Recently, I wrote a blog referencing Gideon and the call of God on his life.  I want to go back to draw another lesson from that story.  In Judges 6, the text reads…

The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” “But sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.” The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” “But Lord,” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family” (Judges 6:11-15).

The angel of the Lord called out Gideon’s destiny as a “mighty warrior,” but Gideon clearly did not see himself as the Lord saw him.  We are told that he was threshing wheat in a wine press because he was hiding from Midianite raiders.  He had little faith in God to work though him because, from his perspective, God had abandoned Israel.  That is not the mindset of a mighty warrior.  And yet, that is what God said he was.

As you read through Judges, you see the steps that God took with Gideon to bring him into his destiny.  It wasn’t an immediate transformation but a progression that took time and a number of experiences with God.  His first assignment as the “deliverer of Israel” was to tear down the altar to Baal and the Asherah pole that accompanied the altar and to build an altar to God in its place.

That same night the Lord said to him, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old. Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. Then build a proper kind of altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering” (Judges 6:25-26). 

As you read further in Judges 6, you discover that Gideon was obedient but not particularly bold.  He tore down the altar at night and took ten men with him.  But that was a first step in learning to trust God.  As the story develops, God asks him to do harder things…but a little at a time, giving him assurances as he went.  Sometimes we find ourselves being timid when God calls us to do something and then feel as if we have failed altogether because we were not aggressive and bold in doing what he asked.  But God is willing to let us grow in faith and boldness. 

God told him to “go in the strength you have,” not in the strength he would have in five or ten years. So, be obedient to the extent that you can and know that God is growing you into a “mighty warrior.”  Don’t beat yourself up because you weren’t a fearless evangelist or a fearless healer the first time God gave you an opportunity to share the gospel or pray for healing. Do what you can and then pray for more opportunities and more boldness the next time.  Your willingness to entertain a “next time” is the main thing.

Secondly, in order for Gideon to step into his destiny, he had to tear down false altars and build a new and authentic altar to God.  If we keep worshipping at false altars, Satan will have his way with us.  If we try to worship at the true altar and still show up at our false altars we will also fail to move ahead. Jesus said we cannot serve two masters.  All the false altars have to be destroyed. How do I know what my altars are?  They are simply the things I give the highest priority in my life.

There are altars of comfort and safety.  There are altars of recreation, career, addictions, fame, money and even family.  If I put one or more of those altars ahead of God, then those altars must be torn down. Whatever organizes my life in terms of how I spend my time, money, or energy is my actual altar.  

Many of us will profess that the altar we worship at is the true altar of God, but that is often an aspirational value, not an actual value. If our job consistently keeps us from church and from serving God, then we most likely are worshipping at the altar of career or materialism. If we miss months of connecting with spiritual family and serving in the kingdom because we are chasing our kid’s club team around the country, we are most likely worshipping at the altar of family. If we disappear for months every year because we are at the deer lease, we are worshipping at the altar of recreation or self-fulfillment. If I never step out of my comfort zone to pray for someone or share the gospel at an opportune moment, then I am likely worshipping at the altar of comfort and safety (my personal favorite).  

These altars must be torn down and one altar erected to the one true God if I am to fulfill the destiny God has ordained for me.  It’s quite easy to justify our altars to ourselves and those we know, but not to God. I am not advocating an austere life in which we never take a vacation or go to the deer lease or watch our kids play ball.  Those things are not sin…until we give them a higher priority than serving God and loving his people. 

Whatever false altar we worship at, we demonstrate to our children, our co-workers,  or our friends that there are things more important than knowing and serving God.  For instance, in an effort to support our kids and show them love, we often demonstrate that their interests and desires are more important than the desires of God.  We demonstrate that the world revolves around them, instead of Jesus Christ.  Later, when they simply give God the leftovers of their life in a very casual relationship with him, we wonder what happened. They noticed the altars at which we were worshipping. 

These are serious considerations for those who want to follow Jesus and become the man or woman he wants us to be.  Ask him to reveal any false altars that are keeping you from your destiny and ask how you are to tear them down.  Then ask the Holy Spirit to build a true altar for the living God in your heart.  These are the first steps in being a “mighty warrior” for God. 

Most of us want to fill significant roles in the Kingdom.  Our Father is a king.  As his children, we naturally should want to excel and be impact players for the Kingdom.  As we contemplate how we might serve and what we might accomplish for our King, most of us want to be appointed and anointed and moved quickly into those roles of significance. Detours discourage us and sometimes put us on a divergent road because we assume the obstacles mean that path is not God’s will for our lives.

I’m rereading Genesis right now and have just finished the chapters pertaining to Joseph. As you recall, Joseph was his father’s favorite and, reading between the lines, was, perhaps,  a prideful and arrogant brat of a young man.  Remember his dreams which he interpreted as prophetic dreams in which his brothers and, eventually, his entire family would bow down to him. The text does not seem to imply that he shared those dreams with a humble spirit.  Eleven brothers did not come to hate him enough to kill him or sell him into slavery just because his father showed favoritism…unless he gloried in that favoritism.I’m not sure how he imagined those dreams would manifest unless he thought his brothers and fathers would simply come to realize his superiority someday and then defer to him in all things.

Sitting in a dry cistern overhearing your brothers plans to kill you and blame it on a wild animal had to be a bucket of cold water poured over his dreams of greatness. Being sold into slavery and taken to Egypt was better than death, but it still had to undercut any ways he had imagined achieving his greatness. 

Even in Egypt, however, God’s favor kept creating upward mobility for him. He became the trusted steward over Potiphar’s estate and felt significant in that role. Perhaps, he could imagine some semblance of greatness in that role, but when life seemed good, he was unjustly accused of trying to force himself on Potiphar’s wife.  His next stop was humiliation and an Egyptian prison. Certainly, it was hard for him to imagine anyone ever bowing down to him in that season of his life.   Egyptian prisons were not upwardly mobile then or now. He seemed to be losing ground on any path to greatness.

But again, God gave him favor.  This time the prison warden saw qualities in him that engendered trust and he was given a significant role in the prison and some level of standing…for a convict. Time passed and two men joined the prison population that had been relatively close to Pharoah…his cup bearer and his baker (the head chef).  Both had stirred the anger of Pharoah and had been imprisoned because of it.  While still in prison, each of these men had a vivid dream.  They shared their dreams with Joseph and wondered if there was anyone who could interpret the dreams.  He said something significant when they asked about interpretation.  Joseph said, “Do not interpretations belong to God?  Tell me your dreams.”

There may have been a time in his youth when he interpreted to his own dreams but through servitude and prison, he no longer trusted his own understanding, but sought  the meaning from God.  He told the cupbearer that he would soon be restored to his position.  The baker was told he would soon be executed.  Both interpretations turned out to be spot on.  Joseph asked the cup bearer to remember him when his position with Pharoah was restored. Of course, the cupbearer forgot all about Joseph.  Joseph again had to be discouraged.  Would he be a forgotten man who would live out his life in a dark prison.  

But then…  Sometime later, Pharoah had a pair of dreams that none of his wise men could interpret.  Hearing the discussions, the cupbearer then remembered Joseph and mentioned him to Pharoah.  He was summoned to stand before the most powerful man in Egypt and was told the dreams.  Again, Joseph was clear with Pharoah that the interpretation of dreams belongs to God, but he was confident God would reveal the meaning.  

God did indeed reveal the meaning…seven years of abundance in Egypt to be followed by seven years of brutal famine. He was so impressed with Joseph and his understanding that he placed him in charge of all governmental response to the coming famine.  He was made second in command only to Pharoah.

After seven years of abundance, the famine began to take its toll, not just in Egypt but in the surrounding nations.  Joseph’s own family was driven to go to Egypt to buy grain.  The same brothers who had sold had him into slavery came before Joseph in order to purchase grain.  They did not recognize him but he knew who they were.  They indeed were bowing down before him.   Eventually he revealed himself to his brothers, put aside any thoughts of revenge, and brought his entire family to Egypt where they would grow and prosper.

Joseph had sensed a significant destiny in his life even when he was young.  But every turn seemed to deny that destiny and move him away from it instead of toward it. God had ordained that he would be great in Egypt, saving a nation and also his family.   However, character had to be shaped in Joseph before he could step into the greatness God had ordained for him.  You can see that pattern throughout scripture. 

We want to rush to the end, serve in that position of significance and believe we can do it based on our talent.  But in the kingdom, character is much more valuable than talent.  When we have a dream or a vision to do something great for God, that may well be a dream God has placed in our hear.  Detours and discouragement are often not God saying “No,” but are 
God’s tools for preparing us for that destiny.  We need to take Joseph’s lead in each of those circumstances. 

n each situation that seemingly was taking Joseph away from his destiny, he chose to be his best, serve with faithfulness, and still strive for excellence. He could have chosen despair and bitterness.  I believe he must have spent hours in prayer, asking God to keep those things from his heart. But when the character required to lead a nation had been formed, Joseph’s ultimate destiny was revealed.  When we yearn for leadership in ministry or business, yearn for a spouse and family, yearn for some success in a career that we want to use to glorify God, we must be patient and faithful…even in the detours.

In his book, And David Perceived That He was King, Dale Mast makes a case I have long agreed with. Identity is the key to fulfilling our destiny. He states, “Whenever God visited a man in the scriptures, it was the end of one season and at the beginning of another one. Identity shifts are required for each new season.” The challenge is the time it takes to form a new or modified identity once it has been revealed.

Mast uses the example of David who was anointed king over Israel years before he became king. David had faith to face Goliath and to lead Israel into many battles, but we are told in 2 Samuel 5:12 that finally “David perceived that the Lord had established him king over Israel, and had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel’s sake.” The moment David actually comprehended he had been established as king was years after he was anointed to be king. Faith may have accepted the statement but it was years before David saw himself as God saw him. It was only then that David took on the identity of a king and felt secure in being God’s leader.

Each of us have a destiny that God is trying to reveal to us, but until we take on our identity in that role, we will never have confidence that God is going to do something extraordinary through us. If we harbor doubts about who God has made us, we will shrink back and not “risk” the new things or we will cover up our insecurities and manipulate situations to maintain our position.

If you study the life of King Saul, David’s predecessor, you will see that he never felt secure as king. He never believed that God had firmly established him in that role so he felt threatened at all times…even to the point of trying to murder those he thought wanted his throne. . He pushed ahead instead of waiting on the Lord when he thought his position or his success was in jeopardy. He fought battles for his own glory, built monuments to himself, and ended up a colossal failure.

When David perceived he was king, he comprehended that God had established him as king and no one could remove him until God made the decision to do so. With that heart knowledge, he was able to live out his destiny with confidence.

The question is how do we develop our identity. As children, we are born into the world with little idea of who we are. We develop a self-image based on what we are told about ourselves, how others react to us, and how we perform in given situations. If we are consistently told we are loved, capable, valuable, etc. and the actions of those closest to us agree with those words, we develop an identity of being a person who matters, who can accomplish great things, who anticipates that others will value us, etc. and will perform at higher levels because we believe we can.

If, on the other hand, we are told we don’t matter, that we are worthless and stupid and that no one will ever ove us, we develop a self-image or identity that anticipates failure and rejection and that lives up to those expectations. This dynamic is what sociologist have called the “looking glass self.” In other words, we look to others to find evidence of who we are and usually believe what we see about us in their reactions to us. It takes time for our initial identity to form and even more time to change our self-image if it needs reconstruction. But, the change is essential.

God changed Abram’s name to Abraham as he begin to build an identity in Abraham as a father of God’s chosen nation. That was difficult because for decades he and Sara could have no children. But God kept speaking and Abram kept listening and, finally, he saw who he was through God’s eyes. God had become his “looking glass”or his mirror.

We must take the same journey as God shifts our identity so we can fulfill our destiny. We must learn to hear God and allow him to be the mirror through which we perceive ourselves. We need to say what he says about us. We need to dream what he dreams about us. We need to see ourselves as sons and daughters in the house, greatly loved and valued by the Father. Our identity must come from Him and what he says about us rather than our performance. Peter did not initially live up to the name (Rocky) or identity Jesus gave him. If he had let his performance define him on the night Jesus was arrested, Peter would never had shown up to preach the first gospel sermon on Pentecost. If our identity depends on what we have been doing, we can never move beyond that. We must allow God to speak to our hearts and tell us who we are in his eyes and claim that by faith so that we can step into the next chapter of whatever God has for us.

I like what Mast says in regard to this. He writes, “Faith can peak in a moment, but identity requires a sustained vision. Identity must be held in place by thoughts we receive from Father God. Faith is more fruitful when it operates from our true identity.” I think we should all take moments to assess our identity and the source of that identity. Knowing and believing who we are in Christ is essential to growth, fruitfulness, security, and peace. It is essential to accepting our next assignment from the Father. Who or what is the mirror by which we see ourselves? We should know and make adjustments when needed.

Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear expensive clothes and indulge in luxury are in palaces. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.” I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John.” John 7:24-28

In the passage above, Jesus was referring to John the Baptist. He praised him in front of a large crowd of Jews who had weaned on stories about the great prophets of Israel. Jesus declared that among men and prophets, there were none greater than John. When you consider Moses, Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah and Isaiah….that is quite a statement. Especially, when you consider that John never performed a recorded miracle. He didn’t write extensive books or prophecies against nations. He didn’t have a forty year career of prophesying and counseling kings. His ministry was brief, remarkably unrecorded, and he even had moments when he wondered if Jesus were the Messiah after all.

So what made him great and what makes us great in the kingdom of God? We can tell from the passage that John had been given a ministry of preparation – preparing the hearts of Israel to recognize and receive Jesus as their Messiah. He had one job. He pointed the broken to Jesus and confronted the self-righteous about their hypocrisy. No miracles, no extensive writings, no supernatural rescues. What he did bring was a few short years of uncompromised preaching about the one who was coming. He was totally faithful in the purpose that God had ordained for him.

We are clearly told by the Psalmist (Ps. 139:16) that everyday ordained for us was written in God’s book before one of them came to pass. The things written before our birth are the purposes of God for our life on the earth. His desire is that we discover and fulfill those purposes. Perhaps, our greatness in heaven will be measured by how well we fulfill God’s purposes for us. Those purposes will look different for each of us so we cannot compare ourselves to others or what they do for Jesus. Our call is to be sensitive to the leading of the Spirit and then be as faithful as possible to fulfill what God has called us to so. I think that was part of John’s greatness. That was certainly the greatness of Jesus. On the other hand, too many of us pursue our own purposes in this life and then expect God to bless our pursuit.

Sometimes we feel insignificant in the things we find ourselves doing for Jesus. We may serve quietly in the shadows week after week, we may never build a great church, we may never lead hundreds to Christ…but if we are faithful with the opportunities put before us, we can be deemed great in the kingdom of heaven. In a biography of Billy Graham we are told that he was born in a farmhouse outside Charlotte, North Carolina. He grew up on a dairy farm. When he was sixteen he was turned down for membership in a local youth group because he was considered “too worldly.” However, a farm worker named Albert McMakin, persuaded Graham to go hear an evangelist named Mordecai Ham. Graham was converted during a series of those revival meetings held by Ham and the rest is history.

Before reviewing the biography, I never heard of McMakin or Ham, but their willingness to fulfill their purpose in a moment offered to them was essential in the gospel being preached to hundreds of thousands of people with untold numbers of responses. If McMakin had not been working on a farm and had not pointed Billy Graham to a revival, who knows if God’s purposes for Graham would have been fulfilled. We tend to measure things by worldly standards (numbers, name recognition, magazine covers, etc.), but heaven measures them differently Fulfilling God’s purposes for us is the thing…not my will but yours be done.

We may not always be clear on the purposes, but if we sincerley want to fulfill everything written in his book, I’m confident God will lead us into moments when those purposes can be fulfilled…even if we are not always aware we are doing so. I’m also convinced that sometimes we turn down his small purposes while waiting for the one we think will carry more weight. But the principle is that we must be faithful in little before he will make us faithful in much.

God does not exist to fulfill our longings for the things of this world, but we exist to fulfill his longings for us. And when we fulfill his longings for us, we experience his pleasure and his blessings. Let me encourage you to think about his purposes for your life in the days ahead and ask him to reveal those to you. Each purpose is significant but only God may know how significant a farm hand can be extending one invitation to a worldly teenager on a little farm in North Carolina.

I’m convinced that the great majority of mankind struggles daily with the little voice that constantly whispers, You don’t matter and what you do doesn’t matter.” The exponential increase in diagnosed depression and suicide rates over the past decade would seem to confirm that theory.

When we feel that we don’t matter, we feel that we have no value. The rush to find alternate identities in today’s world is, I think, a clear side effect of feeling worthless and having no compelling purpose for our life. If I feel worthless as the person I am, perhaps, I can find worth in another identity or, at least, in a group with a strong identity that I might share. So, we see teens and young adults discarding the gender identity God gave them and opting for another. In a world where transgenders have taken on celebrity status, it’s no wonder that many young people are attaching themselves to that wave in an effort to feel special or revolutionary. The thought makes them feel as if they matter. The problem is that is doesn’t work..at least, not for long. Suicide rates for transexuals are much higher than the rest of the population. Gender is really not the issue. Trying to find value, meaning, and love is the driving force behind nearly everything man does or tries.

For those that don’t opt to try a new gender identity, it seems that many are attempting to find identity by partnering with political groups driven by a world view that those in their party have been cheated and abused by a world that makes it impossible for them to succeed or find happiness. There is a certain feeling of power that comes with anger, rage, blaming others, and burning buildings. For a while, that feeling of empowerment and belonging will bolster an identity, but it won’t last because it is all external. After a while, the “victim card” simply makes us feel more alienated and even more disempowered rather than valuable. After that realization, comes depression, medicating and, perhaps, suicide.

One off the great blessings of the gospel is the evidence that we do matter. Our life does have purpose. Someone loves us so much that he has invested everything in us, including the suffering and death of his own Son The problem is that many believers still feel worthless. I think that is because we can feel loved as a group, but not as an individual. What I mean by that is we think that God loves all of his children generically…as a group. It’s like when celebrities declare their love for all their fans…but wouldn’t know one if they bumped into them on the street. When I think of God loving the world…I may still feel like just a face in the crowd. That is why I need to know that God knows me and loves me as a unique individual and has invested himself in me and my personal destiny from before the foundation of the world.

I love Psalms 139. David wrote, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them” (Ps. 139:13-17)

We are so personally known by God that he was involved in our very creation. It seems that at the moment of conception, God establishes an identity in us. Yes…he chooses our gender but also our personality, our temperament, and our talents. Then, he shapes our purpose by establishing a unique future that fits the individual God has made us to be. It is impressive that God has taken the time to craft a future for us that will bless us and others, and has written everyday of that future in a book in heaven before we are ever born. That already is a huge investment of thought, time, and energy that God has poured into each of us individually.

In addition, one possible translation of the phrase,”How precious to me are your thoughtsS O God,” is “How precious are your thoughts about me, O God! How vast is the sum of them.” Contextually, that fits very well with the David’s thought. God dreams us, designs us, creates us, and lays out a future for us even before birth. After that, he thinks about us all the time as any loving parent thinks about their child. Of course, the future that has been laid out for us is a “potential future” that depends on our decisions.

Not only that, but God is so invested in us and our individual lives, that he gave his only begotten Son as a sacrifice for our sins, so that we could fulfill his purposes for us and know his love forever. He has also had to chase down many of us who ran from him as prodigals if he were the enemy. Think about how much time, energy, and resources God spent keeping you alive until he could chase you down and draw you back to him. Angels have been assigned to you, hundreds of “divine appointments” have been arranged and orchestrated, and thousands of prayers have been answered. He has deposited his Spirit in you who has made you better and has delivered you from yourself and the enemy time and again. Jesus has even gone to prepare a place just for you and will come back and take you with him…and he will know your name without a roster or a name tag. He will know everything about you – all your hurts, hopes, and successes.

God has given us both identity and value in abundance if we will simply open ourselves up to him. Jesus said that the Father not only knows our name, but even the number of hairs on our head. Satan is the one who steals and hides our identity, and then coaxes us to search for it in every place but the only place we can truly find it. If we don’t know who we are, we should ask the one who made us rather than a world that has rebelled.

If the world had the answer, depression, suicide, and homicide would be on the decrease rather than the increase. War would be known only in history books. If the world had the answer, celebrities would be the happiest and healthiest people in the world…but as a whole they are miserable and insecure…medicating, overdosing, failing at multiple marriages, and still in desperate search of something that gives their peace and lasting meaning.

Identity is the key to a fulfilling life…knowing who we are and why we are is everything. If we read scripture with an eye to who we are in Christ, the realization that we are unique children of God – loved, valued, and known since before the creation of the world – will bring us into a place of worth and security that the entire world is desperately looking for. Only God can truly tell you who you are and why you are. Listen to him!

The prophet Isaiah spoke of the coming Messiah when he said, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners” (Isa.61:1).

As we have just celebrated our national day of independence from British oppression under King George, I want to reflect on the theme of freedom in scripture. The passage from Isaiah above declares that Jesus would have a three point mission when he lived among us. First of all, he would preach good news (the gospel) to the poor. The gospel is a message of freedom from the tyranny of Satan who holds all men in bondage until they respond to the gospel and accept the ransom that Jesus paid for each of us on the cross. In a sense, the gospel gives us positional freedom in Christ. By his blood, we are given a legal standing in heaven that declares we are justified as our sins are forgiven and the record of them in heaven is wiped clean. That is definitely good news and takes away the legal right of Satan to to afflict us and oppress us at his discretion.

However, there is more. Even though we have a legal standing in heaven of righteousness, there is still our fallen nature (the natural man) and our brokenness that must be dealt with. That belongs to the rest of Isaiah 61:1 where the word declares that Jesus will heal broken hearts and set both captives and prisoners free. Nearly every human alive comes to Jesus with a broken heart…obviously some more than others. A broken heart unattended will always limit our ability to be all that Jesus wants us to be.

A broken heart speaks of shattered emotions: shame, rejection, self-condemnation, and even self-hatred. Many of us come to Jesus with the belief that no one can love us because we are unworthy of love. We believe intellectually that God loves us because the Bible says he does, but deep in the hearts of many believers there is still a place that doubts that anyone can love them…not even God.

Even after we are saved, Satan preys on that doubt and reinforces it. A major part of the Holy Spirit’s mission is to give us a revelation of God’s love in our hearts that removes the doubt and silences the accuser. Some receive that revelation in their heart at the moment of salvation. For others, it seems that a process is required. However we receive that assurance, it is still part of Messiah’s mission to heal our broken hearts and restore our identity so that we know we are children of God.

The passage then announces that Messiah (Jesus) is committed to setting both captives and prisoners free. Captives are those who have been victimized by others and experience bondage to shame, fear. and hopelessness. Those are the abused, molested, violated, and abandoned of this world. It is those who were innocent, but traumatized by other broken or evil people in this world. Prisoners are those who are in bondage because of their actions like a those in jail. Sometimes we are in a bad place because of our own decisions. The good news is that Jesus is willing to set both free from their bondage and their brokenness.

That freedom can come in many ways. Sometime accepting the truth of God’s word sets us free from lies that have kept us in bondage. Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” Satan’s primary weapon is the lie. Jesus called him the Father of Lies and his strategies always distort the truth about God, the truth about us, and the truth about him. Choosing to give God’s word more authority in our lives than the lies of the enemy or our old beliefs based on those lies is a key to freedom.


Sometimes, freedom only comes through direct confrontation with the enemy. A major element of Jesus’ ministry was delivering people from demonic affliction and oppression. He has given his followers power and authority to do the same. Even though we have been redeemed, we may come into the kingdom with demons already assigned to us by the enemy. Although their legal right to afflict us may have been taken away, sometimes they still must be evicted by the authority and power of Jesus.

What I want to emphasize today is that God is interested in our freedom. That is not a freedom to do as we please, independent of Him, but a freedom from sin, brokenness, and the oppression of the enemy whose only desire is to kill, steal and destroy. It is a freedom to become all that God has destined for us and to find the joy and fulfillment of knowing who we are and walking in that destiny.

All men desire freedom. That is want prompted the American revolution. It is why Ukranians are fighting Russian aggression as you read this. That desire for freedom is an inherent part of being made in God’s image. Satan tries to persuade us that God’s commands are restrictive, oppressive, and totalitarian. Instead, they are the very instructions that will free us from our prisons if we will follow them. God has designed us and crafted us for a unique destiny that, once discovered, can make our lives extraordinary.

The challenge is to embrace the truth that surrendering to God’s will and God’s ways is not oppression, but the open door to a freedom we all desire. Our independence is not independence from God but from the one whose will is to destroy us. Scripture declares that “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom,” and “If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed.” My hope is that we will all recognize the true freedom that Jesus offers and celebrate it each day. Blessings in Him.