Sometimes, when we are set free, we are still bound by our fear. Mostly, it is the fear of change, failure and/or rejection, which stops us from walking in our new liberty. We hang around the familiar, the common, and do not exercise our faith. This is not the will of God for us.
It takes faith to be healed, and also takes faith to walk in your healing, rather than behave as though your sickness will be back if you are ‘too free’. Jesus said He came that we might have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10), but few walk in His power or in His liberty. Even in the time of Paul, many of the redeemed believers quickly went back to following the Mosaic law, and Paul had to write to the Galatians that their hanging on to these old standards, exempts them from the blessings of the New Way (Gal 2:3 – 3:9)!!!
Imagine if, after Jesus healed the man by the Pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-9), who had spent years there, waiting for his turn because other people always got in first; he stayed there by the pool!!! He might have decided to build his house there, thinking that he would be very close to the water in the event that he should fall ill again. Maybe, he’d come to love the breeze, that he doesn’t want a change of scene or climate. But we do not read that about him. Rather, he stood up and glorified God, and left that place.
It is an insult, and very displeasing, to God when we refuse to walk in faith. Remember His anger at the Isrealites who grumbled after their wonderful deliverance from Egypt?! REMEMBER LOT’S WIFE who looked back, desiring what used to be, even though it was depraved, and that very minute she was being saved? We make God out to be a liar when we act in unbelief, when we bury our talents, or return to the dunghill of our former life, because we are afraid of trusting Him on a day to day basis. In our hearts we say “it was not God, that was just a coincidence”. So easily we forget what God has done.
I felt inspired to write this today, because I sense that I have been lingering by the river, though my chains are broken. Whom the Son sets free is free indeed (John 8:36), and if a man looks backs, Jesus said He won’t be pleased with him (Heb 10:38-39; Luke 9:62). The word is clear, the righteous shall live by faith (Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11)! We walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor 5:7). By faith I walk on, in the power that Christ gives, resting in His glorious liberty. The old has passed away, behold, all things are new (2 Cor 5:17). Amen.
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Categories: The Latest, True Religion
move on baby and enjoy the miracle God has brought your way…never look back, as you have said, Look up and move forward!
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i particularly liked the illustration you gave about the man healed by the pool. i never thought about that story in that light. in truth we tend to be disempowered and incapacitated not necessarily by the familiar but by our own attachment to the familiar. this is a timely message coming at the dawn of a new year. thanks.
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Thanks Ovie! I appreciate your comments. Glad you found it helpful. My posts are usually a reflection of my challenges and lessons I’m learning too. I find it reinforcing to write these lessons down. Have a great day.
Cheers, Ufuoma.
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you are so welcome.
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