Romans 8:1-2

8 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

Every time I tried to extract just a single verse out of Romans 6 or 1 Peter 2, or even a small passage I couldn’t, the entire writings comes to life in their fullness.

So then I though I’ll just add my ponderings to the beginning or end of the scriptures as I usually do.

But in the end it became very clear that I could not add to or in anyway enhance the power of God’s word with my ramblings so I posted the entire chapters in hopes that just one person might read them in their entirety and be moved as I am to grow deeper in the Lord and embrace obedience for the many splendid promises that are ours when we choose to believe who we are in Christ and willingly and passionately follow Him wherever He leads.

So much of what Paul speaks of is the freedom that comes from “knowing” we are free.

When we are baptized by the Spirit we are instantly and completely set 100% free. The problem for so many like me in recovery is we don’t believe it.

After nearly 3 years on this journey of redemption I am just now beginning to hear the almost endless chatter emanating from deep within my subconscious that is telling me I’m not good, not worthy, haven’t changed at all, will never change, nobody cares, my opinions don’t matter, my values are weak…

It is that voice that keeps me in a self-imposed prison of timidity and fear, and that voice is nearly constant, trying to tear me down at every turn.

For many like me, Satan spoke lies into the heart of a precious innocent and defenseless child so many year ago and then moved on knowing that those lies were so deeply ingrained that few find freedom from them in the end.

The battle is not so much with external forces trying to keep me oppressed but the mis-beliefs that I am still a prisoner to the chains of my past.

Intellectually I know beyond a doubt that none of that is true, but emotionally I still walk in fear, timidity, disobedience, weakness. The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak (Matthew 26:41, Mark 14:38).

This is not true in all areas of my life, but I think in the areas that matter most, mainly at home.

It is easy for me to be bold, assertive, creative, and committed at the office. My whole life has been about my career. Earning awards, working 60+hr weeks, tackling huge projects and coming out on top; it all fills me with a sense of worth, a self-fulfilling hunger for approval and worth found through the eyes of another.

But at home, there are hurts, unspoken words, elephants in the room that go unacknowledged that feed those lies of my childhood.

God wants to restore, redeem, remake our relationships and only until I can fully let the voice of Truth tell me that I am a child of God and that it is He who will soften the heart of the angry, loosen the grip of the controlling, quiet the voice of anger, encourage the hopeless, give purpose to the wandering, give life to the dead.

These verses in Romans and Peter speak volumes in contrast to the liar, the accuser who seeks only to fool us into thinking that the chains of bondage that once ruled over our lost and wounded hearts are still present.

The great promise of God is that we have the free will to live as we choose, to believe as we choose, to love as we choose.

It is having the choice that makes us free.

We have always been free to live as we have always dreamed; connected, purposeful, filled with hope and peace, joy, and serenity.

Without Christ I believe those attributes of God are unreachable, only a whisper of freedom can be experienced, but when our hope comes from eternal things, promises of reunion with God our Father, a time when there are no more tears, no more pain and only love abounds, we can have a supernatural peace and joy that transcends the lies of this world.

We have a choice, believe we are free in Christ or believe we are still dead in our inequities. One leads to life, the other to death.