DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT - TUESDAY: Set Free To Love!

Set me free from evil passions, and heal my heart of all inordinate affections; that being inwardly cured and thoroughly cleansed, I may be made fit to love, courageous to suffer, steady to persevere. -- Thomas a Kempis
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My friends, you were chosen to be free. So don't use your freedom as an excuse to do anything you want. Use it as an opportunity to serve each other with love. -- Gal 5:13 (CEV)

I love the Church that I Pastor now, it is a Church full of beautiful Christians that are; free to express themselves both negatively and positively, free to be themselves as God intended, free to worship in the way they want too in front of family and friends, free to speak at the pulpit at communion time or give a testimony and free to serve each other in love.

All of this came about because of the verse above, it transformed our way of ministry, as my wife and I undertook to put it into practice with the help of our congregation many years ago.

WE ARE CALLED TO FREEDOM
Some Pastors are afraid to preach freedom and there are many reasons for that; Church Boards, Committees, Traditions, Liturgy’s that must be adhered to the letter, Embarrassment etc., They fear that it will lead people to sin and self-indulgence and sadly, this is sometimes true. But, the majority will go on to have a happier and more dedicated Christian walk with Jesus, as He intended them too. They will proceed on a walk that is based on love rather than on bondage to the law of sin and death.

While taking a prisoner from a, correctional centre to be arraigned on charges of attempted armed robbery, police constable John Bolton noticed a cross around the neck of the convict. Knowing the man was not religious, he took a closer look. The prisoner attempted to conceal something protruding from the top of the cross.

When questioned, he said it was a good luck charm designed to look like a spoon for sniffing cocaine. But Constable Bolton was sure it looked like a handcuff key. By experimentation he found that the protuberance would open most handcuffs. The discovery led to the exposure of an attempt by prisoners in the correctional centre to make a number of these cross-keys. – Source Unknown

There is a cross that sets people free; free from the bondage of the law, and that cross is the cross of Calvary. Unfortunately many are more concerned about freedom for the body than they are about freedom for the soul. Whether inside or outside prison, everyone needs the cross that sets us free....

It was the Law itself that killed me and freed me from its power, so that I could live for God. I have been nailed to the cross with Christ. -- Gal 2:19

Would you keep your children hungry?
What parents would want to keep their children hungry just to make sure they stayed dependent on the parents? Why then should a preacher withhold our liberty just to make sure we stayed dependent on God? God doesn’t require this! This is bondage! God sets us free from bondage and looks forward to us walking in love....

The Spirit also makes us sure that we will be given what God has stored up for his people. Then we will be set free, and God will be honored and praised. -- Eph 1:14

Lord Jesus, thou who art the way, the truth, and the life; hear us as we pray for the truth that shall make all free. Teach us that liberty is not only to be loved but also to be lived. Liberty is too precious a thing to be buried in books. It costs too much to be hoarded. Help us see that our liberty is not the right to do as we please, but the opportunity to please to do what is right. -- Peter Marshall, Before the U.S. Senate.

Loving Father, I thank you for the cross of Christ that has set me free to serve my fellow Christians in love! Help me by the power of the Holy Spirit not to take it for granted, and that it can be used to extend your kingdom and bring you glory! In Jesus wonderful and mighty name! Amen!