Three Steps to Freedom Within

So many of us are looking out our windows this week at snow…beautiful blankets of white completely covering the dead of winter.  Have you accepted the fact that when you place your faith in Jesus, when God looks at you, He only sees His completely forgiven, perfect child He loves, free from sin, guilt and shame?

It seems we all have a difficult time believing this even when it is so clearly spelled out in the Bible. We read in Hebrews, “Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” (Hebrews 10:19-22)

In her book, “Prized”, Jennifer Kennedy Dean writes, “The blood of Jesus has been sprinkled on our lives to cleanse us and absorb the spiritual toxins that keep us shamefaced.” She explains that if your life story were written on paper with all its flaws and failures for all to see, as you continued looking at the paper you would “realize that huge portions of your life have been blotted out. Redacted. Paragraphs and pages, covered over…covered not in black, but in red. Ah, covered by the blood…

“That’s the secret of the blood,” she continues. “Blood not only covers; it absorbs. It is a characteristic of blood, designed by the Father (God) for our understanding. The blood in your body absorbs toxins and washes them away. If someone could scrape off the blood covering your sins, do you know what they would find? Snow white paper. Your sins, which were scarlet, have become as white as snow.”

God promises, “If we confess out sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and purify us from all unrighteousness.”( I John 1:9)

So if this is true, why do we continue to feel unforgiven? I believe it’s because we are all so aware that we are not perfect. We know sin persists in our lives. So how do we find freedom?

Step One- 

Ask the Holy Spirit to help you believe that God, Almighty, Creator of the Universe, is greater than your sin. Even Jesus’ disciple at one point said to Jesus, “I believe. Help my unbelief.”

Step Two-

Ask the Holy Spirit to strengthen your belief that God’s Word is true just as Jesus is the truth. If God says the penalty for your sins is paid and your debt cancelled by Jesus’ death, and He promises that you are washed clean, white as snow, then choose to take Him at His Word. Could God say it any more plainly? “When you were dead in your sins…God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it all away, nailing it to the cross.” (Colossians 2:13-14)

 Step Three-

Imagine yourself looking into your Father’s face, loved and forgiven. Can you see Him? He is smiling at you, His precious child, cared for always. Remind yourself of this truth as many times a day as you need until your heart knows it’s true.

Next week we’ll discuss “Are you a Slave?” and learn 5 ways to break the chains.