“Wherever we turn in the church of God, there is Jesus. He is the beginning, middle and end of everything to us…. There is nothing good, nothing holy, nothing beautiful, nothing joyous which He is not to His servants. No one need be poor, because, if he chooses, he can have Jesus for his own property and possession. No one need be downcast. So if you are ever in a room, where things are getting a little heated, and you start to notice a smell…be sure that your words, personality, and actions are in lockstep with the teachings, and example of our Lord Jesus Christ., for Jesus is the joy of heaven, and it is His joy to enter into sorrowful hearts. We can exaggerate about many things; but we can never exaggerate our obligation to Jesus, or the compassionate abundance of the love of Jesus to us. All our lives long we might talk of Jesus, and yet we should never come to an end of the sweet things that might be said of Him. Eternity will not be long enough to learn all He is, or to praise Him for all He has done, but then, that matters not; for we shall be always with Him, and we desire nothing more.” Frederick Fabre
S“e”t Free Nowww

I find it interesting how God defines the believer in Galatians 3:26. Paul writes, “You are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” No problem so far, but verse 28 might cause you to pause and think. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave or free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
“Wait a minute. We stop being male and female when we come to faith?” No. I still check the male box when I’m filling out an application. What the Spirit is saying is to stop defining yourself by these qualifiers. What’s more important, being a child of God or being Jewish or a Greek? What affects your walk more, being a child of God or being male or female? What determines your attitude, being a child of God or whether or not you’re a slave?
God is telling us to look beyond these labels because they can be lousy excuses for why we take our drugs of choice. “This is what real men do.” “I’m a woman who feels the way I do. Get over it.” “My boss is a jerk and doesn’t deserve to be loved.” How you describe yourself will affect your attitude and behavior. Want to get closer to Jesus? Filter out all unbiblical qualifiers and start thanking Him for and emphasizing the fact that you’re God’s child.
“S”et Free Nowww

Scientifically, cold doesn’t exist. It’s merely the absence of heat. It’s also a scientific fact that darkness doesn’t exist either as it’s merely the absence of light.
Biblically, sin is the absence of God as sin is about us doing our own thing for ourselves. We become so full of ourselves that we crowd God out of the situation.
If God is absent from any situation then so is love, joy, and peace as He is all those things. Let that sink in. When we choose to put down our biblical tools that keep us close to Jesus, we’re choosing to take love, joy and peace out of the equation.
How does it feel when you do that? If we’re honest, we’d have to say life really stinks. The Bible says that we are “seated with the Father in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (Eph. 2:6) So right now we’re in the presence of God where all the “good stuff” we desire is found. The next time you think about putting your tools down, ask yourself, “Do I really want to get out of the warmth of God’s presence?”
“S”et Free Nowww

The English verb “to be” can be a dangerous verb for the believer in Jesus. Most of the time we don’t even realize we’re using it. Yet, how we define ourselves and whether or not that definition lines up with Scripture goes to the core of why we take our drug of choice.
We’ll never truly be at peace with Him, ourselves or the world, if we choose to view our lives in any other way than being a child of God. The reason for this is that God created us to be and live in relationship with Him. Thus to define ourselves in any other way is not only rebellion, but is destructive as well because it can lead us to self-medicate (lying, buying, exercising, etc. I bet you thought I was going to say drugs and alcohol didn’t you?) to feel good about ourselves.
Here is a simple test. Ask the Spirit to help you Freeze frame every thought. What are you putting after the words, “I am….” If it’s a behavior, it’s wrong. If it’s a negative word, it will drag you down. The Father poured out His love on you by calling you His child (1 Jn. 3:1). You are a secure child of God. Now that “to be” is worth being.
“S”et Free Nowww

Tonight a group of us were discussing the man who was healed at the Pool of Bethesda in John 5. Jesus asked this guy a great question, “Do you want to be healed?” Sounds like a “duh” moment. Yet it wasn’t. Not all people want to be healed or to change.
As I reflected on this, I remembered back to an incident last week. I was having a great time walking the hills with Jesus. I was still enjoying our time together as I came home, finished some tasks, and then got into my car to head off to my next appointment.
Then the choice came. Would I turn on the radio or continue having a great time with Jesus? Another “duh” moment, right? It should have been, but it wasn’t. I turned on the radio! I went from having a great time with Jesus to listening to sports radio.
Don’t get me wrong. Sports radio is not sin. At that moment, however, it was for me. I took a drug of choice – sounds over silence. I chose listening to useless sports talk over staying in the presence of Jesus. I loved my routine more than Jesus at the moment. I chose not to change.
Had one of those “duh” moments yourself this week? Learn from me. Change is good, being like Jesus is even better.
Set Free Now“W”w