was no doubt in David’s mind what his God could do for him. He had seen the fingerprints of God on his life in the midst of his painful challenges.
Thus David could write, “Surely the righteous shall give thanks to Your name; the upright shall dwell in Your presence.” He saw his God touch his life before and knew his God could do it again. He knew that thankfulness kept him in the presence of his God where the good stuff of life is found.
Know this for yourself: Forget what your God has done to your own mental peril. Choose to never experience Him at all and expect to freak out when challenges – verbal, head noise, physical – come your way. Here’s a suggestion: Start looking for where your God touches your life throughout your day. It will help you be thankful and at peace no matter when you too are attacked.
“S”et Free Nowww

It’s so cool to see the lights go on for people. This happened at one of our Training Center classes when we talked about redemption. I asked the group, “Are believers in Jesus slaves?” Many quickly said no, while others were slow to answer because they sensed a trick question.
Redemption is partly about the truth of being freed from the slavery to sin. That, however, is only part of the truth. Yes, Jesus purchased us off the slavery block of sin with His life and blood, but we became His slaves (doulos or bondservant) the moment He did. This truth gets to the core issue of who’s controlling our lives.
Do understand something. Someone is controlling of your life. The question is, “Who?” With every choice we reveal the answer to that question. Secure children of God go to Jesus, their master, for instructions and strength. It is Jesus who came to take away their pain or whatever they’re facing that makes them think their drug, their way of handling life, will get them where they want to go in life.
Healthy believers understand they are both a secure child of God and slave of Jesus. Each choice to filter their daily struggles using their biblical tools shows them to be the secure person God made them to be so they could surrender to Jesus, the only one who can truly get them to where they want to go.
“S”et Free Nowww

“There’s a contradiction in the Bible. It can’t be trusted!” I can’t count the times I’ve heard people say that to me. And yet, I was puzzled by the following statements made in Deuteronomy 5. Verse 4 reads, “There should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, He will richly bless you, if only you fully obey the LORD your God.” Then verse 11 states, “There will always be poor people in the land.” Come again? God just said there shouldn’t be poor people, and then in the same breath says there will always be poor people. Contradiction?
Upon further examination, the operative word is “should”. It’s about choice. God had just told the Israelites He would give them victory over the existing nations so they could own the land. He would give them rain to grow crops on that land and then provide peace with outside nations so they could harvest those crops from their land. In other words, an Israelite of that time period could expect to live comfortably if they chose to live God’s way. If they strayed from living His way, God would use poverty as a way to get their attention, to help them hit bottom if you will.
There’s no contradiction at all, but a comment on how God works. There is freedom in choice, but not in consequences. Every where we go no matter what time of day it is, we must choose to pick up our biblical tools and process daily life through the truths found in God’s Word. We can make that choice because there’s no contradictions in it. As we do, we will walk and stay in the freedom (Gal. 5:1) Christ provided us.
S“E”t Free Nowww

As he stands in the corner talking to his mom over his shoulder, little Denise the Menace says, “I guess saying ‘I’m sorry’ over and over…isn’t helping.”
There is freedom in choice, but not in consequence, no matter how many times you say, “I’m sorry.”
Jesus will forgive us when we ask, but some choices result in immediate consequences. We lose our joy over saying something we shouldn’t. Money will fly from our checkbooks as the officer writes us up for running that red light.
Dennis is a boy a cartoonist created who is constantly getting into trouble where he always ends up saying he’s sorry. He’s a cartoon character, we are not. He was created to be like this, we were not. We were created in Christ with a new nature, His, and a new mind, again his; therefore, we have been given the ability to break this sin-confession-sin cycle.
Pick up the biblical tools Jesus gave you – the ability to think and choose His way of living life – and start exercising them by faith today. Do this and you’ll do what’s pleasing to Jesus, keep your joy, and spend less time asking for forgiveness. There is so much more to talk with Him about than, “Lord, forgive me.”
Set Fre“E” Nowww