Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty and freedom (II Corinthians 3:17), and wherever you are in the world there should be freedom in your forward movement and forward thinking.
God desires that we build upon this foundation of liberty so that truth and freedom will be experienced in every nation and established in the hearts of all who choose to believe and receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Every disciple, minister, believer, ambassador, servant and reconciler can be a witness for the Lord. Every one of us can tell somebody why we love Jesus so much, what we are so thankful for, and because God is no respecter of persons, we can encourage others exercise their faith and trust in what the Holy Spirit reveals and instructs.
Recently, I heard the Holy Spirit say, “ Stand fast in the liberty where with Christ has made you free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” (Galatians 5:1) Say this to My people.
Paul brought correction to the Galatian Church because they had received Christ by faith. But when Judaizers began telling them that they needed to observe all of the ceremonial practices of the law of Moses in addition to what they had believed in Jesus Christ, these Galatians allowed the spirit of confusion to distract them from the truth. Let’s not give up our our freedom in Christ (Romans 8:1-2) for anything or anyone. It doesn’t matter who they are. If angels come and ask us to give up our freedom that Christ has given us, we have to tell them, “No.” (Galatians 1:8; Deuteronomy 13:1-5)
How do we become free? The scripture in John 8:31-32 tells us. The first thing we must do is to believe on Jesus Christ and then continue in his word. When you say, “I believe in Christ,” what are you actually saying? You must believe, not only in the words of Christ, but also the Christ of the words. You must believe both. And you must continue to believe. When God sees you continuing to pursue, follow, obey and seek to know more about the Lord, then your deeds will be recorded in heaven and your identity registered in the earth that you are Christ’s disciple. The Holy Spirit will share truth with you, and you will know (not wonder about) the truth and the truth that you know will make you free.
Always desire to know God’s truth, no matter what that truth is. Nothing happens without a desire. In John 6:63, the Bible tells us that God’s Word is spirit and it is life. In Romans 8: 1-2, we see that there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. So, if you’re not in Christ, you are still under condemnation. Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death. In Romans 8:35,38-39, we are asked the questions, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulations? Shall a bad-hair day? Shall distress or people talking behind our backs? Suppose they talk about us with a legitimate cause? Suppose they talk about us without a legitimate cause? It doesn’t matter how they’re talking. Nothing is going to separate us from the love of Christ–not persecution or famine, nor nakedness or peril, or sword. Let’s be fully persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height (that which could be the most prideful or the greatest accomplishment that one could achieve or depths ( that which is the most terrible thing that could happen or the most in-depth study or experiment that could enter into), nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God.
God gave me a vision of an American football game where He depicted the current state of His Church as it relates to the war between righteousness and wickedness in society. The vision made a comparison of the plight of truth and liberty in our times to what happened to truth and liberty in Isaiah’s day. In Isaiah Chapter 59, beginning with verse one: “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save, neither His ear heavy that He cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God…your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity, your lips have spoken lies (not God’s truth) … your tongue has muttered perverseness.” God gave me the vision based on Isaiah 59:14: “And judgment is turned away backwards, and justice stands afar off, for truth is fallen in the streets, and equity cannot enter.”
In Isaiah 59:19, we see the beginnings of God’s divine intervention on behalf of the righteous: “So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the West (think about the western nations) and the glory from the rising of the sun ( the eastern nations). The Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard (or a banner such as those used in battle to rally the troops) against him (the enemy that is opposing truth and liberty). Notice Isaiah 59:21: “As for me, this is My covenant with them (the righteous people with whom I am in covenant). My spirit that is upon you, and My words that I have put in your mouth, they shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your seed, nor out of the mouth of your seed’s seed from henceforth and forever.” We need to speak, confess, declare and decree this truth for posterity.
Yes, God gave me a vision of a football game where the ball was in play and the ball was fumbled. But He showed me that the ball was recovered by the righteous. In the vision, the recover-er of the ball landed on his stomach, cradling the ball so that the ensuing pile up of players could not seize it and gain an advantage for wickedness. The recovering player held onto the ball. Then the vision shifted to a player that was running a stiff-arm maneuver. The wicked defenders ran toward the ball carrier in an effort to stop the ball that was in play and turn it over to their side, but they failed. Thank God, because in the vision, that ball represented truth and liberty.
We cannot let truth fall in the street. We cannot let go of the liberty with which Christ has made us free. We cannot believe in the lies, propaganda and false narratives that are circulating throughout the world today. I asked the Lord why was the ball fumbled in the vision? Why was truth dropped? Why did it fall to the ground? And the Lord said, “Because the righteous became distracted.” We must be committed to focus (attend without distraction) on the truth the Holy Spirit is saying to us (John 16:13).
We speak these words in opposition to every synchronized church, movement and operation that has aligned itself with the false to bring down God’s truth and bring shame upon the works of Jesus Christ. That ball was fumbled because the Church started to act like the world. Christians began to ignore and dull their sensitivity of the voice of the Holy Ghost, ignoring instead of giving attention to His voice, neglecting fellowship with the word of God and began forsaking the assembling of themselves with the saints. Some even began to attack those that remained faithful in standing up for what is right and because of offense they stopped defending God’s truth.
We know that the devil tries to work both ends against the middle to bring a total collapse to the kingdom of God. And even those who obey God experience weariness from having to put up with so much, from having to bear up under burdens for a long time. They, too, have fumbled the ball. The Lord wants to caution us. It doesn’t matter how wearisome the journey or how much it appears that we have to bear up under stressful events…as long as we don’t resort to leaning to our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5-6) or put confidence in our flesh ( five senses) for help (Philippians 3:3)… as long as we remain in the spirit (Galatians 5:1), then the Lord will help us (I Corinthians 10:13).
The Lord wants us to attend to truth and to liberty. God wants disciples, ambassadors, witnesses, servants, ministers, reconcilers, and keruxes (Greek word for preachers/ proclaimers of the truth of the Gospel) to go forth and carry the Gospel. The greatest miracle is that of a transformed life. God wants change-for-the-better in people’s life. And every disciple has the power, ability and the grace to speak the truth of God in love. One day Holy Ghost fire is going to be lit under the things that we present to the Lord and nothing is going to stand before God except that which survives the fire.
Ephesians 4:27 admonishes us to give the devil no place. In accordance with the vision, when you’re running your stiff-arm maneuver, guarding truth and liberty, you can’t listen to any of the enemy’s lies, considerations or suppositions. When he says, “Suppose this or that mishap will happen.” Tell the devil, “Shut up, devil…it is written…it is said…!” Yes, go all the way to the edge, and let there be no room on that edge except for you and God. There’s no room for the devil. There’s no room for speculation, superstitions, suspicions, fear, uncertainty or doubt. There’s no room for vain philosophies, -isms, or anything that opposes God’s truth.
Romans 10:17 says faith comes by hearing (not by hearing those demons, not by hearing your own self, your own 5 senses) and hearing by the word of God. God’s word is the truth that makes us free…if we commit to continue with Him and not quit (John 8:31-32). God knows that the remnant body knows how to distinguish truth from error. That’s not where the devil is going to trick us. The devil is going to try to ensnare the Spirit-filled Christian between facts and truth. We’re not going to be deluded, deceived, fall for the lies or men’s opinions. Satan wants us to believe in the natural “more than” the spiritual. The enemy will impersonate your voice and use facts (things that can be measured and proven) to distract you from truth. Believers find themselves saying, “ But I have to be honest. I can’t lie. I can see it in my life. I can feel it in my body. I heard the experts’ analysis of the situation. It’s been scientifically proven.” But there is a world of difference between worldly wisdom and divine wisdom. The Lord doesn’t want us to be led by our five senses. He doesn’t want us to be dependent solely upon the natural ( relating to body and the soul). He wants us to submit and surrender to God’s truth, because every one of these things: delusion, deception, lies, opinions and facts can change, but truth never changes. And God wants us to hold on to His truth. Hold it, don’t drop it. Matthew 6:33 says to seek first the truth and God will add all of the things you need. Godspeed!
