We owe it to Jesus

Freedom Is Found in Love

We owe it to Jesus to live free, to live life well and choose freedom instead of bondage.  He is after all, The Deliverance Ministry.  He has already done everything necessary for us to live free of all bondage.  Jesus is the definition of love. Love defines freedom.

In John 15:9–17, Jesus commands us to love. But how can love be commanded? Doesn’t genuine love have to come from the heart? If I have to make myself love, doesn’t that make my love artificial?  In the same way, we are commanded to be free.

Jesus gives us the answer:

“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.”  John 15:9

Jesus is not commanding us to manufacture love. He is inviting us to abide in the love we have already received from Him. 

When we know we are loved, we know we have value, worth, and honor. When we express love to others, we communicate the same thing to them: “You matter. You are valuable. You are worthy of love.”

There is an impartation of grace and authority that is released into us as we remain in His love. It is more than human emotion. It is the divine nature of Christ becoming active in us. We can call it God’s DNA. (Divine Nature Activated)

This changes everything. That activated divine nature makes us more than conquerors.

There is a beautiful connection between the words love and freedom. The ancient word freon, related to our word free, carried the idea of belonging within a household. In the ancient world, family members belonged to the household and shared its love and privileges, while slaves lived under a different status. Love and belonging were connected to freedom.

Jesus makes this distinction when He says:

“I no longer call you slaves... But I have called you friends.” John 15:15  “Friends” in Aramaic is translated “family”.

Jesus is bringing us out of a slave mentality and into family.  Love is where freedom begins.

When we passionately love God, we experience freedom. When we love others, we experience freedom. And when we learn to receive God's love for ourselves, we experience freedom.

This means freedom is not primarily something we achieve by fighting harder. Jesus has already included victory over the flesh, destructive patterns, and the powers of darkness in what He accomplished on the cross.

We need to unpack what He has already given us and not lose sight of our most powerful resource.

Love becomes the empowerment, the confidence to say no to the flesh and no to the enemy. We don't have to live constantly trying to fix ourselves or repeatedly fight battles Jesus has already won. We must learn to live from our identity and authority as members of His family.

I confess that I often lose sight of the battle Jesus has already won and choose instead to fight my own battles. The results are never stunning. I end up exhausted and wonder why.

Perhaps the answer is not another battle.

The conclusion is simply this: Abide in His love.   Receive what He has given.

Remember who you are.  Focus on what He has done and still doing, not on what the devil is doing or worse, what he has done.  

We are not slaves trying to earn freedom.

We are family, living from the love that has already set us free.

This is the truth the demonic realm fights to keep hidden.  He has nothing in us when we abide in Christ.