Every year on July 4th, our nation celebrates Independence Day which is all about freedom. On that day in 1776, the 13 American colonies severed their political connections to Great Britain. Our nation was founded on the belief that men were created to be free. A phrase in the Declaration of Independence says that we are endowed by our Creator with unalienable rights which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Even though our nation was now considered free, it didn’t mean all the people in our country were experiencing freedom. Many continued to be slaves in the south. However, President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation became official on January 1, 1863. It declared that all persons held as slaves were to be set free. However, it would not be implemented in places still under Confederate control. As a result, in the westernmost Confederate state of Texas, enslaved people would not be free until much later.
Freedom finally came on June 19, 1865, when approximately 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas. The army announced that the more than 250,000 enslaved black people in the state, were free by executive decree. This day came to be known as “Juneteenth” by these newly freed people. Some historians blame the lapse in time on poor communication in that era, while others believe Texan slave-owners purposely withheld the information. Either way, they finally knew and experienced the freedom that rightfully had belonged to them for more than two years.
In the same way, many Christians still live in bondage because they don’t know they have already been set free. The enemy fights to keep us in bondage. Just like the message was delayed to the slaves, the devil will seek to stop the message from getting out. He will deliberately withhold the truth because he wants believers to think they are still slaves.
A defeated Christian is an oxymoron. Our freedom has been bought and paid for – not by the blood of soldiers, but by the blood of Jesus. But what is freedom? It is the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. It is the state of not being imprisoned or enslaved. It is liberty, release, and deliverance.
Galatians 5:1 (NASB) says, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” The Message Bible says, “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.” It is our responsibility to not allow anyone to take our freedom! We also are fully free! The Passion Translation says, “Let me be clear, the Anointed One has set us free – not partially, but completely and wonderfully free! We must always cherish this truth and stubbornly refuse to go back into the bondage of our past.”
Christ has already set us free! It is finished! Jesus proclaimed in Luke 4:18 (NASB), “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” In Luke 10:18, Jesus said, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning! Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy.” The enemy has been defeated. Past tense. Jesus has already won and has given us freedom!
The only real weapon Satan has over us is deception. John 8:44 (NASB) says of Satan, “He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from is own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” Revelation 12:10 (NASB) says the devil is the accuser of the brethren who accuses them before our God day and night. But verse 11 says, “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even with faced with death.” We can be taken advantage of by Satan if we are not aware of his schemes (II Corinthians 2:11).
Freedom from spiritual conflicts is not a power encounter; it’s a truth encounter. Satan can’t do anything about your position in Christ, but he can make you believe his lies. If he can deceive us, we will not walk in the freedom already purchased for us. Our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and powers, and forces of darkness. (Ephesians 6:12)
So how do experience and enforce our victory over him and his lies and deception? With the truth of God’s Word! Romans 6:5-7 (NASB) says, “For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.” We have already been set free!
When we are born again, we become a new creation. II Corinthians 5:17 (NASB) says, “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” Ezekiel 36:26 says, “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” We are no longer slaves to sin and have been given a new heart. We are not who we used to be. We have been raised to life!
We have also been set free from the law – of the attempts to be good enough. Romans 8:1-4 (NASB) says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”
Since we are free from sin and the works of the law, what are some of the things we’re free of? Fear, comparison, rejection, inferiority, condemnation, offense, manipulation, intimidation, drugs, alcohol, gambling, gluttony, gossip, abuse, shame, jealousy, envy, immorality, fear of death, and so much more! As a born-again believer with the Spirit of God living in you, there is no reason for you to be in any kind of bondage. You have already been set free!
Deliverance has already been accomplished and freedom has already been paid for. It’s up to us to walk in the authority and freedom that has already been provided by Jesus’s death and resurrection. When I received Jesus, I was personally set free of the fear of death, paranoia, inferiority, guilt, condemnation, and my past lifestyle. Jesus said in John 8:36 (NASB), “If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.” The Passion Translation says, “So if the Son sets you free from sin, then become a true son and be unquestionably free!”
If we have already been set free, why are so many Christians not walking in their freedom? They either don’t know, or they aren’t appropriating the victory they have been given. No one can consistently behave in a way that is inconsistent with how he perceives himself. Jesus said in John 8:31-32 (NASB), “If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” To experience this victory, it is vital that we spend time in the Word of God. Romans 12:2 says we are transformed by the renewing of our mind. This comes by reading, studying and mediating on the Word.
We must also learn to take every thought captive (II Corinthians 10:5). We take those thoughts and judge them by Philippians 4:8 (GNT), “Fill your minds with those things that are good and that deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and honorable.” If our thoughts don’t meet these criteria, it’s time to get rid of them!
To experience the freedom already available to us, we must also KNOW who we are in Christ and have a revelation of the love of God. We have been accepted in the beloved. We are saints and children of the Most High God. We have been seated with Him in heavenly places in Christ. We have been chosen, redeemed, and forgiven. Nothing can separate us from His love. Romans 8:35-38 says, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Ever since the resurrection of Jesus, His ascension to heaven, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, we, as believers, are never told to ask for freedom. We don’t need to pray for something we already have. We need to pray for revelation of the freedom we already have. Paul prayed for the Ephesian church, “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.” (Ephesians 1:17-19 NASB)
Being set free and walking in freedom are not the same. The first was done for us by Jesus, but the second we must choose to do ourselves. There is a difference between taking a slave out of slavery and taking the slavery out of the slave. There is a story of a circus trainer who bought a baby elephant. Knowing the elephant would one day grow to be a large and powerful creature, he wanted to train him that he could only go so far. He tied the small animal’s ankle by a rope to a stake so that he was unable to walk away. Whenever the elephant tried to break free, it would only hurt him, so he learned to stay tethered. As the elephant grew, the trainer kept a rope tied around his ankle that wasn’t tied to anything, but the elephant did not walk away because he didn’t know he could. The rope on his ankle always reminded him of his previous limitations. He grew up to be tremendous in size and very powerful, but he didn’t know he was free to walk away.
Psalm 124:7-8 (NASB) says, “Our soul has escaped as a bird out of the snare of the trapper; The snare is broken and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” Isaiah 52:2 says, “Shake yourself from the dust, rise up, O captive Jerusalem; Loose yourself from the chains around your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.” The prophet is saying that she has the power to loose the chains that had bound her. It is the same with you if you are a born-again child of God with the Holy Spirit living within you. Stand up and take the chains off!
In her book Unashamed, Christine Caine said, “I had to choose to stand up and walk out of my unlocked prison cell, drop off my unshackled chains, and step into the future shame free.” She has gone on to help bring liberty to many – not just spiritually, but through rescuing those caught up in the sex-trafficking industry. Free people free people! God wants to use you to free others also, but you first must be confidence in the freedom you have been given. Walk free!
