Dare to be Free

Recently, I returned from a two week long missions trip in Africa. I had an incredible time visiting Zambia for a week then Uganda for a week. Admittedly, I went there witha heart of desperation. Desperate for hope, desperate for purpose and direction, desperate for God. I was unable to articulate to the Lord what I needed, but I begged Him to exercise His omniscience and omnipotence in identifying and healing what was troubling my heart.

Daily I gathered to hear the Word of God with the believers assembled in Zambia then Uganda. However, just as daily I felt this incredibly oppressive weight upon me. I prayed and begged God for delieverance from this constant pressure looming over me like a black cloud.

Then, Easter morning after service finished, I was rereading some of the verses that were just preached upon in Ephesians 2. Verses 1-2 jumped off the page.

And you He made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air.

The prince of the power of the air! Satan. The black cloud I had been under was oppression from Satan! The simple realization itself brought a measure of release, but the verses also revealed a condition I no longer had to live under as a child of God.

Romans 8:2 says, For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. Ephesians 2:4-7 continues with the privileges we are now granted to experience and appropriate in our lives through faith as free children of the Lord: God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses (willful rebellions against God), made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Suddenly, I faced a choice, which the Lord repeatedly placed before me, to believe His Word by faith or to submit to my oppressive circumstances empowered by Satan, the Father of Lies. The Lord graciously gave me the courage to step out in faith and believe the promises He outlined in Ephesians 2:4-7.

Daily during the trip and continually now that I have arrived home, this choice remains before me: step out in faith and believe God loves me or submit to a lie from Satan that I'm worthless. Satan hates us and he hates God, so he would love for all of us who are true believers in Christ to think we are worthless. The troubling part can be that he has so much material to work with in this sinful human race. Our lives are stained by failures, weaknesses, and distrust, so when Satan speaks to us perhaps through a co-worker or fellow student or a professor, it is often easy to agree with it because we know our imperfect selves. However, God knows our imperfections as well, and He loves us anyway. So, we can simply bring the failures, weaknesses or faithless distrust to Him and believe what He says we are in His eyes, which is victorious in Christ, perfect in Christ, and loved forever unconditionally by Christ (Romans 8). So, step out in faith and dare to believe Him for the incredible life He has available to you through Christ.

In Christ with you all,

Lisa Watson

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater.

He sendeth more strength when the labors increase.

To added affliction, He addeth His mercy,

To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,

And our strength has failed ere the day is half done,

When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,

The Father's full giving is only begun.

His love has no limit, His grace has no measure.

His power has no boundary known unto men.

For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,

He giveth and giveth and giveth again.

Annie Johnson Flint

Jesus - Liar, Lunatic or Loving Lord?

Bryan Ackerman

Matt 27:42 - He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.

As Easter approaches, we see the news, magazines, and public discussion become abuzz around this person of Jesus Christ. What is this holiday all about? Is it true? Is Jesus who he said he was?

Was he a liar? Jesus said that he was the son of God, that he was one with the Father (God). That's a pretty lofty assertion. How does the testimony of those who were with him hold up? All of his close disciples, who were with him constantly, all died tortuous deaths for identifying with and proclaiming Christ as Lord. If you were with such a man, and you knew that he was a fake, that his miracles were anything but, that he wasn't really raised from the dead, would you promote the religion, even unto death? Why would you die for something you knew to be a lie, without any hope of an afterlife?

Was he a lunatic? Maybe Jesus was a good man, and we can learn some things from his teachings. Well, we would be hard pressed to adhere to a man who called himself the son of God and claimed to do miracles. Maybe he was just a plain crazy. But could a crazy man do the things that he did? Raising people from the dead? Feeding 12,000 (men, women and children) with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish? Restoring sight to the blind? And these stories of Christ's life didn't just come from one story or person, but four separate Gospels record the same actions as seen from different eyewitnesses.

What if he actually was Lord? If Jesus Christ was not a liar, and he was not a lunatic, the only other explanation is that he really was who he said he was. God, almighty, all-powerful, all-knowing, descended into human form. Why? Easter is why. On Palm Sunday, Jesus rode into Jerusalem. It had been roughly 3 and a half years since he began preaching and teaching across Israel. After celebrating the Jewish Passover with his disciples, he was delivered over to the Romans to be crucified.

Being God, Jesus had the power to free himself from the cross. Knowing all things, he knew the soldiers were coming for him when he was praying in the garden. It would have been a very simple escape out of the back of that garden away from Jerusalem. But Christ's prayer, "Not my will, but thine be done" (speaking to God in heaven), showed his resolve.

The perfect, righteous, and just God needed a perfect, willing sacrifice to accept and satisfy the payment of sin that was on all of our accounts. For the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), and all of us have sinned and fallen short of the level of this perfect God (Romans 3:23). Therefore, only perfection could pay the price for us, and clear the account. Christ came to do that.

He who believes on Christ will not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). The purpose of Easter is Jesus dying on a cross and (literally) paying for our sins. He was crucified on Good Friday, lain in a tomb, which was sealed and guarded. Easter Sunday, the stone was removed, and Christ was not there, for he is risen (Matthew 28:6). Jesus chose this, because He really loves us. He was tortured and crucified because He doesn't want us to be slaves any longer.

He's not just a Lord who has come to control and command your life. He is a Lord who has come to set you free. Free from the slavery we have all been under. Free from sin's oppressive power, free from addictions, free from loneliness, free from ours, our family's, our friends' expectations. All it takes is a moment of belief, and Christ's resurrection and freedom from death will be yours for eternity.