Just Be 30 Day Challenge Michelle Gott Kim

JUST BE 30-DAY CHALLENGE

September 12, 2020 MICHELLE GOTT

Just Free – Day Twelve

Webster says ‘Free’ means to make free; set at liberty; release from bondage, imprisonment or restraint; to be exempt or delivered from

Synonyms: unfettered, acquitted, paroled, released, relieved, rescued, pardoned, extricated, cleared, discharged, ransomed

GOD says in John 8:36, ‘So if the Son makes you free, then you are unquestionably free (AMP).’ And in Psalm 18:36, the Bible says, ‘You’ve set me free from captivity, and now I’m standing complete, ready to fight some more (TPT).’ And, finally, in Galatians 5:1, God says ‘Christ has set us free to live a free life. So, take your stand! Never let anyone put a harness of slavery on you again (MSG).’

Freedom comes in a multitude of forms. The cost for freedom sometimes is astronomical. For another who doesn’t wrestle with the same enslavement, it can be misunderstood or taken for granted. A fistful of years ago, I struggled with addiction. I didn’t understand what bound my black brother, looking over his shoulder, afraid to be at the wrong place, wrong time and be wrongly accused; nor could he understand the battle waging inside of me to get clean and stay that way. To the sister that fights to lose weight, some tangle with the same demon to not gain weight; both battles are for the same outcome but they are waged differently as we strive to deprive ourselves whether self-loathing from over-consumption or self-loathing through starvation.

Then I began going into prisons to be a part of prison ministries with my parents, and I realized there was another common bond, a constant; again, same but different. I could leave and walk out that door at the end of the evening; my new friends could not. Yet I was walking out, unrestrained, into a greater bondage that many of them inside had already been freed from. See, the chains that held me captive were invisible and yet they had more freedom behind visible bars than I possessed in secret.

I had known of Jesus for many years but I didn’t know Him. I talked the talk but I didn’t walk the talk. He had paroled me on the outside but I had never let Him truly rescue and release me. I was still captivated by the things of this world, and therefore, I walked in captivity, not wanting to be extricated from the claw that held me in its grip. Through His patience and grace, Jesus is showing me what it means to be ransomed, pardoned, acquitted, and delivered from choices that held me hostage all my life. The cost to Jesus for my discharge was astronomical, yet because of His obedience to the Father and His great love for me, He paid that price so that He could make me free; free indeed.

I don’t know where this finds you, but if something holds you back or down, or if you feel your heart is restricted, I can say with absolution and certainty, that Jesus is the way to complete freedom. He is just waiting to make you unquestionably free.