How can a Christian regain the freedom that Christ offers?
The first step to regain moral and spiritual freedom in Christ is to learn to hate evil. There are not too many things the Bible tells us to hate. Sin is one thing we ought to hate.
Here are four steps to increase our hatred of evil.
1. Minimize the benefits of evil. Heb 11:25
2. Magnify the consequences of evil. Ex 34:7
3. Make no provision for the flesh. Rom 13:14
4. Test your hatred of evil. Christ and the sinners who came to Him.
As you develop the distaste for evil, cultivate a taste for God. "O taste and see that the Lord is good!" Psalm 34:8. This means that you will manifest complete repentance. In contrast to the visible but empty repentance described in those who are derailed in their love for God, this kind of repentance is that complete change of direction. Instead of craving for evil things, there is a growing hunger for God and His righteous ways. This complete repentance is the second step to take to regain moral and spiritual freedom.
There are four things to remember when you take this critical step.
The first thing you must do is to start agreeing with God in everything He says. Sometimes our words betray our true thoughts. If we say we "fell" into immorality and still insist that we really are not that type of person we are still disagreeing with God. God says our "heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" Jeremiah 17:9. Our response when we sin should be, "Lord, what I have done proves how right you are!"
The second thing to remember in repenting completely is that we must identify the root cause of sin - Pride. Earlier I mentioned how important it is to help the child identify the reason for their disobedience. That is not an idle practice of picky parents. We must train them to see how basic pride is to their disobedient hearts. It is just common sense to see that when we sin, we are trying to be the boss of our life in place of Christ.
In remembering that pride is the root cause of sin we need to understand the struggle pride will offer to repentance. Immorality, sensuality, greed, and other sins are only a symptom of pride. Pride assures us that we're not as bad as God and others make us out to be. It is important to note that pride will agree to assistance but not to surrender. I have heard people say they want to repent. They may be humbled enough to accept assistance through self-help groups, like AA. However, until they are willing to surrender and put their whole life into God's hands and His authorities, they will not have humbled themselves before God enough to truly repent. As long as we think we can help improve our self we have not understood the nature of sin in our lives, Ps 49:7-9.
Another danger to complete repentance is that pride can be very respectable and moral. The issue is not social acceptability but it is God's standard and approval or rejection. Many in the world will marvel at that effort a man will make on his own to fight drugs, etc. in his life. But without full surrender to God that effort will be futile. The world wants to think that it is possible for man to fight his way to true freedom. Pride will always struggle to do better. Even prayer and religious endeavor are part of the effort to improve a life, but without God's authority and power, it is all vain if the person wants to share the control of his life. It must be full surrender. That is what complete repentance is all about.
Quite often pride hinders complete repentance because we simply don't understand the reason God calls us sinners. We are sinners because we have not honored God as God. We chose to trust ourselves instead. Pride will never give God His rightful place. God must be at the center of all existence or nothing will be correct. When we break God's law, we have committed sin. But if we break that law because we are questioning God's right to reign then we are like an anarchist. Anarchy is a sure killer to love. Jesus said, "Where lawlessness abounds the hearts of men grow cold." The spirit of anarchy breeds the desire to have life revolve around the self. This is what grieves God and makes recognition and correction of pride essential.
This is why pride leads us to a reprobate mind. Reprobation means the condition of not meeting God's standards. In the eyes of the reprobate there is nothing wrong and thus he becomes uncorrectable. Romans 1:28. This condition of pride leaves a person in the power of sin from which Christ had come to set us free.
With all this said about pride. James 4:1-10 tells us very plainly in a step by step manner how God wants you to repent of pride.
1. "Submit yourselves to God" - This means putting God at the center and control of your existence. What He says is true. What He wants is what we should do. In the military, soldiers learn to obey without question. Perhaps we need more of that in our own lives. God does not mind questions if we will listen to the answers. He does mind questions when they are excuses to obey.
2. "Resist the Devil" Purpose not to defile yourself, Daniel 1:8. Do not give in to temptation but flee it, 2 Timothy 2:22. Remember to pray for your authorities, 1 Timothy 2:1,2. They will be a shield for you. As you submit them with a humble heart to learn and grow, you are submitting to God. The Devil does not like to hang around where God is being exalted and pride destroyed.
3. "Draw near to God" Spend time in personal worship: praise, adoration, Word, and prayer. Let God examine your heart and life. It is good to study the Word and let God Himself point out your weaknesses, and areas of pride.
4. "Cleanse your hands of sin" Remove unclean items, reconcile relationships, make restitution.
5. "Purify your hearts of double-mindedness" Resolve to be single minded for Christ alone. Allow no room for the world to occupy mind. It is because of a desire for the things of the world that temptation, pride, and bondage entered the heart. Ask God to make you single minded for Him and you will see the things of the world grow strangely dim. You will see the power of God increase in your life.
There is a third thing to remember when you are pursuing complete repentance. Visualize the spiritual consequence of sin. When we sin, we are participating in the thing that nailed Jesus Christ to the cross. We are agreeing with those who nailed him "We do not want Him to reign over us". We know that is wrong and for those who want to honor Christ it is good to see the results of sin. The writer of Hebrews says that when we go on sinning willfully, we are trampling the blood of Christ under our feet, Hebrews 10:26-29.
The fourth thing we need to remember as we repent completely is the necessity to integrate past conflicts into meaningful thought patterns. We all remember past failures. We can respond poorly to them by letting them control and condemn us. Or, we can respond as Paul and others have to glorify Christ.
Follow these four steps when you remember a past sin.
1. Remember that failure helped nail Christ to the cross.
2. Remember that Christ's death paid for my sin.
3. Remember you have asked God to cleanse you through the blood of Christ.
4. Remember how you now belong to Jesus. Jesus now belongs to you and your life is committed to see His will accomplished through you.
The third step to regain freedom is to learn to walk in God's Spirit. This begins when we submit our life in full surrender to Jesus Christ and we ask Him to fill us with His Spirit. It is also an ongoing life process. Like driving a car we start the process when we enter the vehicle. However, we must always concentrate and keep our hands on the wheel and our eyes on the road.
A. Indwelling of Christ - Our spirit is home to His Spirit - Ephesians 1:13,14
B. Filling - The Spirit of God desires freedom to fill all the thoughts, emotions, and will. Ephesians 5:18,19; Romans 12:2
C. Testing - When the Holy Spirit reveals thoughts, words, actions that need changing God will test to see if we are submitted to Him. 1 Pet 1:6
D. Resisting - We must learn how to use the Word accurately to deal with the temptations Satan will ease into our life. Ephesians 6:17; 1 Peter 5:9
E. Maturing - We are mature to the degree we cooperate with the Holy Spirit in resisting Satan with the Word of God. Luke 4:14; Col 1:29
The fourth step to regain freedom is to increase your spiritual alertness. One of the best ways to do this is to set devote your self to prayer and fasting. Fasting is voluntary abstinence from food combined with Scripture meditation that focuses on reaching specific spiritual objectives. These objectives can be your own personal growth in the Lord. They can also be the need to see God work in an extraordinary way in another person's life or a situation. Here is a list of five basic needs that require fasting
1. Detecting temptation - James 1; Galatians 5; Psalm 25
2. Conquering moral impurity - Colossians 3; Romans 6,7,8
3. Discerning God's will - 1 Thessalonians 4; Romans 12
4. Identifying genuine love - Philippians 2; 1 Corinthians 13; 1 John
5. Increasing spiritual growth - John 15; 1 Peter 2; Matthew 5,6,7
As you can see, these needs all revolve around with the increase in moral and spiritual freedom. These in turn will develop a more genuine love from your heart. The reason these areas will increase is because fasting opens our spirit to the spiritual truth God has for us. When the body is working on food and our thoughts are turned toward bodily care our spirit is distracted with those activities. Fasting slows the physical sensory inputs and broadens the spiritual lanes into our soul. True freedom and love will easily flow.
Here are five times in a day that may act as guideposts for your fast. These are suggestions from Bill Gothard.
1. Evening - Read large sections of Scripture and mark significant sections for further study the next day. Sleep.
3. Morning - Strengthen personal spiritual communion with God through worship, Psalms and Proverbs. Study the marked sections. Record thoughts.
4. Later morning - Turn Scripture into personal prayer. This may be done while working or driving. But it is best if you can focus on the Lord without those kinds of distractions.
5. Afternoon - Select key verses to memorize; Make melody in your heart; Discover principles through meditation that will help you achieve your objective for fasting.
The fifth step to regain freedom is to understand your life habits. A habit is a behavior pattern acquired through repetition. When a thought, discussion, or activity is experienced the brain marks cells to remember that event. The ability to "remember" that event is caused by the either the freshness of the pathway or the familiar use of the path. When that same event is repeated it increases the familiarity of the path to the memory. The more traveled the path the wider & easier to remember and do that habit. We are told that if an action or event is repeated around 18 times in a close proximity of time it will become a habit. That is why children need to be patiently shown and taught over and over again until they get the habit down well.
One kind of habit we all have is often not recognized by many of us as a habit. These are habits of thoughts or responses. We will develop certain responses and thoughts when we experience certain situations. This is why a barber can talk so much while he wields his scissors close to the head. The habit of cutting hair frees his mind for politics or any other subject. The unkind responses we exhibit toward others in specific situations were formed by repetitious responses to similar events.
Let me illustrate this kind of habit by explaining how smoking and other substance abuses become habits. A young person who anxiously desires acceptance puffs on a cigarette to prove his poise. As he does this, his nerves settle down because of the nicotine. Once the barrier of prohibition has been broken, the pattern to do the behavior has been established and easier to travel. As the habit of smoking increases it will be attached to other situations that have reasons to smoke than just nerves. So, as the person ages the habit becomes the method associated with any of the reasoned situations: moments of anxiety, fear, thoughts, post-meal, pre-work, family or financial stress. What the person does not understand is that abusive substances and other habits allow the spiritual enemy a beachhead into their life keeping them in bondage to many harmful habits of thought as well as substances. Therefore, people have a variety of habits they build into their "second nature" that are attached to a multitude of situations. When they encounter one of those situations, they respond to it according to their habits.
When a person is born of God, they receive a new nature. God has cut off the old nature's power, Romans 6:5-7. This is true freedom. However, the habits from the old nature are still active until the new nature develops new habits to associate with the corresponding situations. It is critical for the Christian to obey the Word of God on how to nurture and establish the proper place of the new nature, Galatians 6:7-8. As this is done, the child of God develops new habits that will replace the old nature's habits when those familiar circumstances reappear.
The sixth step to regain freedom occurs when we put to use the most outstanding tool that God has given His children. We will live a life of freedom to the extent that we abide in the Word of God. There are three basic things we must do to abide in the Word.
The first step is to internalize the Word of God through meditation. There are four parts to meditation.
1. Memorize - learning the words and thoughts of a section of Scripture so well that we can recall them throughout the day or night.
2. Visualize -
a. Picture each important word and list what should be evident in our lives but isn't.
b. Understand how Christ would respond in the kinds of situations that are the "proving grounds" of your faith in Christ.
c. The proving grounds are those circumstances where old habits apply pressure to push up through the new nature
3. Personalize - change the pronouns of you and they to I and me. The ones that apply to the Lord should become You, or Your.
4. Harmonize - put the words of Scripture to familiar tunes and try to create your own tunes, Ephesians 5:18.
The second step to abide in God's Word is to apply it.
1. Don't resent the old thoughts or urges to follow an old habit.
a. Welcome it as an opportunity to test your faith. James 1
b. Learn to turn your thoughts to follow the habit as an invitation to discuss it all with God.
c. The real temptation is not the wrong thought, but the desire to determine which thoughts we will share with God. That is independence; rebellion. Applying God's Word is to obey it.
2. Expose each thought to God's Word - what does the Word of God say about that thought or habit?
3. Claim the specific principles and promises of God's Word.
4. Express your response to each wrong thought and deed with a specific Scripture.
5. Discover what God wants you to do in your life and relationships. Then do what He says in His Word.
The third step to abide in God's Word is to worship Him in response to your time in the Word.
1. When time permits, worship Christ for the first and every subsequent victory over old habits and thoughts.
2. Use the divine weapon of prayer to lean more on Christ and less of yourself. Base your prayers upon what God says in His Word. God will answer prayers that are according to His will, 1 John 5:14-15. His will is made known in His Word.
3. Pray for others who are sharing the same struggle as you are now.
4. Purpose to ask them to hold you accountable. Lovingly hold them to the standard God has shown them.
