FOUNDATION OF FREEDOM BUILT ON SAND OR ROCK

 

"Fear of the LORD is the foundation of true knowledge." Proverbs 1:7

 

 

As our once great and holy nation continues to slip rapidly into a nebulous chasm of deception, my heart hears distant echoes of freedom's ring, now censored, suppressed, accursed.  What is freedom today, as "choice" is perceptually peeled from the palm of the hand that covers heart, pledging covenant of honor to ancient ideals--all in the name of tolerance and political correctness. 

Overfed by excessive option on restaurant menus and department store shelves and starved by looming health care plans and narrowing employment positions, has the shallow heart of gluttony and greed led us to consumer disenchantment and moral disparity? Has the monster of our own impatience trapped us forever in a world called cyber, not having time to wait? To speak? To think? The word "cyber" is commensurate to the word "virtual", defined, interestingly enough, as "existing in essence or effect, though not in actual fact." Wow!

 

What have we become?

 

What is freedom, as the voice of truth is muffled by the strong armed, shifty deception of immoral laws authored by dead souls. And 'unfactual' facts circulating about, uncontrolled, like Santa Ana's wind.

 

How did we get here? When did lies inaugurate? Told and retold, adding and subtracting, thinned out to dissipation, truth, any longer, rolled and tossed, "baked any way you like it"-- thick, thin, deep dish or stuffed.

 

Modification, modernization, recreation, and reformation.

 

Have we not allowed such travesty? Have we actively bought in to it?

 

"Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise." 1 Corinthians 1:20, 3:18.

 

Freedom to choose leads to subjection of change. Are we wise in choosing? At times, have we not bent and wavered in our own disobedience, hypocrisy? Have we not been found guilty? Discontent clouds. Attitude of entitlement--a snare, always leading to slavery, death.

 

What have we become?

 

What have we always been? 

 

History tells.

 

"The Lord God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die. When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took..." Genesis 2:16-17, 3:6

 

Choice. Choose. Change.

 

 

 

If not daily, aligned with God's Word, are we not, also deceived? "All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness." 2 Timothy 3:16. Falsity grows rampant as weeds in dark, hidden places. Only Light of truth allows for good. Right. Let us be sanctified in the truth; God's word is truth. (John 17:17)

 

What is freedom, but a quickly dissolving metaphor.

 

The only true freedom man is ever given is choice between death or life.

"And now, what does the LORD your God require of you? He requires only that you fear the LORD your God, and live in a way that pleases Him, and love Him and serve Him with all your heart and soul. No, O people, the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what He requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." Deuteronomy 10:12, Micah 6:8.  

"Furthermore, Tell the people, 'This is what the LORD says: See I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death.' Now this is eternal life: that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent." Jeremiah 21:8, John 17:3.

 

 

LET FREEDOM RING

Gaither Vocal Band

Deep within the heart has always known that there was freedom
Somehow breathed into the very soul alive
The prisoner, the powerless, the saved have always known it
There's something that keeps reaching for the sky

Even life begins because a baby fights for freedom
And songs we love to sing have freedom's theme
Some have walked through fire and flood to find a place of freedom
And some faced hell itself for freedom's dream

Let freedom ring wherever minds know what it means to be in chains
Let freedom ring wherever hearts know pain
Let freedom echo through the lonely streets where prisons have no key
We can be free and we can sing --- let freedom ring

God built freedom into every fiber of creation
And He meant for us to all be free and whole
When my Lord bought freedom with the blood of His redemption
His cross stamped pardon on my very soul

I'll sing it out with every breath, I?ll let the whole world hear it
This hallelujah anthem of the free
That iron bars and heavy chains can never hold us captive
The Son has made us free and free indeed

Let freedom ring down through the ages from a hill called Calvary
Let freedom ring wherever hearts know pain
Let freedom echo through the lonely streets where prisons have no key
You can be free and you can sing let freedom ring
Let freedom echo through the lonely streets where prisons have no key
You can be free and you can sing let freedom ring
You can be free and you can sing --- let freedom ring --- let freedom ring

  

 

HE TAKES MY PLACE

I take advantage in this sacred moment. Called to retreat. Alone.  Amidst the cool spring breeze brushing delicate against my cheek, song of life in trees dancing to raw symphony of bird and air.
God is all around us.

Even more, He is in us.

The very depth of our being sings it's own melody in the place we find ourselves this very moment.

Listen.

Can you hear?

Sweet whisper, tender symphony all His own, enveloping heart, mind and soul.

Beautiful one, O child of Grace, His secret voice, intimate and sure, swells truth and love and goodness. His bidding for us never ceases.

Be crowned today with life.

Release what so tightly grips and crushes. Constraint of past guilt, present lies, grapple hard to own and corrupt joy, rob peace.

Jesus has power. He is power. Given without limit. Receive only with unclenched fists, raw, vulnerable heart. He waits for you.

 

May we embrace, just this moment, the lover of our souls.

May we confidently submit to His deep cutting, perfect healing. May we enter into His presence washed, purified, to drink in of His sustaining love; craving satisfied, spirit yearning. More.

By this, He leads us to our death-- for Christ is risen in our place.

Thank You, O holy One of Israel. Behold, Your Glory!

I love you, Amen.

"I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion,and every title that can be given, not only in this present age, but also in the one to come." Ephesians 1:16-21