Freedom 4

Standing in the Freedom of Christ

Part 4

Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

Galatians 5:1 For freedom did Christ set us free: stand fast therefore, and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage.

            Last week we discussed the importance of walking out of the bondage of the past so that we are free to live in the present and the future.  The only thing we can do about the past is to resolve its issues with forgiveness and move on and allow God to use both our past and our present to shape our future.

          Many times current situations may cause us to fear the future and to long for the past which we often romanticize through the process of selective memory.  Because of the promises of God, we need not fear the future.  In Jeremiah 29:11, God said, ”For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” At that time, God was speaking to the captives in Babylon.  He was speaking to a people whose sin had blinded them to their destiny.  Though they had forgotten the destiny that God had designed for them, God had not forgotten.  God does not change, and He is no respecter of persons.  What He had in mind for the Babylonian captives, He has in mind for you.  God has designed a peaceful future and a hope for you as well.  In Christ, we have the freedom and the authority to live in the destiny that God has designed for us.

          The Message Bible translates Ephesians 1:4-6, 11-12, “⁴Long before He laid down earth’s foundations, He had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of His love, to be made whole and holy by His love. ⁵Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) ⁶He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.. . ¹¹It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, He had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, ¹²part of the overall purpose He is working out in everything and everyone.”

          Because God desires to bestow His lavish love upon us, we do not have to allow either our past or our present to prevent us from looking forward with hope and expectancy. In Living Your Destiny, Graham Cooke states, “All of the tests you presently face are there to develop you into the person you need to be to live your destiny. Everything you are going through has been aligned by God to forge you into the person He has called you to be. Your destiny is unfolding before your very eyes.

          “When we embrace the idea that God has a plan for us, no issue should be able to stop us. The statement, “This situation will be the death of me,” is completely incorrect. The truth is that this situation will make you into who you are destined to be. God partners with our present situation to prepare us for the future He has designed. He uses every test, every challenge, every hurdle, every issue to sharpen us for what is to come.”

          God’s lavish love transcends the chaotic world around us.  He desires to bless us in our circumstances, through our circumstances and in spite of our circumstances. We can rejoice in the Lord because He has good thoughts toward us to give us peace and a future and a hope.