There is Freedom at the Cross

The 4th of July is a holiday celebrating the signing of the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain on July 4th, 1776. The United States of America (USA) gives thanks unto God for the freedom they received that day and they rejoice in the freedom they have. At the beginning of this month, you could sense and see that the atmosphere has changed in America. Religion, Family, Arts and Entertainment, Media, Government, Education, and Business all start to focus on the liberty and freedom that this day brings for America. As the atmosphere is still present and the bells of liberty, freedom, and independence are still ringing in our ears, I believe that our God wants to put you in remembrance and celebration of the liberty, freedom, and independence that you have received at the Cross. Just like the Declaration of Independence declares independence from Great Britain. The Cross is our Declaration of Independence from sin.


“We have this day restored the Sovereign to whom alone men ought to be obedient. He reigns in Heaven, and with a propitious eye beholds his subjects assuming that freedom of thought and dignity of self-direction which He bestowed on them. From the rising to the setting sun, may His kingdom come!” ~ Samuel Adams after signing the Declaration of Independence. Samuel Adams is American statesman, political philosopher, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
This blog is called "There is Freedom at the Cross!" Now before we can see, experience, and receive the Freedom that the Cross offers you must take a voyage that leads you through the seas to discover that there is Freedom at the Cross. You will see what pain has to do with liberty, how it connects to liberty, where liberty is found at, and then you will see where to receive the freedom God has for you at the Cross.

Before you can celebrate liberty, freedom, and independence in your life, you have to be somewhere else first either in a place of pain or bondage or both. The definition of liberty is: “1. The condition of being free from confinement, servitude, or forced labor. 2. a. The condition of being free from oppressive restriction or control by a government or other power." The definition of freedom is "The condition of not being in prison or captivity: The condition of not being constrained or restricted in a specific aspect of life by a government or other power. Dictionaries define Independence as the time when a country or region gains political freedom from outside control, freedom from the control, influence, support, aid, or the like, of others and freedom from control or influence of another or others.” These definitions reveal that you have to be in bondage before experiencing freedom or liberty.

Because “doesn’t pain have a way of just neutralizing us? You can pull one little muscle in your back, and your entire body wants to just sit down and avoid feeling that pain with every move. Not only that but also every time you do move, and that sharp pain shoots across your back; you’re reminded of that weird move you made that caused the injury in the first place. That pain serves to take you right back to that place where you were hurt” (Jentezen Franklin The Spirit of Python, 2013, p. 98-99).  The same thing happens to us spiritually, physically, emotionally, and mentally. All of us have or will experience some pain in all of these areas and what the enemy does is he keeps jabbing at that pain to keep you limited. He also connects that pain to memory to neutralize you. It seems that anytime you make progress in your life from that pain he locks you with the reminder of the pain and connects it with your past. “As long as the pain is there, you are still trapped by the memory. The enemy wants to keep you hurt over some situation, because as long as he has the pain that’s still there, he can take you right back to the place even if it happened years ago. (Jentezen Franklin The Spirit of Python, 2013, p. 98-99)

Luke 13:10-17 NASB 10 "And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit, and she was bent double, and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, Woman, you are freed from your sickness. 13 And He laid His hands on her; and immediately she was made erect again and began glorifying God. 14 But the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, There are six days in which work should be done; so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” 15 But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead him away to water him? 16 And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day? 17 As He said this, all His opponents were being humiliated; and the entire crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him.

Jesus spoke to the bondage and pain that this daughter of Abraham was experiencing the same with you, you must speak to the pain and bondage in your life and declare pain and bondage you have no hold over me because I have received the freedom that the Cross has given me to walk in liberty every day of my life. Tell the Devil as Jesus did that his prison cells can't hold you anymore you are free!

“Freedom can exist only in the society of knowledge. Without learning, men are incapable of knowing their rights, and where learning is confined to a few people, liberty can be neither equal nor universal.” ~ Benjamin Rush is part of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He is a Physician, writer, educator, and signer of the United States Declaration of Independence. Benjamin Rush is telling people that to have freedom in your country; society must have knowledge, learning, and knowing your rights as citizens of that country. American citizens must educate themselves on the freedoms they have been given through the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. It's the same for Christians to walk in the freedom that the Cross gives them, they must become knowledgeable of its power and the authority Christ provides them with in His name. Christians always have to be learning about His Word knowing His promises so that when Satan tries to infect Christians with pain and bondage Christians can say No, I am not bound to that pain or bondage you can't hurt me anymore because of the Cross because of God’s promise to me. If Christians don’t read God’s Word, do not know His promises, and the power of the Cross, then the liberty He wants to give you is confined and then it cannot be equal or universal because it is limited. Our duty as Christians is to spread the news that there is Freedom at the Cross!

2 Corinthians 3:12-18 (Voice) "12 In light of this hope that we have, we act with great confidence and speak with great courage. 13 We do not act like Moses who covered his face with a veil so the children of Israel would not stare as the glory of God faded from his face. 14 Their minds became as hard as stones; for up to this day when they read the old covenant, the same veil continues to hide that glory; this veil is lifted only through the Anointed One. 15 Even today a veil covers their hearts when the words of Moses are read; 16 but in the moment when one turns toward the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 By “the Lord” what I mean is the Spirit, and in any heart where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is liberty. 18 Now all of us, with our faces unveiled, reflect the glory of the Lord as if we are mirrors; and so we are being transformed, metamorphosed, into His same image from one radiance of glory to another, just as the Spirit of the Lord accomplishes it." The word liberty or also translate freedom is the Greek word Eleutheria and it comes from the root word Eleutheros which means “freeborn in a civil sense, one who is not a slave of one who ceases to be a slave, freed, manumitted free, exempt, unrestrained, not bound by an obligation in an ethical sense: free from the yoke of the Mosaic Law.” If you have Christ living inside of you then the Spirit of the Lord is in your heart and liberty is in you all you have to do is claim it. You are rich in freedom now claim your inheritance at the Cross! Live every day with the liberty that is given to you from the Cross do not stay bound when you are free! Know from verse 18 that becoming free is a process sometimes it happens quickly, but other times it is step by step, but the great thing is that you will receive it one day "just as the Spirit of the Lord accomplishes it."

Luke 4:18 KJV "18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised." Freedom and liberty in the Greek are Aphesis it means “release from bondage or imprisonment forgiveness or pardon, of sins (letting them go as if they had never been committed), remission of the penalty.” Bruised also can be translated oppressed in the Greek  it is Thrauo it means “to break, break in pieces, shatter, smite through.” The Same Spirit that Christ had and worked through to fulfill this scripture is in you to free you.

 “It is crucial to speak in faith to your mountain in order to break the permanence and break the pain and say, In the name of Jesus I’m trading my sorrows in for the joy of the Lord. Jesus can heal the pain and cut through the cords of yesterday’s painful memories. It has been long enough. It is time to break out of the devil’s prison. Jesus has given you victory, and if you are bound, you need liberty. If the enemy has wrapped himself around your life, encircling you in your pain, you need the healing of the Lord. Do not allow the enemy to wrap around your future, your freedom, or your success (Jentezen Franklin The Spirit of Python, 2013, p. 98-99).

John 19:30 NASB 30 "Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit." It is finished bondage and pain cannot hold you all you have to do is receive the Freedom the Cross gives you.

“Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.” ~ George Washington is the first President of the United States (1789–97), the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.

"The best road to progress is freedom’s road" ~ President John F. Kennedy is the 35th President of the United States of America.

These two quotes tell that liberty starts when you take action or make progress. Today is that day for you! I encourage you to write your pain or bondage or both on a notecard or piece of paper and then if you have a cross in your home or picture the cross in your mind and lay it down at the Cross then stand up and shout for the Lord has given you the victory (Joshua 6:16)! If you don't know Christ, and you want this Freedom I speak about then just say Jesus I receive you as my Lord and Savior I repent of my sins I believe in You and I believe that today I have this freedom that is given at the Cross in Jesus name we pray amen! Now read The Bible read Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, get connected in a church, and find other Christ followers and invest your time with them. Then watch what God does for you! Remember that becoming free is a process and today starts that process for you!

God of the Second Wind Heroes of Faith Ruth's Story (Part 2)

This post is part two of the Summer Series “God of the Second Wind Heroes of Faith” today’s blog is focusing on Ruth. This Summer series is about seeing the characteristic of how God is the “God of the Second Wind.” In part one we looked at Rahab and how God saved her from the destruction of Jericho, leading her to become part of Israel, marrying Salmon, being part of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, and having her name placed in the Hall of Faith (Hebrews 11). Ruth’s life also reveals to the reader that God is the “God of the Second Wind.”

Ruth’s story is in the Book of Ruth. The Book of Ruth is a short book in the Bible only four chapters, but inside these chapters is a story filled with God’s Second Wind. As you will see a little bit later in this post-God’s Grace, Mercy, and Favor is upon Ruth’s life, but how did it begin? Ruth 1:1-5 NASB tells the reader how “1 Now it came about in the days when the judges governed, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons. 2 The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi; and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah. Now they entered the land of Moab and remained there. 3 Then Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died; and she was left with her two sons. 4 They took for themselves Moabite women as wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. And they lived there about ten years. 5 Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was bereft of her two children and her husband.”  By marrying one of Naomi’s sons, it gives Ruth entrance to know the God of Israel. Do not underestimate the relationships you have with people they are in your life for a reason you have an opportunity each time you are with them to let them know God personally for themselves. In verses eight thru thirteen Naomi tells Orpah and Ruth to return to their homeland, but the girls say no we want to go with you, Naomi insists that they leave and return to Moab because if they go with her they will not be able to marry again and that would be putting Orpah and Ruth in bondage. Orpah does return, but Ruth chooses to stay with Naomi. Ruth 1:16-17 NASB  But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. 17 "Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the LORD do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me." While Ruth was married to one of Naomi’s sons, she experiences something she sees something in Naomi’s family, and she wants it for herself. These words by Ruth are powerful, and they speak of a desire for the God of Israel to be her God, which opens up the door for God’s “Second Wind” to come into her life.

In Chapter 2 God starts to blow the “Second Wind” of His character over Ruth by blessing and protecting her under the watchful eye of Boaz. Ruth’s faithfulness to Naomi rushes in the “Second Wind of God” by giving her a place to glean in the fields, water to drink, food to eat, giving her extra grain, and protecting her from others (Ruth 2:8-17).

 In Chapter 3 Naomi tells Ruth to present herself to Boaz to claim him as her kinsman-redeemer (Ruth 3:1-5) because of Ruth’s obedience to the advice that Naomi gives her “God’s Second Wind” breathes on her again. Ruth teaches the reader that to experience “God’s Second Wind” in your life you must live by faith and let your faith produce works because faith without works is dead (James 2:14-26).

Chapter 4 brings the beginning to the end Boaz redeems Naomi’s family line by buying all that belong to Elimelech and his sons Mahlon and Chilion including marrying Ruth (Ruth 4:1-17). God uses the kinsman-redeemer Boaz to release His “Second Wind” into Ruth’s life not only blessing her greatly in the fields or marrying Boaz, but God as well adds her to the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Ruth 4:18-22 “18 Now these are the generations of Perez: to Perez was born Hezron, 19 and to Hezron was born Ram, and to Ram, Amminadab, 20 and to Amminadab was born Nahshon, and to Nahshon, Salmon, 21 and to Salmon was born Boaz, and to Boaz, Obed, 22 and to Obed was born Jesse, and to Jesse, David.” I want you as the reader of this blog to know that none of this would have happened if Ruth did not marry into Naomi’s family. Why do I bring that up? Because your actions and the decisions you make each day gives God the opportunity to blow His “Second Wind” upon you and those who come into your life each day. The Book of Ruth also teaches the reader that God can use you to be the initiator of His “Second Wind” to help others experience the refreshing wind of His Grace and Mercy just like Boaz did for Ruth.

Ruth’s story has God’s hands in it from the beginning even before anything happens in Ruth’s life God was moving. God used the move Elimelech made with his family to Moab to bring His “Second Wind” upon Ruth. I want you to search your heart and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what is your “Elimelech move?” Why has God placed you here at this time in your life? It is for you to find your Ruth so that your Ruth can experience the rushing “Second Wind of God!” It is for your Ruth to have the same experience that the Ruth in the Bible has and that is knowing, living, and experiencing God’s grace, mercy, and favor in her life. Go ask the Holy Spirit to help you find your “Elimelech move” and “your Ruth.”

If you do not know this God, and you want what Ruth has then say this prayer: Jesus, I want you just like Ruth has you, I make you my God I repent of my sins. I receive the forgiveness you give me at the Cross I am yours, and you are mine forevermore in Jesus name we pray amen! Find a church that teaches the Bible truthfully with power and read your Bible each day start anywhere let God lead you. If you find yourself in a church or when reading your Bible that you are being comforted, convicted, and challenged to be like Christ on regular basis’s you are in the good soil, and you will grow.