Be Set Free From Your Prison

She paced the floor of the small space of the prison cell. Back and forth, wringing her hands, her heart felt as though it would come right out of her chest. It seemed more like a dream than reality. Would they really set her free today?

Lina had been incarcerated for two years on drug charges. The time she had spent behind these bars were hard, so hard in fact there were some days she didn't want to live. Lina wasn't like some of the women who came in claiming their ground and making a name for themselves. She was the one who tried to avoid them all just to stay alive.

Many nights Lina lay on her bunk thinking about freedom. Remembering life with her kids in their small rental home. At the time it didn't seem like much but oh what she wouldn't give to be back in her own full size bed with Ben and Lacey on each side of her.  These bars that held her prisoner, that held her captive gave her the feeling of being stuck in a type of hell.

Lina's story can be related to our own story before we find freedom in Christ. We are held captive by sin and death actually sentenced to hell. But when FREEDOM comes He breaks open those prison cell doors and we are free to walk right out living a life of love, no longer chained to the sin that destroys our lives.

Unfortunately many of us don't walk out of the prison cell doors, we continue to sit on the bunk and live in our old hell. Although we are free to go and live an abundant life as Jesus tells us in John 10:10 some of us continue in defeat. We are more than conquerors, saints  not sinners, righteous no longer unrighteous but we don't have a clue.

Life as a Captive Christian is miserable. When Jesus set us free, He set us free from the chains of any sin that tries to hold us. He gives us the power to escape temptation, His Holy Spirit gives us everything we need to live a godly life. ( References below)

As Lina walked out of  prison a free woman that afternoon she realized a new life was about to begin as she ran into the arms of her two children.

As you walk out of the prison you have already been freed from realize you have a new life waiting so run into the arms of the Father and live abundantly in Him.

Galatians 5:1 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

Romans 1:7, Galatians 5:1, 1 Corinthians 10:13, 2 Peter 1:3

Don't forget to check out Grace Full Women for more encouragement and inspiration from an imperfect woman who just wants to share God's love.

Related articles

• You've Been Freed, Act Like It Now! (gracefullwomen.com)
• Does The Spirit Convict Believers of Sin or Not? (gracefullwomen.com)

Can You Lose Your Salvation?

A question has arisen several times lately so I have decided it's time to discuss it.
Question: Can I lose my salvation?
Answer:A true believer, meaning someone who is one with Christ, who has accepted Christ as Savior in faith,  can not lose salvation.

Establishing that one is a true believer is important to understand because if not then of course loss of salvation does not apply one way or the other because it has not been obtained yet. These Scripture verses helped me nail down my own salvation: The whole book of 1 John is pretty clear about who is a believer and who is not and John 10 gives a good picture of Jesus as Shepherd and believers as His sheep.

Understand in 1 John when he speaks of "the one who believes does not continue to sin" he means sinning as a way of life, meaning this is the pattern. Of course we cannot judge the motives of another's heart and we do not know why someone may be sucked in by addictions and such, so read these verses in examination of your own salvation. Search your own heart and motives.

Proof from Scripture that we cannot lose our salvation: 1 John 5:18-20, John 10:25-30. Both of these passages are clear about what true salvation is and that we are secure in salvation once we receive it.

Romans 8:38-39 promises us that nothing can cause God to stop loving us once we are His children. Nothing!

Some say if we hold to the doctrine of eternal security we will be prone to "have a license to sin." However I disagree with this belief because it is obvious to me that anyone who lives under the belief that God's grace and salvation is given as a gift and is permanent, knows that we live for Him out of our love for Him. We love because He first loved us. The understanding of God's great love for me draws me  into an intimate, close relationship of trust with Him. Out of this relationship flows a love that causes me to WANT to live for God, not sin because I can. It is exactly the opposite of what the followers of the doctrine that one can lose salvation describes it to be. Even the Apostle Paul had something to say about this in Romans 6:2-6. Read it.

I hope this has answered some of your questions. Please feel free to post comments or ask questions. Email me anytime at julieemoore@bellsouth.net.

Is There A Stairway To Heaven?

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I was thinking about the song Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin yesterday. So I pulled up the words on Google and read back over them, they really didn’t make much sense to me except when he said, “and she’s buying a stairway to heaven.” It makes me think of the times in my life that I thought I could buy my way on up that stairway.

For years into my Christian life I followed the Savior pretty steady by my standards. I made my way up the stairway just fine without much looking back. I put one foot in front of the other and marched up each step by living according to the rules, having my children in church every Sunday, living as the submissive wife (well outwardly), and serving in the capacity anyone asked me to at the church. Personal time with the Lord was hard to come by but I was “doing” everything I was supposed to be doing. I just kept dragging myself up that stairway so I could hear the words “Well done good and faithful servant.” Matthew 25:23

Eventually there came that time when I could no longer climb those stairs and I stumbled and fell to the bottom. As I lay there crumpled up in a heap, I felt completely defeated. Now I would not hear those words I had so longed to hear, “Well done my good and faithful servant.” Where were all those “rules”, “obligations”, and “works” now that I needed them most? The truth is they were dead….they had always been dead, I just didn’t know it.

For some reason salvation for me included working to make God proud of me, working to keep up appearances for other Christians, and striving to serve and prove my love for God. But after lying in a pit of deep despair and sin for a while, I finally gave up and came to the end of myself.

Flash forward to a new day, today! What have I learned about that Stairway to Heaven? There’s not a stairway to heaven, there’s no drudgery, working, striving, pleasing to get to the top to hear those words I so wanted to hear. Amazingly enough the Father is pleased with me as I am because when I became His child He created me new, complete, whole, beautiful, and precious in His sight. God’s Holy Spirit lives in me giving me a “want to” to want to be like Jesus. I don’t have to work at it to make it happen. However, I do have to rest in Him and let it happen. Surrendering to be a Spirit-controlled woman is the best thing that I’ve ever done. It has freed me to be the woman of God I was created to be. I can take off the masks that I’ve been hiding behind for so many years and when I listen to the Spirit I naturally or should I say supernaturally do what He’s calling me to do. My love for Him is the motivation for serving Him now, and oh how I love Him because He first loved me. 1 John 4:9

When Your Friend Hurts....

I have a friend in great emotional pain because someone is purposely hurting her. She is experiencing such loss at this moment. The tears she cries could fill a lake, no, an ocean because they are constant.

What can I do? I am helpless to do anything but listen. That's what I do when she calls, I listen. Somehow it seems to ease her pain for just a moment to talk about something other than the situation. But eventually conversation comes back around to the problem. So I listen, and cry with her and try to be a shoulder for her to lean on.

And I pray. I lift her and her family up to the Father knowing He has the answer. And though the answer may not come as quickly as we would like He is working it out because I know it just can't stay like it is now.

Sometimes in the middle of a bad situation it's hard to step back and see the big picture, it's hard to pray, it's even harder to believe there's something good coming. But thank the Lord for family and friends that believe for us, that pray when we can't and stand with us during this time of despair.

I've been on both sides and God has always been faithful to me. Let me encourage you to be the friend someone needs but also be sure to take the hand of friendship when you need it too.

Is It Okay To Question God?

If God were sitting right beside you now, on the couch, the bed, in a chair or in the kitchen on a bar stool watching you cook, what would you talk to Him about?

Would you ask Him questions about world peace and if or when it will come? How about the Japan earthquake and tsunami?

Maybe you'd ask Him why questions. Why did she die? Why did my marriage end? Why can't I find a job? Why do I feel so lonely? Why are my kids so far from you when I raised them in church? Why can't I have children?

Maybe you'd ask how questions. How did you make this body that works so perfectly in tune? How is it the ocean waves come to shore then carry me back out into the water? How can I go on when my world is falling apart? How can You stand by and watch innocent children go hungry?

Who questions. Who will I marry? Who will save me from myself? Who am I? Who are You?

Conversation with the Father can be full of difficult questions or it can be easy talking about everyday life. It's whatever you need it to be. He is there to listen and build a relationship with you.

Is it ok to ask the hard questions? Sure, He knows our questions before we ask them. Is it alright to be angry at life and at God when things don't turn out the way we want them to? He knows that too. Just tell Him how you feel, get it out in the open. It's not like we can hide it from Him.

When my father died in 1999 I had never lost anyone that close to me before. My heart was broke in half and it literally hurt. I did not know how to express the hurt, pain and anger I felt. One night before the funeral I went to daddy's house alone and sat down with a pad of paper and a pen. My thoughts and feelings flowed as I wrote everything I felt. Everything! I told God how I felt He betrayed me by taking my father, how angry I was, how I wasn't sure how I would go on, that I didn't know how to do this thing called "living" without my precious hero. When I was done, I was done. It was over, the anger subsided and I had resolved many of the issues that troubled me. As I read the words I wrote I saw that I began to accept his death a little more as I expressed myself on paper. I needed to tell my heavenly Father what was going on in my heart and mind to be able to move to the next step. He listened, He comforted and He loved me that night. Don't misunderstand me, grief is a long process for some of us and it was for me but that night was the first step for me.

Tell God whatever you need to tell Him, ask all the questions you want, He will never turn His back on you. He is faithful, He is love and He understands.

2 Corinthians 1: 3-4 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

Identity Thief: Will You Let Him Keep Stealing From You?

Do you get your identity from others? It's a thoughtful question isn't it? Think about it. When someone says something about you that is negative, such as, you're stupid, you can't succeed at that, you are such a loser, you'll never make anything of yourself, when a lie comes out of another's mouth about you what do you do? If you believe it you can begin to take on a false identity. You are not stupid, you can succeed, you are not a loser and you are already someone special and precious.

Your identity is found in a loving God who gave His Son for you. You are as valuable to Him as His own son Jesus. So valuable that He allowed Him to die in your place on a cross over 2000 years ago. Is this just for the believer? No, He gave His son because He loved the world. Each one in the WORLD is valuable to God. John 3:16 It's when you believe and receive the gift He gives that your identity becomes one with Christ.

Your identity is wrapped up in the goodness of Christ not the bad of the world. You are whole, complete and full in your spirit. It may not feel like it, or look like it on the outside but it is the TRUTH. As believers we are to live out of the truth.
Do not let someone else define who you are. Combat their lies with the truth. You are loved, special, precious, worthy. You are allowed feel your feelings, even if someone else thinks you shouldn't be feeling this way or that way. Go ahead feel it, deal with it, know who you are in Christ, and move on to the next thing.

I read that in WWII while in the German concentration camps the Jewish people were forced to feel inferior to the Nazis. This was done by shaving every prisoner's head, man, woman and child, dressing them all in the same prison uniforms and by branding each one with a number. The purpose of this was to make them all feel the same, to take away their individuality, and uniqueness. They were called by numbers not their names in order to give them even less value. This is the way our enemy works to give us a false identity. He wants us to feel inferior to others, nameless, never unique or special. What does this do to us? It keeps us ineffective in life, especially when it comes to following Jesus Christ.

So the next time you are tempted, and it is the enemy tempting you to feel unworthy, ask these questions:

Is this truth?
What is the truth?
What will I do with this truth?

If you believe truth then walk in it and live out of your real identity not the identity someone else tries to give you.

Does God Punish Sin?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHKnOyBs5E8&feature=related

Steve McVey is a favorite of mine. Tell me what you think of his teaching on God's punishment of sin. Is it much different than what you believe?

Check out Steve McVey's website at Gracewalk.org

I Don't Want To Hurt God Anymore.

I taught a class today and we discussed how and why to make right choices. I asked the question, "What helps us make the right choice?" Various answers were given such as prayer, Bible study, knowing God's Word, and relying on the Holy Spirit for guidance. Then one of the women spoke in a small voice," I don't want to hurt God anymore." I'll never forget that childlike, sincere answer to that question. I'll always remember the way she sat there looking down at the table while she made a simple but profound statement. A statement that warmed my heart and spirit. I couldn't help but smile and I knew just what she meant because I felt that way too. This sweet soul just knew how to put it into words.

While the rest of us had all the "grown-up" answers, answers that were true nonetheless, she had the one answer that made the most sense to me. Make the right choice because we love Jesus. A love that is rooted in the love He first gave to us. Make the right choice because we don't want to hurt Him anymore. Simple but perfect and true.

Still Hungry or Satisfied?

My English Bulldog Lola thinks about three things all day and night, when she’s not sleeping. Food, food, and food. It seems she can never be satisfied. Her belly cannot be filled. No matter what I am eating she will eat it too. I know I am bad for giving her table food but have you seen her face? She’ll eat lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, onions, toast, ice, and dirt. Of course Lola loves all kinds of meat like chicken, steak, pork chops, hamburgers, and especially hotdogs. (The more I write the more I realize I have got to put this dog on a diet.)

The point is she is always hungry when she’s awake. I began comparing this to my own spiritual life, and wondered what if…. What if I was always hungry for God’s Word? What if I couldn’t get enough of His presence? What if I could not be satisfied with mediocrity? What if I were bursting at the seams with the power of the Holy Spirit?

If the what ifs were true of me then wouldn’t you see Jesus in me all the time? Wouldn’t He be glorified in everything I say and do? Isn’t this the place every believer wants and needs to be? Wouldn't I have three things on my mind day and night, Jesus, Jesus and Jesus?

I want to be desperate for Jesus, for His fullness, sooo hungry for His presence in my life…. The thing is that this is the woman I really am, who God made me to be. So if I'm not hungry it's because I'm getting fed by someone or something other than Jesus. The question is: Are you hungry?

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. John 6:35