Winning into Freedom

November 18th, 2013 by JDVaughn Leave a reply »

If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed —John 8:36


If there is even a trace of individual self-satisfaction left in us, it always says, “I can’t surrender,” or “I can’t be free.” But the spiritual part of our being never says “I can’t”; it simply soaks up everything around it. Our spirit hungers for more and more. It is the way we are built. We are designed with a great capacity for God, but sin, our own individuality, and wrong thinking keep us from getting to Him. God delivers us from sin— we have to deliver ourselves from our individuality. This means offering our natural life to God and sacrificing it to Him, so He may transform it into spiritual life through our obedience.

God pays no attention to our natural individuality in the development of our spiritual life. His plan runs right through our natural life. We must see to it that we aid and assist God, and not stand against Him by saying, “I can’t do that.” God will not discipline us; we must discipline ourselves. God will not bring our “arguments . . . and every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5)— we have to do it. Don’t say, “Oh, Lord, I suffer from wandering thoughts.” Don’t suffer from wandering thoughts. Stop listening to the tyranny of your individual natural life and win freedom into the spiritual life.

“If the Son makes you free . . . .” Do not substitute Savior for Son in this passage. The Savior has set us free from sin, but this is the freedom that comes from being set free from myself by the Son. It is what Paul meant in Galatians 2:20  when he said, “I have been crucified with Christ . . . .” His individuality had been broken and his spirit had been united with his Lord; not just merged into Him, but made one with Him. “. . . you shall be free indeed”— free to the very core of your being; free from the inside to the outside. We tend to rely on our own energy, instead of being energized by the power that comes from identification with Jesus.

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November 18, 2013

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, when I read one of these “just pull yourself up from your own bootstraps” kind of devotionals it points out to me just how much I need you.  I cannot remember being successful at just gritting my teeth and forcing myself to control and discipline myself just because I know I should be a better Christian. It has not worked that way for me.

And God says…”It does not work that way for anyone. The apostle Paul, perhaps the most focused and disciplined explained his dilemma …”I want to do right but then I do not. Who is to save me from this….Thanks be to God I have been saved already by Jesus Christ”. You have been redeemed; you have been saved from the power of the natural. Now you can choose to live in the supernatural by simply surrendering to Me. Let Me provide the way, your truth and the light for your daily living. Seek Jesus first and everything else becomes clear and your choices are easily made by the power of Jesus.”

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