We are moving closer to our celebration. The time we have set aside to remember Jesus. Remember when God in the flesh of man sacrificed himself upon the cross for the sins of humanity. Then in a magnificent display of victory over death, He rose from the tomb to spend some days revealing His resurrected body. Proof that He was alive. Proof that He was victorious, even unto death. The message would carry through the ages to this moment.
I want to linger just a bit. Sometimes we move too quickly from His anguish to His rising. It hurts us to look upon the torture and the blood and the horrific treatment of our Savior. Hours of it. Not minutes. Hours and hours. There was agony in those hours. Isaiah 53 says he was stricken, smitten and afflicted. For you and for me. He became sin. Our sin. He was abandoned for a time by God the Father. He was tormented. Why did He endure all that? Please read Isaiah 53. He endured many things. They are listed in this passage of scripture. A good reminder when we forget who has authority and the right to direct our paths and to speak to us.
His desire? That we could be free from our own sin. Our past sins, our current sins, and our future sin. He suffered for those sins, in our place. He took our punishment. Paid the ransom.
The definition of bondage was eye-opening for me regarding my relationship with Christ. I trust you will have the same experience. Bondage is the state of being a slave. Being held in captivity. Servitude or subjugation to a controlling person or force.
For the believer we all know who that controlling force is. He has many names. Satan, the devil, our enemy. I refer to Him as the enemy because that truly calls him what he is to me and to all believers in Christ. I think He tried really hard there in Gethsemane to cause Christ to see what lay ahead of Him. The cost to Him of our freedom. I am sure our enemy was disappointed that Jesus chose to move on to the trial and the punishment phase. Our trial and our punishment phase. I wonder if our Savior heard that voice we often hear. Is it possible He heard, “Why are you going to suffer for people who will despise you, hate you, shun you, not believe in You? Just pass on this cup of wrath. Let them drink it for their own sins!”
Thank You Jesus, that You did not let the voice interfere with Your desire to set us free! He chose to die in our place on that day. He set us free from bondage. He was victorious over death. The enemy is the initiator of death. So he has limits now, doesn’t he? I wonder. Do we let him bully us into thinking he has authority of any kind over our life? It is time we take spiritual warfare seriously.
When we rise in the morning we set the tone for the day. The enemy is already working on things to enslave us. Let’s say a typical begins like this: My head hurts. It is gonna be a difficult day. My co-worker is gonna be out sick. My workload will be awful. My hair will not cooperate. I am too fat. I look awful in this outfit. They are going to talk about me. What is that noise coming from my car engine. Now that will cost me! I am gonna be late. Drive or get out of my way. I am not good in Math. I am going to fail this test. We are not going to get approval for that bigger home we need. There is not enough funds to pay all my bills. I am going to outlive my retirement funds…And on it goes.
That thinking has taken us from our freed status in Jesus, and given control of our lives back to the enemy! Jesus died to set us free from the wily ways of that demon. If we are listening to that voice. We are still letting Him, run the show!
Thought For Today:
That battle of the mind that we engage in? That voice that continually makes us question and worry about each of our situations today? That voice must bow to the Son of God. The One who died to give us liberty and set us free. We have power to overcome anything that comes against us. We are healed and forgiven!
I wonder what Jesus thinks when we trust in what the enemy says? How He must grimace that we remain enslaved to the enemy. That voice that says we are, have or will be a failure. That voice that says you will never be successful. You will never be happy. You are sick. You are not a good person. Instead of that voice that says…You are mine! You are righteous in Me! You are forgiven! You are blessed! You are loved! You are the head and not the tail! You have a warrior going before you and behind you no matter what you have to deal with today! I, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, met that voice you fear, two thousand years ago on the cross. I took the keys of death from Him. I set the prisoners free! The very mention of my name scatters he and his minions from your midst!
Receive His gift today. He died so that we would have freedom and liberty. Be fruitful in Christ. Smile in the victory we have in Him today. Turn the volume off in our mind when we hear any voice but the voice of our Savior singing over us! Refuse to be entangled by the defeated angel of light. He has been defeated. Yes he roams about looking for who he can ensnare. Resist him with the name of Jesus. Jesus thought we were worth dying for. It is time to come out of our bondage.
Scripture For Today:
Galatians 5:1
1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. (NKJ)
Prayer For Today:
Hello Father! We pray that we remember who we are today! We are righteous in Christ, We are victorious in Christ. We are forgiven by the shed blood of the Lamb of God. Father, we need help remembering that today. That voice that interrupts? We pray for silence where he is concerned. Thank You for the blessings You have already planned for us today. Forgive us for listening to the voice of any other, but Jesus. It is in the Name of Your Son, Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
©2015 Kathy Ledbetter. All rights reserved.