Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Wonderful, Wonderful Freedom

    
     Here is one of my all time favorite Scripture passages:    "When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.  Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them. The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad. Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the south. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him".  Jesus once told the Pharisees they were in bondage but the "truth" would make them free. They said, blindly, they had never been in bondage. That is the problem with bondage.  It is blinding!  Oh, but how wonderful to be free.  It is like waking up from a dream.  Your mouth is filled with laughter and your tongue can't stop singing.   Sad to me that there are so many Christians are in bondage and don't know they are?  How do I know they are?  No laughing, no singing.  

    Does it matter, this laughter and singing?  Oh yeah!  First of all, freedom feels good.  You start feeling like David "I can run through a troop and leap over a wall".  Secondly, the heathen start noticing and saying "the Lord must be doing something for them".  Oh, I declare to you who remain in bondage, if I were you, I would sow tears until freedom came.  How would you know freedom came?  You start living your best dream.  You start laughing and singing.  You start expressing your love of Jesus the Lord, with "unspeakable joy" that is full of "glory", or praise.  Oh yeah.....it is good!

    Oh, I know the excuse.  "We are just too serious for that...not my personality ... I'm too burdened for the lost".  Get over it! Get serious - serious about being free.  Otherwise, you really have no witness heathen can appreciate.  Freedom!  Oh, thank God Almighty, we can be free at last!   And, this is not just freedom from petty sins. This is freedom to walk in the glory of God - from "glory to glory". You might ask "how do I get this freedom?".  This kind of "liberty" only comes where the Holy Spirit is Lord (2nd Cor. 3:17).  Seek to be filled and filled and filled with the Spirit until He grabs your tongue and turns it into an instrument of praise, (Eph. 5:19) and fills you mouth with laughter.   You see, where He is Lord, we are exposed to God's "glory".  In fact, we go from "glory to glory".  And, in the glory we are changed, set free.   Without the Spirit, we are blinded. With Him, the veil is lifted.  Without Him, we are committed to the Law.  With Him we are committed to the glory.  Without Him we remain the same.  With Him we are changed by the glory.   

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