A NEW YEAR AWAITS YOU...

A new year has begun! All the festivities are now over. We have given and received gifts. We have spent time with family. We have traveled to far off places and returned home. We are back to what society would call “normal”.

Which leads me to my first question, what is normal to you?

Is there anything in your “normal” that is not so normal? Is there anything in your normal, you would like to change, alter, modify or be rid of altogether? Have you been carrying something for years that should not be normal to you according to Papa’s design but has become a “new normal” to you? Do you have a wound, a pain, a need, a memory, a trauma that has become an "old friend" rather than an "unwanted guest"?

A new year has begun! Why not begin the New Year with new purpose? Why not decide this year will be the year to end those old patterns? There is freedom in Jesus Christ for you, all manner of freedom, even freedom from those “old friends.” 

One of my favorite scriptures is Galatians 5:1, because it sums up Jesus’ mission to us. The devil had us bound and in his grasp. Jesus came, in the flesh, to set us free from slavery to the devil.

In Galatians 4:28, Paul says, “But we, brethren, are children [not by physical descent, as was Ishmael, but] like Isaac, born in virtue of promise.” AMP

In Galatians 4:31, he continues, “So, brethren, we [who are born again] are not children of a slave woman [the natural], but of the free [the supernatural].” AMP

Then he culminates his thought with this verse, “In [this] freedom Christ has made us free [and completely liberated us]; stand fast then, and do not be hampered and held ensnared and submit again to a yoke of slavery [which you have once put off].”

Every scripture has a past application, dealing with an issue at the time it was written, and a present application, giving you God’s mind and a promise for direction, solution, remedy, relief or deliverance for your current situation.

Paul could not have said it clearer………

”For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” ESV

“Freedom is what we have — Christ has set us free! Stand, then, as free people, and do not allow yourselves to become slaves again.” Good News Bible GNB, for my Catholic friends.

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” KJV, for my purist friends

“Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.” The Message, for my friends who like simple language

No matter your preference, Paul is saying several things:

1.                   Christ has set us free

2.                   Make a decision to live as free people (take a stand)

3.                   Don’t allow yourself to be placed under a yoke of slavery to anything or anybody ever again, under any circumstances. (be intentional)

4.                   It’s yours to do!

As the New Year starts, make it your resolute purpose to be free and remain free. Jesus Christ provided you this freedom as part of your salvation. You were translated from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of the son of His love, the kingdom of light. Why walk around as if you were still in the darkness with its yoke of slavery, its old wounds and lies? Say “No more!,” get some help, and go on to freedom, one wound or lie at a time.

If I may recommend, seek out a Sozo team in your area and make an appointment. It’s a gentle prayer ministry where YOU interact with the Godhead - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - and God reveals to you your weak or wounded areas (not the team). During your appointment God will reveal, heal and liberate you completely.  We have a Sozo team in our local assembly and we have seen so many people experience amazing breakthroughs that we know Sozo works. So I speak from experience, not theory.

Sozo is not the only freedom pathway. Check out Neil T. Andersen’s Freedom in Christ; Ed Smith’s Theophostic Prayer Ministry; Francis & Judith McNutt’s Christian Healing Ministries; or Chester and Betsy Kylstra’s Restoring The Foundations. These are reputable Christian ministries that can lead you to freedom.  

Don’t wait a day longer to decide. Extraordinary freedom awaits you! Make it a truly happy, new year.

Grace and peace

Margi