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How many people do you know who are free?

Truly free. Not just free from external restraints - from prison bars or oppressive governments. But free from the inside out. Free from sickness and disease, free from depression and fear, free from poverty and lack, free from the pain and unforgiveness of the past.

How many people do you know who have that kind of joyous liberty?

Odds are, you don't know more than one or two...if that many. The reason is simple. Despite all the talk about freedom these days, most people are more bound and trapped than ever before.

You may even be feeling that way yourself right now. Maybe you're a Christian - you've asked Jesus to come into your heart and be Lord of your life - and you know you should be enjoying the freedom the Bible teaches. But for some reason, you're stuck, unable to shake loose from the devilish circumstances, habits, or afflictions that keep you chained.

If so, I want you to know I understand. I've been there. I know what it's like to be born again and baptized in the Holy Spirit, yet living in the blackest darkness imaginable. I know what it is to be so tormented that death seemed the only escape.

I also know what it is like to take the weapon God has given each one of us and fight my way through to freedom.

And I know if I can do it...you can do it too.

More Than a Sunday Morning Dose
What is this weapon I'm talking about? Jesus reveals it to us in John 8:31-32.

There He says: "...If you abide in My word [hold fast to My teachings and live in accordance with them], you are truly My disciples. And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free."

The truth of God, which is His Word, is the only weapon powerful enough to blast through any wall of bondage. It is the only thing that will set you free and keep you free.

Read the last phrase of that verse again. The truth will set you free. Notice it doesn't say your pastor will set you free. It doesn't say your psychologist will set you free. It doesn't say your doctor will set you free. It doesn't say singing and dancing is going to set you free. It doesn't even say prayer is going to set you free!

It says the only thing that will ever set you totally free is the Word of the living God.

You may be thinking, "Well, I go to church on Sunday and hear the Word. I read my Bible. But I'm not free."

That's not surprising. I have found that a Sunday morning dose of the Word isn't enough. An occasional Bible reading isn't enough. If I want to be truly free, I have to apply the Word of God to my life every day.

I have to do what God instructed Joshua to do when He said: "This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success" (Josh. 1:8).

Some people say it's impossible to stay in the Word day and night. But I can tell you it's not, because that's what I did for nine long months. In fact, there was a period in my life when I often spent sixteen to eighteen hours a day reading and meditating on the Word of God.

Why did I spend that much time? Because I was that desperate.

Don't panic. Unless you're in the kind of life-and-death situation I was facing, you won't have to spend that many hours to find your freedom. In fact, the Word of God is so powerful that if you were simply to commit to it the amount of time you probably waste on useless amusements each day, you'd step into the most wonderful life of liberty you've ever known.

Supernatural Medicine
How can I be so sure that's true?

There are two reasons. The first is because the Bible says so.

It tells us: "...The Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart" (Heb. 4:12).

The Word of God isn't just a bunch of ideas in a leather-bound book. The Word of God is alive. It has life in it!

People everywhere are looking for life. But most of them are looking in the wrong places. Some folks think exercise will give them life, so they spend all their time at the health club. Others seem to think food is going to give them life, so they center their lives around eating. Still others have the idea that relaxing will give them life. So they spend every possible moment on vacation.

But the reality is, even though each of those things has its place, none of them can give you life. There's only one place you can go to get life and that is the Word of God!

You see, the Word of God contains the very substance of God Himself. It's not just nice-sounding phrases. It is actual spiritual substance.

When you get your Bible out and begin to read and meditate the Word, the Holy Spirit imparts that substance to you. You partake of the very life and nature of God Himself (See 2 Peter 1:4).

I'm not talking about just a mental effect or a little spiritual influence. I'm saying that as you receive God's Word, His power is transmitted to you. And that power will change anything that needs changing in your life.

You may think, "Well, I just can't understand how that can be. I can't see how putting God's Words can affect me in a real, physical way."

Sure you can! Think about the last time you went to the doctor and got a prescription for an illness. You may have felt terribly sick. You may not have had the slightest idea how that medication was supposed to work. Yet you had no doubt that by swallowing those little round pills, your body would be changed.

You fully believed they had a substance within them that would make you well.

The Words of God work much the same way. They are God's medicine. Proverbs says "they are life to those who find them, and health (or medicine) to all their flesh."

And the great thing about God's medicine is it never, ever fails. So abide in His Word and let it set you truly free.

Source: Dare to Be Free by Lynne Hammond
Excerpt permission granted by Mac Hammond Ministries

Author Biography

Lynne Hammond
Web site: Lynne Hammond Ministries
 
A teacher and an author, Lynne publishes a newsletter called Prayer Notes, has written numerous books, and currently serves as the national prayer director for Daughters for Zion. Her passion for inspiring and leading others into the life of Spirit-led prayer continues to take her around the world to minister to believers whose heart cry, like hers, is “Lord, teach me to pray!”
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