“For you have been called to live in freedom – not freedom to satisfy your sinful nature, but freedom to serve one another in love.” Galatians 5:13

What will you use your freedom for?It’s an important question, since one of the greatest things about being born again is the freedom that comes from the Spirit of God. “And wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, he gives freedom.” (2 Corinthians 3:17)

In Christ we have been set free from the power and the penalty of sin, free from trying to earn God’s favor, free from the insatiable need to please ourselves, and free to know the truth. Even though we may not be aware of all these freedoms, they are nonetheless true and available to each of us by faith.

But the question Paul addressed in Galatians is what we use this freedom for. He suggests that we use this freedom to lovingly serve each other.

Notice the things we have been set free from, they all revolve around the self. Think about it. Most of us have spent the better part of our lives getting all the attention. Even the guilt, self-pity, and regret we love to wallow in are all about us. Imagine freeing up the thinking time we put into self-indulgence – feeling guilty, judging others to feel better by comparison, and figuring out how to please our selfish desires – and imagine spending that time on someone else.

First you will need to remind yourself of your freedom in Christ because forgetting that is what gets us stuck in the first place. Then use that freed-up time to identify with what someone else is going through and plan how you can serve him or her.

If being free to serve sounds like an oxymoron, it’s only because we have all become so used to being in bondage we can’t imagine being free. But free to serve is what we were meant to be. It’s how we become useful to God.

Next time you catch yourself absorbed in you-know-who, stop and think about what you can do for someone around you. Remember your freedom in Christ and spend it on others. Think about what their needs might be – ask them, if you don’t know – and serve them in love. It’s time for someone else to get our attention for a change.

Question: How can you share heart for the Lord through through serving your community?

Please open your Bible and read John 8:31-36.

According to man’s thinking, freedom means being able to choose or act with few if any restraints, limits or accountabilities. According to God’s view, this definition is actually a description of rebellion, where submission to authority is rejected and people all do as they see fit. (Judges 21:25) True freedom – being free from bondage to sin – is found only through Jesus Christ. (Romans 6:16-17)

The first step to freedom is recognizing where we are not free, that is, areas where we remain imprisoned. People who have not received Christ as Savior are in bondage to unbelief. They can neither believe God nor trust the promises of Scripture. Sin has blinded their eyes to the truth that they need a Savior.

Even Christians can find themselves in bondage, especially with regard to subtle kinds of enslavement. Feeling inferior is a type of bondage that can dictate how we respond to people. Insecurities can color our responses to life’s challenges and alter our ability to think or act; they also will affect our ability to trust and obey God. Furthermore, feelings of worthlessness or rejection can inhibit our Christian witness.

God wants us walking in freedom. Scripture reveals that we are set free when we know our position in Christ, our person in Christ, and our possessions in Christ. The path to discovering these truths is found only through the living Word of God. (John 8:31-32) Meditating on the eighth chapter of John is a good place to embark on freedom’s road. Its truths will set us free!

Question: How does the true freedom God provides (ie, the freedom to become the kind of people we were designed and meant to be) differ from the “freedom” (ie, lack of restraint) offered by the world?

About the Author: Charles Stanley

Originally written by Charles H. Spurgeon, published in “Mornings & Evenings,” entry for November 11^th, AM.

Updated to modern English by Darren Hewer, 2010.

“… to preach deliverance to the captives …” Luke 4:18 (KJV)

No one but Jesus can give deliverance to captives. Real liberty comes from Him alone.

It is a liberty righteously bestowed. The Son, who is Heir of all things, has a right to set people free. The saints honor the justice of God, which secures their salvation.

It is a liberty which has been dearly purchased. Christ speaks it by His power, but He bought it by His blood. He makes you free, but it is by His own bonds. You are free and clear, because He bore your burden for you. You have liberty because He has suffered in your place. But, though dearly purchased, He freely gives it. Jesus asks nothing of us as a preparation for this liberty. He finds us sitting in sackcloth and ashes, and encourages us to put on the beautiful array of freedom. He saves us just as we are, and all without our help or merit.

When Jesus sets free, the liberty is perpetually entailed. No chains can bind us again. Let the Master say to me, “Captive, I have delivered you,” and it is done for ever. Satan may plot to enslave us, but if the Lord is on our side, whom shall we fear? The world, with its temptations, may seek to ensnare us, but mightier is He who is for us than all they who are against us. The machinations of our own deceitful hearts may harass and annoy us, but He who has begun the good work in us will carry it on and perfect it to the end. The foes of God and the enemies of man may gather their forces together, and come with concentrated fury against us, but if God acquits, who is he that condemns? Not more free is the eagle which mounts to his rocky nest and outsoars the clouds than the soul Christ has delivered.

If we are no longer under the law, but free from its curse, let our liberty be practically exhibited in our serving God with gratitude and delight. “O LORD, truly I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant; you have freed me from my chains.” (Psalm 116:16) Ask: “Lord, what would You have me do?”

Question: If true freedom is not total lack of restraint, but the divine enabling of being all we were meant to be, why does the Christian life sometimes feel restrictive?

About the Author:  Charles Spurgeon

“Plans go wrong for lack of advice; many counselors bring success.” Proverbs 15:22 (NLT)

We all need mentors – other believers – to guide us in our walk with Christ. We need people to coach and train us in ministry.

Mentors can bring out the best in you and help you achieve God’s unique mission for your life. Mentors help you keep growing – in your roles, your goals, and your soul.

Using mentors is common in a lot of professions. For instance, doctors mentor younger doctors; musicians mentor other musicians. If you search the Internet, you’ll find all kinds of organizations that are now using some sort of mentoring process.

Why? We learn best through mentors. Proverbs 15:22 says, “Plans go wrong for lack of advice; many counselors bring success.” (NLT)

Is there someone advising you? If not, find a mentor – perhaps an older Christian who can help you on your path toward Jesus-like maturity, or a Christian who is a few steps ahead of you in his prayer life or a few steps ahead in her ability to witness.

When I’m with a mentor, I focus on these two things:

1. Ask questions – Proverbs 20:5 says, “The purposes of a man’s heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out.” (NIV) Everyone has a reservoir of knowledge, skills, and experience to share. You are being wise when you draw these out and learn from another.

You don’t have to limit asking questions to just one mentor you meet with on a regular basis. You can meet mentors anywhere. Make a little 3-by-5 card and keep it with you – with standard questions to ask every time you get around a quality person.

I have my own set of standard questions. Whenever I am around someone I can learn from, I pull out my card. I ask questions like:

• How do you handle stress?
• What have been the greatest successes in your life, and what are the causes of it?
• What were the greatest failures in your life?
• What would you do differently if you were doing life over?
• What kind of books do you read?
• How do you manage your time?
• How do you manage your money?
• What have been the greatest lessons you’ve learned?
• What have been the greatest surprises in your life?

2. Accept feedback – Ecclesiastes 7:5 says, “It is better to be criticized by a wise person than to be praised by a fool!” (NLT) Feedback is absolutely essential to fulfilling God’s mission for your life. If you don’t get feedback, you’re going to get off course.

Did you know that in all the Apollo space flights to the moon the astronauts had to do constant course corrections? The earth was turning, the moon was turning, and there was a rotation going on. In order to get the rocket to the spot on the moon where it was supposed to be at a certain time, the astronauts had to continually correct their course. To do so, they had to get feedback.

If you’re not open to feedback, you’re not going to learn, you’re not going to grow, and you’re not going to develop. You need to learn to accept criticism.

Go out and find someone you trust, someone with skills and experiences you can learn from, and ask that person to be your mentor.

Question: Would you like to speak with an online mentor? If so, contact an online mentor today.

About the Author: Rick Warren

Has life disappointed you? Here is a Bible study that will help you with your disappointment or loss.

The other day I was shopping at a popular store and a poster advertisement caught my eye. It said, “Get Everything and Pay Nothing!” A beautiful girl was holding shopping bags  in the ad.   I thought, “How does that really work? How do you get everything and pay nothing?” I knew the answer. It was one of those sales gimmicks aimed at young women, to tempt us into purchasing clothes by using credit unwisely.

The ad was an appeal to satisfy our desire for instant gratification. The suggested “guarantee” was that you can have anything you want without worrying about the payment.  But we know that eventually, payment will be required.  No matter what promise a store makes you, if you walk out the door with their merchandise, there will be a bill coming. When you sign your name to a sales slip, you agree (whether now or later) to pay the full amount due, according to the store’s terms.

The definition of “debtor” is to be captive or prisoner to unfavorable conditions. While to be “free” means there is no charge and no cost. With Jesus, we get everything and pay nothing because He has already paid the price.

“God paid a high price for you, so don’t be enslaved by the world” (1 Corinthians 7:23, NLT).

Throughout your lifetime many tempting advertisements will come your way. Use Isaiah 55:11 as a guide for all you do, knowing that God’s promises are the ones to trust:

“So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11, NKJV).

At the Cross the only fine print we read is the declaration: “How priceless is your unfailing love!” (Psalm 36:7, NLT)

Jesus died for you and me—so that we can truly comprehend the meaning of the word FREE.

“Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah… we’re a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free!” (Ephesians 1:7-8, The Message)

Questions: How do you handle life’s temptations that surround you on a daily basis? How does God fit into this equation?

About the Author Jacqueline Overpeck

Are you bound to sin and selfish desires? Do you want to escape from that?

“For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh” (Philippians 3:3. NIV).

With these words, Paul urged the Philippians to recognize who they were, to remember to whom they belonged and to live accordingly.  It stands as a definition of who we are in Christ.

First of all, Paul calls us “the circumcision”.

In the book of Colossians, Paul not only clarifies that he is not talking about a physical procedure, but also explains what he means.

“In Him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him through your faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead” (Colossians 2:11, 12, NIV).

To be part of “the circumcision” means that we have put off the sinful nature.  The sinful nature has been part of every human being’s make up since Adam first sinned in the garden. Therefore it’s not something we can just decide to drop and it’s gone.  Rather, as Paul teaches us in these verses, Christ Himself cuts away (circumcises) our sinful nature through our faith in the power of God.

Do you know what that means?

It means we have been freed from the sinful nature. No longer are we bound to sin or forced to follow selfish desires. In a spiritual surgery, Jesus replaced our old nature with His Spirit. We are the circumcision. We refuse to have anything to do with the sinful nature. We are free.

God, I want to live in that reality, no longer dabbling in sin, but completely renouncing it through the power of Jesus.

Questions: How does knowing that Christ has cut away your sinful nature help you say no to temptation? How does this definition, of who you are in Christ, change your mindset?

About the Author Suzanne Benner

The Invitation
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life” (Revelation 22:17).

Prayer is a gift, priceless and free.

My lover spoke and said to me, “Arise my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me”  (Songs of Solomon 2:10).

Prayer is a place of relationship and intimacy.

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men”  (Matthew 4:19).

“Ask of me and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the ends of the earth as your possession”  (Psalm 2:8).

Prayer is a place of kingdom growth.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

Prayer is a place of rest, a place where we can lay our burdens down.

The Responsibility
“His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ephesians. 3:10, 11).

That church is us. The manifold wisdom of God is the word of God fulfilled in Christ. These rulers and authorities are the angels of God and the powers of darkness. God has given us the mandate, and the privilege, of using His word and claiming His promises to impact the unseen battles which are taking place in the heavenly realms.

“Praise the LORD, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word” (Psalm 103:20).

“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony”  (Revelation 12:11).

“In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from the Father”  (John 16:26, 27).

Jesus has given us His name, His identity, so that we may come boldly and confidently before the Father, but has left the asking up to us.

The Promise
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened ‘ (Matthew 7:7, 8).

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”  (1 Corinthians 2:9)

“You do not have because you do not ask God”  (James 4:2).

God has so much more for us than we can think or imagine  but we must ask Him.

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart”  (Jeremiah 29:13).

God has new depths of fellowship that He wants to take us into but we must seek Him.

“Call unto me and I will answer you and tell you great and mighty things which you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3).

Father God, You have  new places and new spiritual heights that You want to take us to. Teach me to knock at Your door and call out to You. Teach me to pray. Amen

Questions: When you feel weary and burdened, do you take your burden to God?  Do you ask God to help  you believing that He will?

About the Author Patricia Psooy

Daily audio podcast: A second daily devotional, You are not an Accident, today on the Men’s Devotional Blog

Pornography entraps you with lies. In contrast, God can lead us into truth.

Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”{1} Those who heard Jesus say this were offended and countered, “We have never been slaves of anyone, how can you say that we shall be set free?”{2} And Jesus explained that people are enslaved to sin, but that He can set you free.{3}

Sin not only enslaves us, but it distances us from God. And no one is perfect. No one is righteous in God’s eyes. Instead we’re told that “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way.”{4}

We all deserve God’s judgment and punishment. Yet God, who is holy and loving, provided a solution for our sin, so that we would not have to be justly condemned. He personally took the punishment for our sin on Himself. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was tortured and died on the cross for our sin so that we could be forgiven. Three days later Jesus rose from the dead, just as He said He would.

And He now offers you a relationship with Him. One of the most amazing statements in the Bible is this one, “If we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”{5}

The Most Important Relationship
In your search for intimacy and love, pornography is an empty substitute for real love. We have been created by God to have our intimacy needs met most deeply by God Himself. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”{6}

In contrast to the darkness and destruction that pornography can bring to people’s lives, Jesus said, “I came that they might have life, and have it more abundantly.”{7}

God offers you his forgiveness through a relationship with Him. Do you want to ask Him to forgive you and come into your life? You can tell Him right now. If you need help putting this into words, here is a prayer that might help:

“Lord Jesus, I am aware of my sin, and I know that you are also. I ask you to forgive me and cleanse me. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I ask you to come into my life right now and begin to work in my life. Direct my life as you see fit. Thank you for your forgiveness and for coming into my life right now.”

Take a next step:
Sex Addiction   
Why Can’t I Look at Porn?

Back to start>> What porn really is 1.2.3

This article is courtesy of AuthenticRelationships.com. Reprinted with permission of the author.

God created us for relationship — with him and with others. Life as a Christian is not meant to be lived alone. Share your step of faith of asking the Spirit to fill you with someone you trust and know. Please let us know about your decision – we have a team of email mentors ready to help you and we want to offer you free resources for your spiritual growth.

Use the form below to send us your questions, comments and concerns (or if you simply need a friend to talk to or need help getting connected to a church). We will reply to you privately via email and do all that we can to help you on your journey in learning more about Jesus and following him as a Christian.

This year try something different! Think in very personal terms and give a gift that says, “I get who you are and I appreciate you”.

If you want to connect with someone and haven’t had the time lately why not consider a coffee gift card or a few packages of tea along with a personal card that expresses what you appreciate about the person. Leave the option open of sharing that coffee or tea together.

Give a batch of coupons that you have tailor made yourself as a thoughtful gift the other person can cash in on anytime. How about a coupon to cook supper; babysit; clean the car or run errands.

Give the gift of your time. A loving card promising a single flower once a week can express your love all year long.

The relationships we lean toward and long for when they are absent are usually the ones that bring joy and relaxation into our lives. Tell someone why he/she means a lot to you in a framed note. Personal photos are a warm gift that speaks volumes as well. Use your creativity and plan some inexpensive gifts that let your special friends and family know how priceless their relationship is to you. Have fun with it and watch the warm responses you will receive.

But there’s certain gifts you just SHOULD NOT give. Guys, you must read this article to avoid a Christmas disaster. And ladies, read it for a laugh, show it to your husband, and hope you aren’t “blessed” with gifts like these this Christmas: The Top 10 Gifts You Shouldn’t Buy Your Wife This Christmas

Have any unique or clever gifts ideas? Please share them with us in the comments!

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If you are planning your wedding, you sure are to be sharing the excitement and joy of “a dream come true.” The mutual love of a bride and groom is beautiful to see; the relationship of a couple who have shared years together and are still deeply in love with one another is a priceless treasure.

We want to help you plan not just for a wedding, but for a marriage that lasts a lifetime.  Join us for 8 brief interactive lessons with a personal coach. Begin your e-learning bridal course.

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