Jesus makes us clean. He removes our stains. He takes away our blemishes. He makes it so we can enter the very presence of God where all that we’re looking for in life is found.
He does this by washing us. Some Christians will say He only does this through the written Word of God. They are sure to quote Ephesians 5:26 that states He cleanses us “by the washing with water through the word.” The question is, “Is this only the written Word?” The passage is talking about Jesus. Is He not the Word (Jn. 1:1)? Yes. Is He not also called the Word of God (Rev. 19:13)? He is.
Jesus will cleanse us by using both the written Word of God and Himself directly. This is a crucial point for believers to understand. Not everything that sets apart from the Source of life is sin. A quick study of Leviticus 12:1-5 shows that some unclean people, those who were not allowed in the Tabernacle/Presence of God, hadn’t sinned. In this case, the unclean person was a woman who had given birth. Having children is not sin!
Not everything that can hurt our relationship with Jesus is directly classified as sin in the written Word of God. Therefore, we need to develop our ability to listen to and follow Jesus, the Word and the Word of God, everyday everywhere. We can be okay as far as Scripture is concerned; but at the same time be hurting our relationship with Jesus. If want a closer walk with Jesus, we must learn from Him directly as well as from the written Word of God.
Keep picking up and using your biblical tools each day. You’ll get better at listening to Jesus in His Word and in your heart.
“S”et Free Nowww

The creek we discovered yesterday didn’t head down hill in a straight line! It took a zig-zag course as it progressed towards the lake below. As I examined the stream, you could see that rocks, fallen trees, and metal posts forced the stream to change directions as it descended from its source.
Our walks with Jesus will not be a straight line to perfection either. We will face obstacles – both manmade and natural – along our path to see the Spirit exchange our temporary fallen character with Jesus’ eternal victorious life. Some of these zig-zags are caused by our failure to listen and follow Jesus. Will I let my failure form a dam on the stream, causing stagnate undrinkable water? Or will I learn from that failure to keep moving downhill towards the fresh water? I call this the fail-forward principle. We fail forward or in this case, downhill.
How I wish being like Jesus were a straight line, but that’s simply not reality this side of heaven! Stop wasting time beating yourself up. It only causes stagnate water. When you fail, run to Jesus. Get His forgiveness. Ask Him to help you process your failure using His FREEdom process. And start exercising the truth next time in His power. You will taste His sweet victory as you do.
Set “FREE” Nowww

As Jan and I were walking and talking yesterday, she all of a sudden said, “Stop. Do you hear it?” We’d been looking for a creek we knew had to be feeding this particular grove of Aspen trees. Yet, we hadn’t seen it. We continued down the dirt road when all of a sudden, she heard it. We were having a wonderful conversation and with the crunch of our steps, I didn’t.
We left the path and sure enough. There it was running quickly down the hill toward a lake. Sometimes you have to hear it before you see it. It’s the same with our walks with Jesus. It’s going to take hearing and believing before you see it. We want the facts, the truth, and then we’ll decide whether we will believe it or not.
This doesn’t work when it comes to defeating your drugs of choice. If you want off the sin-confession-sin cycle, if you want to stop repeating those sinful behaviors that are destroying your life, it’s going to take hearing from Jesus, trusting His way will change your life, exercising the truth and then and only then will you see the change come (Jn. 8:31-32). Your victory hinges on you grabbing this truth and putting it into your shield faith: hearing comes before seeing. What truth is Jesus asking you to exercise trusting Him for the results? Go head. Exercise. You will see freedom!
S“E”t Free Nowww

Crunchity, crunchity, crunch, crunch. What does that sound? It’s the sound of my wife and I taking our first walk in the gorgeous Mammoth Lakes area. It was a gravel filled path that turned into a dirt road along a creek with beautiful Aspen trees blowing in the breeze. At first, our steps were not in sync – crunchity, crunchity. After about a quarter mile, though, our steps synced – crunch, crunch. After that all we heard were the birds chirping in the trees, our sweet conversation and the crunch, crunch of each step.
This illustrates the walk with the Spirit principle spoken of in Galatians 5:23. “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” If you want the good stuff Jesus offers, you must walk at His pace, while to listening and following Him wherever He might be taking you.
We must ask ourselves each day, “Will I rush ahead or lag behind while trying to hold a conversation with Him? Or will I try to keep in step with Him?” Rushing ahead or lagging behind only makes hearing more difficult, especially as the distance between us becomes greater. We gain life, all the stuff we hope to experience, only by keeping in step with Jesus. How? Picking up the biblical truths He’s given us to silence all other voices so we keep that walk and talk with Jesus going.
Set Free Now“W”w