Pastors Ponderings

 

What freedom means to me by Phil S.

 I’ve been thinking about what freedom in Christ means to me personally. 

To me, it’s yielding to Jesus and emptying myself to him, putting on Christ, and dying to myself and all the world things.  It seems to me, the more I empty out, the more he fills me with the Holy Spirit.  As I listen to the conviction of Holy Spirit and confess my sins and nail them to the cross and leave them there, never looking back, it makes room for Holy Spirit to fill those places inside myself that were filled with self-serving desirers [sin] and those deep hidden wounds inflicted in my life by others.  

What it comes down to is being sincere, forgiving others from the heart of offences [sins] they have committed against me, and being able to forgive myself for offences I have committed to others.  Jesus said, if I confess my sin, he will forgive me but if I don’t forgive others he will not forgive me.  So, for me, freedom in Christ is confession, prayer, true repentance, forgiveness, honesty, respect, obedience to the word, and love and compassion to all people—which is easier said than done sometimes. 

Freedom is to put the word into practice, to always seek a deeper relationship with absolute awe of God, to walk the walk not talk the talk, and to serve him as quietly as I can, not with trumpets. That’s the easy part, I love just to serve him. To stay free to me is to hate sin with a passion and to keep those doors shut sealed and locked.  To always being accountable to Jesus in prayer and to be accountable to the Church.  If sin is knocking at the door, confess it to a close sister or brother in the Lord and take it to the Lord before a thought gives birth to sin and then destruction.  Personally, I speak to a leader or pastor (hi to Julie, Daniel, Steve and Tani) people I know I can trust. Basically nip it in the bum and deal with it!   T

o be real, I know I fail and fall short sometimes of all of the above. All I can do is try my best and thank God for his grace. We all know this saying; Thank God for his grace, for by his grace there I go and that is definitely true for me!