A Call to Freedom

As we celebrate Freedom Day in South Africa (27th April) and remember the first democratic elections in 1994, it is important to also focus on what it means to enjoy and experience spiritual freedom? Here are a few thoughts to help us in the process:

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."- Galatians 5:1

Eugene Peterson puts it like this: Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.

May we think of freedom, not as the right to do as we please, but as the opportunity to do what is right." - Peter Marshall

“Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.”― Mahatma Gandhi

Prayer: May you experience the freedom of the Holy Spirit as you seek to follow Jesus.

Living in grace

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The road to freedom

We all want to experience Freedom. 

Being 'free' can be expressed in a variety of ways - from having the freedom of speech, freedom to vote, freedom to live and work where we want, freedom to practise our faith and so on. However, what many people forget is that freedom always comes at cost. It is ironic that Freedom is never Free!

"...the road to freedom is via the cross." - Albert Luthuli 

When Jesus died on the cross, God invited humanity to receive his forgiveness and to be set from from the bondage of sin. Our freedom comes at the cost of Jesus' life. 

"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." - John 8:36

"Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin." - Acts 13:39

Living in Grace

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Inspired by Tiro

Marcus Tullius Tiro was born a slave around 104 B.C., and lived in the household of Roman statesman and philosopher Cicero for nearly 50 years. Tiro become more than a slave to Cicero - they became close friends and Tiro accompanied him where ever he went. Tiro's role was mainly as a scribe and without his gifted writing skills, we wouldn't have valuable resources concerning the events surrounding Cicero's life. 

Tiro was given the family name of Cicero and thus held the same first names as his owner, even after he was granted his freedom - Marcus Tullius Tiro. One of the greatest legacy's of Tiro was his incredible version of short-hand (Tironian Notes), which lasted for over 1000 years. Some traces of his remarkable skill still lived on into the 17th Century. 

I share these thoughts today, as we celebrate Freedom Day in South Africa on the 27th April. This day is a milestone in our country, as we remember our past and the first democratic elections held in 1994. 

“To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child.” - Marcus Tullius Cicero

Galatians 5:1 - It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Living in Grace

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Freedom?

Is there a difference between these two kinds of Freedom?

2 Corinthians - 3:17 - "For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Freedom."

"Forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing, your FREEDOM to choose how you will respond to the situation." - Victor Frankl

What do these 2 thoughts mean for you today? 

Can the 'freedom' that Christ offers us impact the way we respond to the situations that happen all around us? 

Living in Grace

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Galatians 5:13 - For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.

Use your freedom wisely

"Nothing that is God's is obtainable by money."

"He who lives only to benefit himself confers on the world a benefit when he dies."

"You cannot parcel out freedom in pieces because freedom is all or nothing."

All of these quotes are attributed to the early Christian author, teacher and Church Father, Tertullian. What I find remarkable is that some truths are timeless. His words are just as relevant in our modern era, as they were in the 2nd Century.

Surely, the same can be said of the sacred Scriptures. They may have been written in a different time, location and generation from our own, but they always speak into our current lives. 

Galatians 5:13 - For, dear brothers, you have been given freedom: not freedom to do wrong, but freedom to love and serve each other.

Living in grace

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The Breaker

 

"The One who breaks open the way will go up before them;
    they will break through the gate and go out.
Their King will pass through before them,
    the Lord at their head." - Micah 2:13

The image of the Lord breaking open a way for us to be set free is so powerful. Micah pictures the Saviour breaking through the gates and leading the people to their freedom. 

Advent is period of waiting where we know that in the end Jesus Christ will 'Break Open' the gates of heaven and will become one with us. The Word made flesh (the Incarnation of Christ) is arguably the most profound evidence of God breaking through for us.

What is making you feel trapped today? What walls have you built around your heart? Will you allow the Messiah to break open a way for you today?

Living in Grace

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The Connection

"Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman,  and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months." - Exodus 2:1-2

It is interesting to note the similarity between this verse, which speaks about Moses, and our recent experience of the birth of Jesus. Both Mary and Jochebed (Moses' mom) saw something 'fine' in their sons and both boys grew up to 'save' their people. Moses became synonymous with rescuing the Israelites from their Egyptian masters and Jesus offers us freedom from Sin, which seeks to be our master.

The other obvious connection between Jesus and Moses is that they both needed to be hidden from wicked men in their infancy. As much as evil rulers tried to destroy God's chosen ones, the Spirit took care of them and lead them to safety.
 
As we continue into 2019 may we seek to discover traces of God's grace, love and light in the Scriptures, as well as come to understand the True FREEDOM given to us in Jesus Christ. 

Living in Grace
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God is not counting

God is not counting your sins, so why are you doing it?
We are often trapped by our sinfulness and by the many mistakes we make. They leave us feeling burdened, bound and paralysed. Yet, if we truly understood the gift that Jesus gives to us, we would realise that we have been set free from the law of sin, and that God has forgiven us.

Read these words carefully and see what I mean.

¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them….” - 2 Corinthians 5:17-19

Did you notice that last part? God is NOT counting your sins against you, so why are you doing it?

Let us live in the FREEDOM that Christ offers us.

Living in Grace

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P.S. Please remember that you are welcome to join us at the Book Launch on Wednesday at 6pm. 

Free

2 Corinthians 3:17 -Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Freedom day holds so many connotations for South Africans, especially in the realm of Human Rights and politics. I am grateful for the many aspects of Freedom that we have been blessed with as a Nation, but I most indebted to Jesus for my FREEDOM from sin. The Love of Christ sets me Free from the pain of sin and death.

"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners..." - Isaiah 61

"Freedom lies in being bold." - Robert Frost

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Uncover the Spring

I am so enjoying reading Trevor Hudson's book on the Holy Spirit. In the chapter, where he looks at how the Spirit helps us to pray, Trevor shares this story:

There was a certain monk who was revered as a man of prayer. One day he was asked how he did it – how he reached this stage of deep prayer. This is what he said: “Looking back, my impression is that for many years I was carrying prayer within my heart, but did not know it. It was like a spring, but one covered by a stone. Then at a certain moment Jesus took the stone away. At that the spring began to flow and it has been flowing ever since.”

I love this story, because it reminds me that we all have a 'spring' bubbling in our hearts, but often we choose to cover this up, suppressing the life giving water from the spring. It is not that God chooses to put a stone on top of the spring, but we do. Perhaps our prayer lives would become more significant if we took the stone away.

I know that God has removed a Big Stone once before - I am positive he can do it again.

Living in Grace
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Thoughts on Freedom

I am not sure what you are all doing on this Freedom Day (in South Africa), but the very idea of FREEDOM can be a little tricky to put into words. For this reason I am sharing some great quotes on this topic. I especially enjoy the words of Pope John Paul – his words remind me of Jesus' Golden Rule.

“Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.” -Pope John Paul II

“A hero is someone who understands the responsibility that comes with his freedom.” - Bob Dylan

“For to be free is not merely to cast off ones chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” -  Nelson Mandela

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” – Jesus

Living in Grace

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A hero is someone who understands the responsibility that comes with his freedom. Bob Dylan
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_freedom.html

Liberation is not deliverance

It was Victor Hugo who once said, "Liberation is not deliverance."

And he was spot on!

If you look at the human race, you will see how this has played out in almost every instance. People rightly fight for liberation and the ideals we strive for are usually just and fair, however somehow we lose our way when we taste our liberation.

Take the Israelites as a case in point. They longed for Liberation and when Moses led them towards the Promised land they realised that they were still enslaved to their sins and selfishness. Liberation from the Egyptians had not brought deliverance from the sin in their hearts.

Take our own beloved country, South Africa, as another case in point. We fought against the evil of Apartheid and pursued freedom for all people in our nation. This was a JUST cause and liberation was deserved for millions of disadvantaged South Africans. However, in celebrating our liberation we forgot that we had not experienced deliverance from the evil in our hearts. In a sense, Freedom does not deliver us from our own 'demons'. In fact, all it does is lull us into a false sense of victory and soon our 'demons' eat us from the inside out. 

In my opinion there is only one person who can LIBERATE us and also DELIVER us - His name is Jesus Christ.

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." - Galatians 5:1

Here are another few quotes to chew on as we reflect on our Freedom. Have a blessed FREEDOM DAY.

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same." -Ronald Reagan

"There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires." - Nelson Mandela

Living in Freedom

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Break down the walls!

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the coming down of the Berlin Wall. A lot can happen in 25 years and our world is certainly a lot different now in 2014, than what it was in 1989. I was only 16 years old when the wall started crumbling - wow, that makes me feel old :)

Starting on the evening of the 9th November people came to the Berlin wall and began to chip off parts of the wall as souvenirs, eventually demolishing bigger portions of the wall, allowing people to cross into the other side. The people who started chipping away at the wall were nicknamed "Mauerspechte" (wall woodpeckers).

The collapse of the Berlin wall reminds me that no "man made" barrier will last forever. We can build walls to keep ourselves in or to keep other people out, but in the end it is pointless. The same applies in our spiritual lives - we can build up a wall of resistance and try and keep God out, but in the end we only hurt ourselves.

What walls have you built up to keep God and others away? Is it not time to slowly start chipping off some of the stone and allowing the fresh wind of the Spirit to blow through?

Isaiah 45:2 - "I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron."

Living in Grace
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Left to my own devices

If we were left to our own devices I wonder humanity would get up to? On a daily basis we notice what happens in our world, despite all of our laws, religions and social norms. It seems as if we are all drawn to sin - like a moth to a flame or a paper clip to a giant magnet.

However, God has given us a way out. He has given us his Son, Jesus and it is through His life and death that the power of sin has been defeated. So, we can now choose whether we want to be left to our own devices (and all it's trappings) or whether we want to have God's Spirit take control of our lives.

My own devices? ..... OR
Allowing God to take control?

It's our choice to make.... may we choose well!

Hebrews 12:1 - "....let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles."

Mark 14:38 - "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.’"

Living in Grace
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Locked up

You have heard the illustration before, but perhaps we need to hear it again. The Law gives us boundaries for faith and life, but when we break the Law, it is almost as if sin keeps us captive. We are held in bondage, with no help in sight. However, that is where Jesus steps in. It is his love and life that break the combination to the 'locks' that sin uses to control us. He sets us free and that is Good News indeed.

²² But the scripture says that the whole world is under the power of sin; and so the gift which is promised on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ is given to those who believe.
²³ But before the time for faith came, the Law kept us all locked up as prisoners until this coming faith should be revealed. ²⁴ And so the Law was in charge of us until Christ came, in order that we might then be put right with God through faith.- Galatians 3:22-24

If you are feeling trapped by sin, remember that Jesus has already given us the key to unlock the chains that bind us.

Living in Grace
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