Tag Archives: freedom

Ps. 32:3-5 Confess and Be Free

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Psalms 32:3-5 NLT

When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Interlude. Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone”. Psalms‬ ‭32:3-5‬ ‭

When we hide and don’t confess our sins, the burden of it weighs us down and impacts our health and mental well-being – we groan under this great burden. Additionally, we lose strength because God’s hand of discipline is heavy on us.

So why do we continue to hide from God? Shame is a primarily reason, just as Adam hid from God in the Garden of Eden after the fall. The guilt of sin makes us feel exposed and we don’t want to be judged. Pride can also hinder us from coming to God. We would rather be right than healed and we are weakened by holding it in.

But then when we finally stop trying to hide and confess our sins to God, He frees us immediately, and the burden is lifted. Like the Psalmist, we have to talk to ourselves and encourage our souls to run to God to get the deliverance we need.

Lord, help us to confess our sins to You and not hold them back. Don’t let pride, shame or anything else keep us from coming to You so that we are unnecessarily carrying the burden of sin. Help us to come to ourselves and quickly confess our guilt – Help us to resist the tendency to hide! Father, by Your Word, the stronghold of guilt/shame to hide is broken in Jesus name. Thank You for forgiving us and freeing us from guilt, in Jesus name.

Psalms 32:1-2 Have JOY today!

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Ps 32:1-2

“Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight! Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty!” Psalms‬ ‭32:1-2‬ ‭NLT‬‬

There is great joy in having our transgressions/disobedience forgiven – our sin is put out of sight or covered. They are not only covered but removed! Ps 103: 12 says “He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.” We are blessed indeed!


Ps 32:2 continues that the blessing and joy is not only because we have been forgiven, but the Lord also removes the guilt and shame associated with our sin/ transgression AND we can live our lives in complete honesty and transparency- free of deceit! Our records are wiped clean. That sounds a lot like freedom to me!

I am reminded of when you have been given an expensive parking or camera ticket and you are driving around fearful or dreading another one. But when that ticket has been paid or has been thrown out, you are not only elated that it is gone, you move about with greater freedom because it’s no longer hanging over your head.

Lord, I thank You for the joy You bring in forgiving my transgressions and covering and delivering me from sin! Thank You also for the joy and blessing of wiping our records free from the guilt of sin and allowing us to live without deceit, in complete honesty! We declare victory over every intrusive thought that tries to make us relive the guilt and shame associated with the transgression. We are forgiven, Hallelujah! Help us walk boldly and freely in victory in Jesus name.

Morning meditation: Galatians 5:25 Keep in Step!

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Galatians 5:25

“Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”
‭‭Galatians‬ ‭5:25‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Throughout Galatians 5, we really learn the freedom and liberty that walking/ living in the Spirit brings. We can be free from unruly emotions, bad habits and other outside challenges that seek to distract or derail us from the abundant life that God wants for us.

This verse says that since you are living by the Spirit, keep in step with the Spirit or follow the Holy Spirit’s leading. The visual I received was of a dance partners in ballroom dancing /hand dancing, which requires a lead partner who, with a nudge from their hand at the back, determines the direction, pace and flow of the dance. There must be close proximity and lots of practice to understand what the nudges mean to keep in step with the lead partner. But as we see in those dance competitions, the results are flawless, seamless and extraordinary execution. I love dance!

Sometimes we may want to lead or not move at all, and that can get us out of alignment with the flow of the Spirit. I took ballroom dance lessons with my son for a program he was in, and it took a lot of practice to learn the steps and to follow his lead. Even when we messed up because I followed him it wasn’t too bad because we were in alignment.

God wants us to keep close to Him, allow His Spirit to lead us, match our pace to His because His timing is always perfect, His direction sure and His execution is flawless! #KeepinStep #HolySpirit #LiveintheSpirit

Morning Mediation: Galatians 5:19-21 Self examination

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Galatians 5:19-21

“When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” Gal. ‬ ‭5:19-21‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I resisted posting this yesterday because I wanted to stay in the theme of walking in the Spirit. But this morning God led me back to this passage because when we see evidence of these in our lives we have stepped out of alignment with God.

some of these results seem obvious to be avoided like sorcery, but we often brush others aside or make light of them. When we see that we are arguing more or “blowing up” – examine yourself. I joked in the previous post how my daughter could tell if I had prayed that morning, because of my mood or I was easily provoked. But it was an indication that my shield of faith needed polishing, or I needed to adjust my shoes of peace to walk calmly in rocky times.

The culture today promotes do what YOU want, whatever YOU want, whenever you want by any means necessary — bringing colder uncaring hearts toward others. Things like sexual immorality, impurity and lustful pleasures all center on gratifying self at the expense of others.

Dissension, division, strife are also prevalent today, especially in the church. James 3:16 says “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.” We see self righteous anger, outburst and cruelty and the Word says human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.

Self examination is hard but vital to our growth. When we see any of these things in our lives , it is an indicator that we need to spend more time with God. God knows us so well and He says, when you focus on Him , His goodness & great love for us, we wont have deal with the sinful nature. He is so very faithful to build us up in the Fruit of the spirit to overcome our sinful nature.

Morning Meditation: Galatians 5:16 Live by the Spirit

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Galatians 5:16

“So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.” Galatians‬ ‭5:16‬ ‭NLT‬‬

This sounds so simple and yet Paul describes in the following verses and elsewhere in Romans 7, the battle that we wage with our flesh to follow the Spirit, to walk in the right path, to do the right thing. There is a war within us and that’s why it’s so hard sometimes to walk in the Spirit.

I am reminded of the Native American tale of two wolves that battle inside each of us. One is evil and the other good. The one who wins is the one we feed. We are to feed the Spirit- live and be guided by the Spirit – then we won’t be moved by harmful destructive desires. My daughter used to be able to tell whether I prayed or not in the morning because I was calmer, lest hyped up.

Sewing to the Spirit in prayer, reading the word of God, fellowship with others, singing spiritual hymns and songs all magnify the sovereignty of God is every situation and put us in His presence. When we experience that peace it gets harder and harder to be shaken and distracted by life’s challenges that may have formerly caused us to derail.

Lord, help us to walk in Your Spirit where there is liberty, life and freedom, so much so that we are not tempted to cave in to sinful ways. Thank you for hiding us and strengthening us as we practice and walk this out in our daily lives. In Jesus name! #WalkintheSpirit #FeedtheSpirit

Morning meditation: Galatians 5:13 Freedom to Serve others

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Galatians 5:13

“For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.”
‭‭Galatians‬ ‭5:13‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I really love how Paul builds on this narrative about the freedom we have in Christ. But it comes with some parameters. After exhorting us to stay free & warning us to keep from enslaving false doctrine, this passage now provides guidance to use this freedom God provides, not just for our own benefit but to humbly serve others.

This is counter culture which glorifies serving and indulgence on selfish desires ( beyond self care). Now that we are free we should use it to love and serve others.

As Toni Morrison famously quoted “ The function of freedom is to free someone else”. This is a good paraphrase of this scripture.

Now that God has made us free. We should be conduit of Grace, love, mercy, service and freedom for others. Help us O Lord, to walk in this kind of freedom with a heart to serve and liberate others.

Morning meditation: Galatians 5:7-10 Course Correction: Who’s holding you back?

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Galatians 5:7-10

“You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth? It certainly isn’t God, for he is the one who called you to freedom. “This false teaching is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough! I am trusting the Lord to keep you from believing false teachings. God will judge that person, whoever he is, who has been confusing you. Gal‬ ‭5:7-10‬ ‭NLT‬‬

There is so much in Galatians 5! This passage immediately follows the exhortation in vs 5 Christ has set you free! NOW make sure that you STAY FREE! Like a good. friend, Paul continues in verse 7 paraphrasing , You were doing so well – WHO is detracting you from the truth which guides your purpose, goals, (insert whatever else).

This is a pause to examine your relationships or whoever you have been listening too! The news? A new distraction? Paul is clear it is a WHO. In this case, he is calling out false teaching that was requiring an old practice of circumcision as a requirement of righteousness. It had an “appearance” of a good thing to show off our intention, but Paul called it out as false principle that was gaining traction!

This distraction is clearly not from God either, who is calling us into Freedom! God knows us so well and our propensity to fall into performative works based religion, rather faith-based relationship!

Likewise, it may not seem like a big thing to you ( or it may even appear like it’s in alignment) but as Paul notes, if it is not judged it is like yeast where a tiny bit permeates the whole loaf! We must nip this thing in the bud!

As we bring these things to God, He will keep us from believing whatever may cause us to detour, AND HE will judge the person who caused the confusion. So thankful that God gives us counsel and provides these course corrections to keep us on the path of Freedom #Thankful

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Morning Meditations: Galatians 5 Stay Free

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Galatians 5:1

“So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.” Galatians‬ ‭5:1‬ ‭NLT‬‬

When I read Galatians 5 at the end of October, I was really provoked to study it during this November, my birthday month, because so many verses were encouraging, spoke to self reflection, and walking in freedom! Holy Spirit Activate!

From the first verse, it starts off with a bang, proclaiming now that Christ has set us free, we need to make sure we STAY FREE! This means we have do our part in maintaining the freedom that Christ brings! And the first thing to avoid is not getting entangled in the legalistic performance based mindset of earning our way to freedom. The law of do’s and dont’s. And it says don’t get tied up AGAIN, which means that is is something that we have struggled with before. It takes effort to cast off old mindsets, unhealthy beliefs, etc to fully embrace that Christ brings!

Now thankfully, the scriptures tell us that His burden is light and that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. If we keep our focus on Christ Jesus, we are consumed with His light, His glory, His peace, His limitless possibilities and those former things no longer have power over us. Hallelujah!

Galatians 5 verses in a nutshell in following posts:
✨Stay Free
✨Who is holding you Back?
✨Use your freedom to Serve
✨Live by the Spirit
✨Fruit of the Spirit in you
✨Follow the Spirit’s Leading

21 Days of Grace – Day 14

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Romans 6:14

Romans 6:14 NLT
Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.

God’s grace is more powerful than sin! We can truly walk and live in the freedom that God’s amazing grace brings. This verse establishes the authority and demonstrates the dominion that we have over sin, because Gods grace supersedes the law. That is great news!

It recognizes again that we cannot live perfect obedient lives in a legalistic way in our own strength, because that clearly did not work in the Old Testament. In fact in Romans 7, Paul talks about how hard it is to do it on our own. But the victory we have in Jesus’s sacrifice and victory on the cross and the freedom that His grace brings gives us dominion over sin in our lives.

Additionally, Gods grace molds our character to live in freedom. Galatians 5:22-23, says. “Now the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” When we allow God to transform us, the law is not necessary.

Lord, thank you for your grace in our lives that gives us dominion over sin. Help us to walk humbly before you that the fruit of the Spirit is manifested in our lives. Truly, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! #Grace #Dominion #freedom #law #fruitofthespirit

Free yourself

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Forgiveness: Free yourself- free others! 
11 The discretion of a man deferreth his anger, and it is his glory to pass over a transgression. Prov. 19:11 

Offenses are rooted in the past. When you fail to forgive you are anchored to somebody else’s transgression or personal issue. It is impossible or quite fatiguing to move forward in your future being anchored “think handcuffed” in the past. Faith looks forward. When you overlook an offense, you are jumping over a hurdle meant to slow you down. Indeed, Heb 12:1 says “let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.” Be free! 

Don’t give “haters” or “frenemies” a second thought, accept to bless them as flawed vessels in need of grace. Perhaps by overlooking the offense you are freeing them too. In fact, virtue and grace abound in your own life – you are strengthened, amplified in this process (to your glory).  So overlook that offense!  Be free and be blessed today! 

As we walk in the liberating power of forgiveness, we empower others to do the same. Forgetting the past, looking ahead to embrace the high purpose and call on our lives with excellence.