Tuesday, May 6th, 2025
Over the past week God has been speaking to me much about the word freedom. In its purest form, it’s a powerful force that Jesus gave His life for us to experience. The tainted version that the enemy offers comes with chains and eventual death. The world tells us we are free to be who we want to be. God tells us our truest freedom comes when we are slaves to Him. This can be a struggle to understand. It’s not until we experience the true character of God (His love, patience, peace, grace and goodness) that we understand being a slave to God produces life whereas worldly freedom produces death.
One of the greatest battlefields in our fight for freedom will be our mind. The first place the enemy tries to enslave us is in our mind. He whispers lies about our identity, our past, our future, and our position in the Kingdom of Heaven. Maintaining our freedom starts by recognizing these lies, giving them no authority over us and choosing instead the truths found in the Word of God. 2 Corinthians 10:5 in the Passion Translation says this:
5 We can demolish every deceptive fantasy that opposes God and break through every arrogant attitude that is raised up in defiance of the true knowledge of God. We capture, like prisoners of war, every thought and insist that it bow in obedience to the Anointed One.
Everything in Creation bows to Jesus. No power of hell or death has any authority over Him. We are free to walk in this same authority if we understand and utilize the weapons Jesus has given us. Jesus died for our freedom, but we must contend to maintain that freedom. Websters 1828 defines contend as to strive; use earnest efforts to obtain, or to defend and preserve; to dispute earnestly; to strive in debate. Freedom is available but it requires us to become a warrior in the army of God to fully experience it.
The last thing I want to cover is that word “strive” in the above definition. It’s important to make sure we are striving from the right source. This battle isn’t about our skill or human strength. It’s about arming ourselves with God’s word and wisdom and doing it all from a place of knowing we can be still and know that He is God. What might start out as a righteous striving can quickly become the thing that makes us weary, desperate and self-centered. With our eyes fixed on Jesus however, our striving will be sanctified and proportionate for the battlefield that is before us.
Final Thoughts…
Don’t let a cheap substitute of freedom become your reality. In our walk with God, we will need to contend with the enemy of our soul to maintain true freedom. It takes effort but it’s worth every tear, sleepless night and early morning scripture immersion to not let it slip into the hands of the prince of this world. The more we dance with our Heavenly Father the more the enemy tries to come in between us and trip us up. Freedom isn’t really free. It cost Jesus His life and it will require time, effort and often our comfort for us to resist the captivity of the flesh and embrace Father’s freedom.