What AWESOME WORDS! Pastor Richard Mansfield told me that the words of this sign come from 14-year-old Caleb Dalton. Caleb attends New Beginnings Church in Albuquerque. Caleb sounds like quite an outstanding young man, he has been on the Mathematics Olympic team the last three years representing Hope Christian School! Watch out now…..Caleb also holds a black belt in karate!!! I pray that I meet this young man one day!! That would be so very inspiring!
This is a post by Shonda Whitworth Savage who writes for God here at FGGAM:
Truth Sets the Captives Free…….
The Lord desires for us to receive HIS truth so that we can live in freedom. When we need answers to the issues of our lives, the Lord will reveal His truths to us when we call upon Him.
“Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known” (Jeremiah 33:3 ESV).
Our role is to call Him and seek Him. When we do, He promises that He will reveal to us His secrets, those things we don’t know—His truth.
How do you seek the Lord for revelation of His truth? Here are four suggestions on how to receive the revelation of truth.
1. Acknowledge that God’s Word is the truth.
A great deception exists in that truth is subjective. Without moral absolutes, then anarchy continues to increase. We must first acknowledge that God’s word is absolute truth.
In John 17:17, Jesus prayed, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (ESV).
Jesus asked the Father that we (believers in Christ) be sanctified by the truth. Jesus clarified what truth is—God’s Word. Sanctify means to be set apart and to be made holy. When we receive Christ as our Lord and Savior, we begin to learn how to live in the Kingdom of God and that process is called sanctification. We become set apart when we acknowledge His word as truth.
We begin to learn to live differently than others. For example, our co-workers may call in sick when in reality they just want a day off. Now as a believer, our lives are different and we feel doing what our co-workers do is wrong. So we go to work anyway.
2. Abide in the truth.
“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples’” (John 8:31 ESV).
Jesus explained that when we abide in His Word, then we are His disciples.
Abide means “remain; stay; reside.” We are to keep our focus on the truth we find in the Word. When we remain in the truth, then we are His disciples. A disciple is one who learns or a pupil. As learners, we are to remain and reside in the Word at all times.
Once we know the truth, we must choose to abide by it and to follow those instructions.
3. Know the truth.
Jesus said, “and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).
Notice that it is the truth we know that sets us free. Truth is found in the Bibles sitting on our shelves or in the Bible apps we have on our devices. Yet, we must invest the time required to learn the truths recorded on those pages.
When we learn the truth by studying and memorizing Scriptures, we will recognize the lies of the enemy. The lies we believe will place us in bondage, but the truth we know and apply to our lives sets us free.
We must set aside time daily to study and memorize Scripture. Otherwise, we won’t know the truth and remain captive to the lies of the enemy.
4. Receive the Spirit of Truth.
In John 16 Jesus explained to His disciples that it was advantageous for us that He goes away. For then He would send the Holy Spirit who is our Helper. The Holy Spirit is also known as the Spirit of truth.
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come” (John 16:13 ESV).
The Holy Spirit speaks the truth to us, which is the Word. And He guides us in the truth when we yield our lives to Him.
The Lord, our Father, gave us His revelation of truth through His Word and by the power of the Holy Spirit so that we can live in freedom.
When we acknowledge God’s word as truth, abide in His truth, know His truth, and receive the Spirit of truth, we acquire His revelation of truth.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 NLT).
When we have Jesus, we have the truth. And the truth revealed in us sets us—the captives—free!
