My snowboard instructor said, “If you’re not falling, you’re not taking risks. If you’re not falling, you’ll never have fun.” Falling means you’re taking risks. Risks means you’re learning. Learning means you’ll put what you learned into practice the next time. Each time you learn you’ll get better at snowboarding, which means you’ll eventually have fun. Oh yeah, falling can hurt. Know what? I finally did have fun!
Jesus calls us to have faith. In fact, without faith we can never please God (Heb. 11:6). Faith is another word for risk taking. Our God wants us to trust Him; yet He knows we will fall along the way. This is one of the reasons why He provides us with grace and mercy. Mercy covers the sin of the fall. Grace gives us the hand up from the fall. The natural question that arises is, “Will we learn from the fall and then practice what we learned next time?” In other words, will we use the Freedom process to retain our brains?
If we do, we’ll see our drug of choice (i.e. the area of our life the Spirit wants to change) removed and replaced with Christ-like character. As this happens, we’ll definitely being having fun! And by the way, like my snowboard instructor, Jesus will be there every step of the way to give you that hand up.
Set “Free” Nowww

Another principle surfaced as I learned to snowboard. I needed another set of eyes to help me, a snowboard instructor. I only knew what I knew at that point in time and it wasn’t snowboarding!
As I went down the hill the instructor could watch what was important – my feet. After a very frustrating first run down the hill, he reiterated to me that my body language was still thinking surfing not snowboarding. Heals and toes. Heals and toes. So on my next run down it finally clicked. I started thinking like a snowboarder. I gently glided down the hill.
Then he made another observation. When I started going too fast I reverted back to my old thinking, which only led to crashing. He told me to trust my new way of thinking, heals and toes. Guess what? It worked!
We need another set of eyes on our journey to let the Spirit replace us with Jesus (James 5:16). Who is your second set of eyes? We need them to observe and to listen to us so they can catch us going back to our old thinking and the lies that led us to take our drug of choice (the area the Spirit wants to change) in the first place. In a biblical worldview this is your Bible Impact partner. We are saved individually, but we become like Jesus with others. Give someone permission to watch and speak into your life. Get into a Bible Impact group (download the card from the Resources tab) and follow the “P’s” to freedom.
Set Free Noww“W”

Day three of vacation to Big Bear, California was taken up with learning how to snowboard. I’m reminded of surfing when I see snowboarders race down the hill. As I surf, I took this mindset with me while I took a lesson on how to snowboard. Wrong! Though it may look like surfing, two entirely different mechanics are needed. My instructor kept telling me it’s in my feet, actually my heels and toes, not my hips or upper body. If I was going to learn how to snowboard I had to change my way of thinking.
If you want to see your life changed, experience freedom from your drugs of choice and feel loved, significant and secure you’re going to have to change the way you think. You must pick up and use the tools (Set Free Nowww) of a biblical worldview to filter all the messages you’re receiving each day from your surroundings.
This isn’t as easy as it sounds. It took falling a lot to finally get it into my head that I couldn’t think like a surfer if I wanted to get down the hill smoothly on a snowboard. Life change (getting down the hill without falling) takes place when a believer asks the Spirit to expose the lies in their head (hips and shoulders), replaces them with the truth (heals and toes) and then practices those truths on a daily basis.
Though by the end of the day I was still on the beginner runs, I was getting better. I was retraining my brain to think like a snowboarder. It will take time to retrain your brain to listen to Jesus and pick up your tools. But what choice do you have? Think the old way and continually crash or let the Spirit renew your mind and defeat your drugs of choice?
Set “Free” Nowww

I was driving to Big Bear, California when it started to snow. Keep in mind that I’m a warm-hot weather person who never drives in snow, let alone snow covered roads. I was perfectly fine until the snow started to come down harder. Then one by one I’d see cars stop by the side of the road to put on their chains. Then it hit me…anxiety. My heart began to race. The tension inside my chest started to rise. I didn’t like the feeling.
I had a choice. Choose life by getting rid of the anxiety or death by letting the tension build. I chose life. I focused on the truth. Truth: I had a perfectly good set of chains in my car, though I didn’t want to have to stop and put them on. Truth: a CHP officer, who was only 3 cars ahead of me, was still going. Truth: the car in front of me was still kicking up water from its tires. Truth: cars coming down the hill weren’t wearing chains.
Instead of focusing on the snow, the cars putting chains on, and my lack of experience, I focused on the truths. Using the FREEdom process replaced my anxiety produced physical symptoms with God’s peace and a lower heart rate. The Bible says if we focus on the Lord, the Truth, we’ll experience peace of mind or life. The Bible is true. I experienced it as I arrived safely at our nice warm and cozy cabin.
Set “Free” Nowww

Death and life can exist together. What in the world? Let me explain. A few days ago I was to give a presentation before a group of fellow pastors. I arrived early to spend some time praying and going over my presentation one last time. When I arrived at the meeting hall, however, nothing was ready. The monitor and projector wires were disconnected from the computer. The computer screen was blue. The computer that ran the sound was not working. And once I plugged in the projector cables into the computer the projectors couldn’t find the signal.
Starting to feel a little stressed? Maybe your blood is beginning to boil? Jesus is life and with Him are peace and joy. If you’re not experiencing them you’re embracing death while at the same time you have the Author of Life living inside you. This is how death and life exist together.
You can choose to handle the above situation your way, which is another way of saying you’re sinning, which produces death (Rom. 3:23). When you choose death, you’re choosing to put distance between yourself and God, which means your peace decreases and your anxiety levels increase. Instead of tasting joy, bitterness washes over your taste buds.
I chose to process the situation through my biblical filter and plugged into Life, Who brought peace to the situation. There were a number of truths I focused on to keep the taste of joy in my mouth and peace in my mind. I experienced Life in the midst of a life robbing situation. So can you! Oh by the way. The Spirit really spoke through the presentation too.
“S”et “Free” Nowww