“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” 2 Corinthians 3:17

Last week, one of the teenage students at the treatment center where I (Alicia) work asked to speak to me. She’s been unsure about the existence of God, faith in Jesus, and Christianity in general, but on this particular day, she had lots of questions for me.

As we talked, the Holy Spirit led an incredible conversation. She was so engaged and asked amazing questions that prompted a discussion of almost every topic that makes up the Christian Worldview. We talked about Creation, intelligent design, other religions, what Heaven is like, and what eternal separation from God means. We talked through the entirety of the Gospel message, why Jesus had to come, God’s desire for a relationship with us, and the importance of the extent He went to in order to gain that relationship with us. Her questions showed just how much she is searching for something tangible and real to hold onto in the rough journey that is life.

Last week, we looked at Galatians 5:1 and at the fullness of what Jesus died to give us, and then I had this conversation with a student who was wanting to know if all of this is something she wants to embrace, and exploring what would change for her if she did, which caused me to realize something. 

“Do we as believers know the fullness of what we have received and what would change for us personally if it was fully applied in our lives?” 

What does freedom look like?

We often talk about our freedom FROM sin (the past)…but are we regularly talking about the fact that we were set free FOR something (the future). 

So, I took some verses on “freedom” and turned them into a prayer/declaration for you to pray over your life; and then I got carried away and included some sections of a prayer I’ve given to some of my students in the past, and made a mega-prayer for you. You’re welcome! LOL

A majority is taken from scripture, some from Gospel Fluency by Jeff Vanderstelt and the rest is just the gospel. I know it is long, but take a few paragraphs a day and just meditate on the words. If something really impacts you, camp there for a bit and pray on it. As we believe the truth about God’s heart for us, that is where freedom grows deeper and deeper in our lives.

Soak in it! Enjoy! And take it and change it to 3rd person to warfare over those in your life who need it. Praying for you all! 

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Father, I pray for areas in my life where I am not fully believing you; any places where the enemy has tricked me into trusting in myself or in something else instead of Your word & believing that I have to add to what You accomplished in Jesus. 

I now no longer stand under condemnation, but through Christ I have been given life and set free from the law of sin and death. My sin was condemned through Jesus because He met the requirements for righteousness that I would never have been able to meet. Now I live according to the Spirit and not according to my flesh. It has died. As I seek out Your word more and more, may I learn more about my freedom and what it holds for me.

The Spirit of the Lord rests upon me because now I hold the same mission as Jesus: to proclaim the good news I have received to those who haven’t heard it yet, to minister to the brokenhearted, just as I have been, and to proclaim light and freedom for those still in captivity to the darkness. 

(Ephesians 3:12, Acts 13:38-39, Romans 6:22, John 8:36, Galatians 5:13, 1 Peter 2:16, Colossians 1:21-23a, Romans 8:1-4, Isaiah 61:1, Psalm 119:45)

My belief in the gospel is an on-going expression of my need for Jesus. It is an every-day choice to believe in the truths of the gospel in every thought, situation, & moment. (1 Corinthians 15:1-6, Romans 1:16)

The gospel has the power to affect everything in my life, so Lord, I ask that the problems in my life would not be my focus. I need something so much better than my problems at the center of my life & attention. It is Your will that I, through relationship with You, grow up into maturity (Ephesians 4:11-15). And maturity looks like Jesus. And my prayer for my life is that I look more like Jesus every day. 

Help me to grow up into Christ in every way as I begin to hear & speak the truths of the gospel more, so that the gospel can become my native tongue. YOU are the whole reason I exist and function in this world, and it is my privilege to get to talk about the One I love wherever I go. May all parts of my life grow up in Christ & eventually be fully transformed by submitting to Jesus who is my everything. (Ephesians 1:22-23, 4:15, Colossians 1:15-20) 

It’s all about You Jesus. 

Because of the Cross, I was reconciled to God. You didn’t just die to remove my sins from me but also to destroy the power of sin over me. (Romans 8:1-3) I can know that You destroyed the power of sin & death because You rose from the dead! I now have the presence of the resurrected Jesus in my earthly body to enable me to live a new life. Now You are at the right hand of the Father, continually praying for me & speaking a better word over me than that which Satan, sin or my past speaks over me.

You declare me to be Righteous, not because of anything I have done, but because of the work that YOU did. Teach me to trust increasingly more in the word of Jesus & the work of Jesus before God on my behalf and to, moment by moment, look to & put my faith in YOU alone. Your Spirit is the means by which I have the power to live an entirely new & different life. He is my sign & seal that I am fully cleansed, changed, & made new. That I am forgiven, chosen & adopted by Father God. That I am wanted, empowered, loved & ENOUGH.

Anytime I find myself hiding in fear, shame, or anything else, it reveals that my faith has moved back to my own performance to determine my own significance & worth. Anytime fear, anxiety, doubt, stress, striving or any other lie creeps in, help me to recognize it as a lie & shift my focus & my faith to look again to God & the work of Jesus alone & the words He is speaking over me. 

I pray that as I come to know more about the love You have for me, I would experience You pouring out Your Spirit deeper into my heart, filling me with more of Yourself, & Your love, so that I would not be able to contain it. I want to be so full of Jesus that I leak You everywhere I go. Father, You sent the Holy Spirit to tell me what is true, good & most amazing about Jesus. Teach me how to regularly meditate on how amazing Jesus is & often ask the Holy Spirit to show teach & remind me more of how great my incredible Savior is. 

When I read the gospels, open my eyes to watch Jesus closer, to re-acquaint myself with the love of my life. Help me to be able to slow down & pay attention, to be able to observe how well & how much He loves, to see His kindness & gentleness, His gracious love for the broken, the weary, the sinful. And as the Spirit shows me more about Jesus, the more I will talk about Him & what I’ve learned. And the more I talk about Him, the more I will love Him. Take me back to that day when Your love for me first showed up on the front porch of my heart. Help me to never forget what it was like when I was first captured by Your love for me, & continue to capture my affections more. 

Jesus, please strengthen the truths of the gospel around me like a belt, Your truth holds everything up. Protect my heart with the breastplate of YOUR Righteousness. May I continue to believe that it is Your Righteousness that makes me right with You, not my own. May I be ready and a quick on my feet to run from evil & chase after obedience because I am free & unhindered by guilt, shame & fear.

Because of Jesus my guilt is removed, my shame is covered & my fear is demolished, all because You are victorious over my enemies. May I take up the shield of faith, to believe in You more & more and to grow in my faith in all that You accomplished for me in Jesus. May I trust in You for every situation. This good news is a helmet that covers my mind to protect me from the lies, accusations & temptations I face. But I am not just on the defensive in this battle. I can & must wield the sword of the Spirit — the word of God & the gospel of Jesus Christ to attack the schemes of the devil.

All of this is accomplished with an ongoing dependence on the Spirit in Prayer. With the combination of my weapons & submission to the Spirit who overpowers the enemy, I will be ready for war. As I do this more & more may I grow in my warfare so that I can resist the devil & force him to flee. (James 4:7) May I as a result, experience greater freedom & greater victory so I can see more clearly, hear from You more consistently & walk with newfound freedom & courage daily. (Ephesians 6:10-18)

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