Celebrating Freedom!!! Happy Independence Day!!! We all know that the Fourth of July, or Independence Day, is a federal holiday that celebrates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 . In this context the word independence implies that before 1776 people of this country were in ‘bondage’ to the Britain Empire. Thomas Jefferson and the leadership team wrote, “That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, …” For the United States July 4, 1996, means her ‘birthday’ as an independent and free country. I know that all of you know these facts, so I am not writing a history lesson here. I would like to use your imagination and translate this into the spiritual realm. Spiritually speaking what is the ‘date’ that marks our independence, our freedom? Well, from one prospective, we can say that almost two thousand years ago, approximately speaking, on 33 AD, when Jesus Christ was raised back to life by the power of the Spirit after He died on the Cross of Calvary marks the ‘independence day’ or the ‘freedom’ for humanity. Even though this is true legally speaking, sadly this does not represent an experiential reality for millions of people. So what marks the ‘independence day’ in your own life? I must ask myself too – What ‘freedom’ represents in my own life? These are such good questions! As I woke up this morning, thinking about the ‘freedom’ we enjoy in this country, contemplating the real freedom we enjoy as God’s children in His Kingdom several thoughts crossed my mind. But before I go on sharing some of these thoughts, let me ask: What is Freedom? From the spiritual prospective: What does it mean to be Free? According to the Merrian Webster Dictionary, freedom means: the quality or state of being free: as: (1) the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action; (2) liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another – independence. Of course that Webster dictionary does not talk here about spiritual independence, but these aspects apply to the spiritual realm as well. Some time ago when I talked with Dr. Neil T. Anderson about the theme of freedom he shared some thoughts that are worth mentioning here. This definition we took from Merrian Webster Dictionary addresses two aspects of freedom. The first (i) one is the freedom of choice. Spiritually speaking Christians have the power and the guidance of God to make the right choices in order to maintain the freedom that Christ purchased for them on the cross. Wrong choices can lead to legalism or license – that results in bondage. In other words those who lean toward legalism are bound to the Law. Christ has set us free from the external constraints of the Law, and set us free from our past, since we are forgiven and new creations in Christ. Those who tend toward license should understand that choices have consequences and that making the wrong choices will result in bondage to sin again. The second (ii) aspect is freedom from slavery. The not-yet Christian may believe that freedom is absence of any master; but in actuality, they are not without a master, because they are bond servants of sin. However, liberated Christians are no longer slaves to sin. They are bond servants of Christ, who set them free to be all that Christ created them to be. Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit, which is a result of being filled with the Spirit. If we walk by the Spirit, we will not carry out the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:22-233). To quote exact the words of Dr. Anderson, ‘now that is freedom’. Trying to put all these things in prospective, as human beings, we crave freedom, or better yet we have it in us to be in a right relationship with the right master. As all of us know when the first Adam decided to disobey God he transferred his allegiance from God to Satan, thus his right relationship with the Creator of the universe was severed. From that point forward Adam and all of his descendants (you and I included) became slaves in the kingdom of darkness and mastered by the power of sin. Not having any longer a right relationship with God Adam and all of his descendants learned to ‘live life’ independent of God which means living ‘after’ or ‘according’ the flesh. The world around Adam became his only environment. Generation after generation human beings become darkened in their hearts and minds. (See Romans 1). Therefore human beings from their natural birth are in bondage to Satan, under the tyranny of sin, living according to the flesh and conforming to this world. Thus the world, the flesh, and the devil are man’s ferocious spiritual enemies. (See Ephesians 2:1-3). Going back to the question I asked earlier: What marks the ‘independence day’ in your own life? What represents ‘freedom’ in my own life? To be free (at the deepest and profound sense of the word) means – to do whatever I want and ALL that I do glorifies one hundred percent God. Isn’t this the true freedom? In other words to be free means to have complete authority over those ferocious enemies of the soul; to have complete authority over the world, over the flesh and over the devil. The good news is that the Second Adam, according to the plan of God, came to fight for us and completely liberated us. Through the work that Christ did on the Calvary Cross He paid off the entire debt of the entire humanity. In relationship to the tree enemies mentioned above: First, Christ overcame the world (John 16:33(b)), so by the Cross of Christ we are more than conquerors over the world (Galatians 6:14). How about the victory over the flesh? Secondly, when it comes to the victory over the flesh the secret is hidden in our identification with Christ on the Cross. (See Galatians 2:20). We are not under any obligation to live according to the flesh. (See Romans 8:12). How about the ruler of this world? Thirdly, In Christ we have been ‘transferred’ from the kingdom of darkens to the kingdom of light. (See Colossians 1:13). In Christ we have complete authority over the enemy. (See Luke 10:19). This is the meaning of FREEDOM for me. This is what it means to celebrate true independence from the former things. How about you? Have a blessed 4th of July 4, 2013 celebration!!! With LOVE in HIS Service, Valy Vaduva Spiritual Mentor PS: Please visit us at: urfm.org/ For Advanced Discipleship Training (ADT) please watch https://youtube/watch?v=KAKOIbsnjPw
Posted on: Thu, 04 Jul 2013 16:39:01 +0000
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