No Longer Slaves
No Longer Slaves… that is the title for the conferences I am speaking at in Liberia later this fall. And as I pray and prepare to share with women in Liberia, God is urging me to pay attention to my life. Over and over this year, the concept of freedom is challenging me. And the questions keep running through my mind:
Am I fully living out the freedom God offers?
What would happen if I further step into God’s freedom? How would my life change?
What would I start doing that I am afraid to do now?
What would I stop doing? What do I hold on to for security that I need to let go of?
For me one of the saddest stories in the Bible is that of the Israelites. God rescued them out of oppression, performed miracles on their behalf, led them with physical signs, and offered them the opportunity to live in the promised land. You see, God not only wanted to set them free from slavery, but He wanted them to experience full freedom. He wanted to take these men and women who had spent their whole lives serving the mighty Egyptians and establish them as a mighty nation.
But it was that challenge to live out their freedom that was their stumbling. Instead of seeing what God could do, they saw the obstacles. Instead of trusting God, they trusted their own instincts. Listen to what the author of Hebrews says about them, “And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief (Hebrews 3:18-19).” They could not comprehend all that God wanted to do and so they refused to listen to Him. They came so close to full freedom, but they never experienced it.
What about you and me? Is it possible we are on the edge of freedom, but refusing to enter into God’s promises? If we believe in Jesus, we have been freed from sin. But it is not enough to be free from slavery. God wants more. Hebrews 3:15 urges us to learn from the Israelites, “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked me.” Will you join me in asking God to reveal your next step to living out your freedom? Let’s choose to listen to His voice with a commitment to step forward in obedience. Let’s keep walking on the path to full freedom, believing that our God has so much more in store for us that we can comprehend.
To learn more about my Liberia trip, you can visit https://amberparker.net/?page_id=289.
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21
For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, while it is said, “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked me.” For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose bodies feel in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.
Hebrews 3:14-19
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