WE ARE FREE INDEED
Jesus tells us in John 8: 36 NKJV Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. The AMP N.T. says, So if the Son liberates you [makes you free men], then you are really and unquestionably free. The MESSAGE tells us: So if the Son sets you free, you are free through and through.
So when we are born again, and the Holy Spirit comes into our life, we are FREE INDEED, THROUGH & THROUGH, UNQUESTIONABLY FREE, so why are Believers struggling so much, and the Epistles seem to have to highlight, the sins and struggles of God’s people, Paul tells us, that IN CHRIST, we are not just conquerers, BUT MORE THAN CONQUERERS in Rom. 8:37NKJV For Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. The AMP N.T. says Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us. I understand the picture in the Greek test is that we can come through the battle WITHOUT A SCRATCH. Paul writing to the Galatian church in 5:1 AMP says: IN [this] freedom Christ has made us free [and completely liberated us]; stand fast then, and do not be hampered and held ensnared and submit again to a yoke of slavery [which you have once put off]. The PASSION TRANSLATION says: Let me be clear, the Anointed One has set us free—not partially, but completely and wonderfully free! We must always cherish this truth and stubbornly refuse to go back into the bondage of our past.
I am sure having a Mentor will help tremendously as he walks with us and shares with us this glorious inheritance in Christ. We know that we bring into our Christian life the attitudes, and habits of our pre Christian life, and sadly see around us, so many Christians who are living defeated lives, and we think this must be the norm.
You will note I have quoted a number of Scriptures and their various translations so that we can see the truth, that we can live in victory and purity. Let me highlight another Scripture to you from Acts 1:8 NKJV But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” The AMP N.T. highlights the various important aspects of the meaning of power. But you shall receive power (ABILITY, EFFICIENCY & MIGHT) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth.
Jesus told the disciples to remain in Jerusalem in Luke 24:49 NKJV Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued (clothed and equipped) with power from on high.”
I agree that Acts 1:8 is speaking about power to witness, but the whole tenor of the New Testament and especially the Acts and Epistles emphasise much more than that. The very name of the third person of the Godhead is HOLY, and when He comes into a Believer’s life, we can and should become holy. We receive POWER to live holy, victorious, pure lives, we must learn to continually yield our lives to Him, so that he continually is filling the house (our body) and that our drives and senses, ,our mind, our will and emotions all come under and remain under His holy influence.
It is our privilege and right to live a life that truly pleases the Lord, and God has made available to us all that we need. 2 Peter 1:3 NKJV tells us:His divine power has given to us ALL things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and vir.
The only life worth living is to live to please the Lord in every part of our lives. AMEN
