Have you known the presence of God? Did you once walk through life with Him beside you?

Have you since turned away from Him?

Have you never know the peace or joy of the Savior?

Each of these situations, while unique, have much in common. Whether you have never known Jesus, or have turned (or ran) away from Him puts you in a common place—a place that is crowded and shared by many, yet a place that is exceedingly lonely and desolate. Hopeless.

I have been to that place. In my case, I ran away. At first, I doubted. “Is the Bible really true? Is God just some myth invented to make sense of the world, like the Greek and Roman gods? Do I need God? Why should I bow to His rules?”

Then, I ran as hard and as far as I could. I did things I would never have thought to do before. Is this like you? I felt empowered at first. Able to overcome the obstacles of life by myself. Able to steer my own course—free of the rules and dictates that came with acknowledging God and allowing Him control of my life.

Later, much later, I realized that my life was plummeting out of control. If I didn’t make a change, I would lose everything. As I look back, I see God’s hand in those thoughts. He reached out and shook my shoulder. His gentle voice spoke words of caution. Praise Jesus I heard and listened.

With His help, I shook off the chains and addictions that bound me. He broke them and I set them down. I picked them back up for a time, carried the broken pieces around for a while, occasionally wrapping them around my wrists to see if they still fit. It took a year to completely lay them down and leave them behind.

Do you have chains that you need to allow Jesus to sever? Do you have broken chains you need to leave behind you? It starts with submission. We are told to submit to God. That means we must trust Him and give ourselves to His will, His love and His control. That is hard to do and is a constant thing. It happens daily, over and over. If we do this, He will give us power through the Holy Spirit to resist Satan.

James 4:7 English Standard Version (ESV)

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

That’s what we need—the devil fleeing from us instead of stalking us.

1 Peter 5:8 English Standard Version (ESV)

8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

That’s what he’s been doing…stalking us, prowling around waiting for an opportunity to devour us. He uses drugs, alcohol, sex, food, busyness. He uses whatever tool we hand him. He gets inside our head and inserts doubt, shame, and hatred.

Romans 8 English Standard Version (ESV)

Life in the Spirit

8 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.[a] 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you[b] free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,[c] he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Romans 8 says that if we submit our lives to God, acknowledge Jesus as our Savior, the Son of God, and are baptized into His death and resurrection, the Holy Spirit will dwell in us and there will be nothing the devil can condemn us for. The blood of Jesus, that dripped from the Cross, takes away all our sin and we are forgiven.

We must submit. We must believe. We must act.

Jesus is waiting with a flaming sword to cut off our chains. We must be willing to ask Him to do it. He won’t force us; it is our own free will that must choose.

Will you choose freedom today? I pray that you will.

Please comment on this post. Tell me your journey and your struggle. Send me a private message if you’d like to find out more, but don’t want a public post. Find a Bible believing church in your community or a pastor and speak to them. Send your prayer requests. I would love to pray for you or others on your heart.

Don’t wait! Choose a life free of chains. Choose joy and salvation. Choose peace!