Saturday, July 4, 2015

Freedom A Devotion

Isaiah 61:1-3, Luke 4:18:19, & Galatians 5:1& 21

Isaiah, the fore-teller and fore-runner of Christ, in the Spirit of the LORD told the Israelites the LORD gave him good news to preach. The good news he told them about included healing for the brokenhearted, freedom for captives, release from darkness, comfort for those who mourned, and a day of vengeance by God. When Jesus began His earthly ministry, He read Isaiah’s prophecy in the temple and said, “Today, this scriptures is fulfilled in your hearing.”

The freedom Isaiah spoke about and Jesus gave with His death and resurrection is precious. For the Israelites in captivity, it gave them hope that God had not forgotten them though they had sinned and fallen very far away from Him. God still called them His chosen people. He would not allow their sin and captors to take them away into permanent captivity. Jesus came to proclaim the same. He came to give freedom from sin and the death penalty that is attached to sin. Jesus stood before the men in the temple and proclaimed He is God’s way to salvation.

In Galatians 5, Paul encouraged the Galatians to keep standing firm and strong in the strength of Jesus Christ. His power to overcome sin and death is the power available to all God’s children to defeat the sin that Satan puts in our way to make us stumble or lose hope. Paul reminded the Galatian Christians Jesus gave them freedom from the slavery sin had them in. He said, “Do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.”

Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection removed the power of sin – to ensnare and trap us into believing we have no hope and leads us to death. His power over sin and death gives each of us the same power if we accept Him as our Lord and Savior. We Christians each day have the opportunity to choose to follow Jesus and live the life He offers or to follow the desires of our flesh. The first brings hope, love, and power. The latter brings darkness, stumbling, and entanglement. With Jesus there is freedom from sin, which entangles and draws a person into darkness and despair.

We have a choice –
Freedom in Christ Jesus, which brings hope and life
or
Slavery to Sin, which brings death and despair.
You have a choice.
Choose Freedom.