She watched the bird land on the lawn chair several mornings in a row. She would grab her cup of coffee and watch it from the kitchen window.

It sang the most beautiful songs, as the morning sun bathed its blue feathers.

One day, she had an idea.

She bought a beautiful cage, opened the door and lay some luring bird seed inside. She watched as her blue friend approached the cage the next morning. Just as planned, the unsuspecting bird flew into his soon-to-be prison.

SNAP! The door closed behind the little fellow.

She smiled.

“Azul. That’s your name, buddy.” She took the bird inside and hung the ornate cage in the sunny corner of her living room.

As the weeks went by, she noticed Azul didn’t sing as happily as he did in the freedom of her backyard.

Her heart sunk. She knew it.

She had to set Azul free.

She went outside and opened the cage door… The bird reluctantly got close to it, then peaked outside.  She could swear it looked straight at her, as if to say: “Are you gonna stop me?”

She sighed, while watching Azul fly upwards, soon disappearing among the branches covered by the morning sun.

The next day, she remembered the bird cage in the backyard, and went back to fetch it.

As she walked out the door, she froze. Could it be true?

Inside the cage, she found Azul perched on its little swing, happily singing inside its prison.

She had set it free to enjoy the entire realm of nature… And yet, it went back to what kept it bound.

But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? Galatians 4:9

Galatia was located right in the middle of the Roman empire, and, as most of the early churches, it was comprised mostly by gentile believers. These were people who, for the most part, were very much influenced by the terribly immoral Roman and Greek cultures before they became born again Christians.

It is in this context that we meet a Christian group that many scholars call “Judaizers.”

Judaizers were so-called Christian leaders who came from a Jewish background and who claimed to represent the apostles in Jerusalem.

They were influencing the young Galatian believers (nearly all of them Gentiles) to become circumcised as a means of pleasing God.

Now, every time you hear the word Judaizers, it is mostly to criticize them. But today I would like to give them a little credit. Because, in order to understand them better, one must consider the moral condition of the Roman Empire in the first century.

We are all very aware of the moral decline of our Western civilization in the 21st century, but we must understand this: things were much worse in Paul’s day.

Regarding sexual ethics and conduct, it was a period of complete lawlessness. One writer describes it as “an age when shame seems to have vanished from the earth.”  Almost every famous Greek figure had a mistress: Alexander the Great, Aristotle, Plato, Pericles, just to name a few.

Homosexuality was rampant and found in every layer of society. As a matter of fact, historians tell us that 14 of the first 15 Roman Emperors were homosexual, including Julius Caesar.

It is in that context that we must try to understand the Judaizers. Knowing the immorality of Rome and Greece, they thought the only way to combat it was with, well, the LAW.

They were right about their verdict. But their solution was wrong and misconstrued.

Jesus made it very clear that He came not to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it. (Matthew 5:17) Meaning, once Jesus died for us, we cannot go back to the bondage that the Law mandated.

The Law was good while grace didn’t exist.

But once Grace came down and died for our sins on that cross, we received God’s righteousness and therefore, we are FREE.

NOT FREE TO SIN, but free FROM sin.

Meaning, if we live by the power of the Holy Spirit, we don’t have to follow a set of rules and regulations.  The Holy Spirit that lives within us will, as Jesus said, will “guide us into all Truth.” (John 16:12)

That wonderful truth simply means that, although we are called to live a righteous life, we will never accomplish it by going back to the cage of the Law.

Just as Azul would never be free by going back to the cage.

Therefore, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:36

Once we are set free, God expects us to be FREE indeed!

However, it often simply is not so!

So many Christians still tend to create their own brand of holiness, and often worship laws in the name of religion…

THAT’S CALLED LEGALISM, and Satan has many churches, and many Christians bound by it.

Pride in what WE can do must be replaced by humble acceptance of what JESUS has done for us. Because if our works could deliver salvation, Jesus should have never have hung on that cross.

Pride in what WE can do must be replaced by humble acceptance of what Jesus has done for us.
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God’s Salvation Plan would have been, well, unnecessary.

Do you find yourself bound by the cage of the law today?

Do you feel trapped into believing that you must follow a set of rules to please the Father?

Today I invite you to look past the cage, understanding that, if you have surrendered your life to the Savior, you are free indeed.

All you have to do is allow His Holy Spirit to Reign in your life.

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. (John 16:13a)

He will shape your heart into the likeness of the Son. Sin will no longer bind you.

But neither will the Law.

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is FREEDOM. Priceless, true Freedom.

You are FREE. Free to be what God designed you to be.

You are FREE to SOAR!

The post Bound… By Legalism appeared first on Soaring With Him Ministries.

Print PDF: Gods waiting on You 02.03.15

Passage: Luke 17:11-14

Key verse: “When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were going, they were cleansed.”

They left their hiding place when they heard that He was passing by. They approached the gathering from a distance, for they knew they weren’t welcome. They saw Him and the multitude that followed. Was He really Messiah? Was He really the great Healer and Deliverer?

Shame and pain took over their souls, as bystander’s watched from afar, running away in disgust. The pain of rejection was worse than the agony that came from their body’s wounds.

Mercy. They needed mercy. From others. From God.

They started calling out in a timid, low voice, only to find angry eyes staring at them. They started to retreat, when one of them dared to believe. He spoke out, above the crowd’s noise:

“Yeshua, Master, have mercy on us!”

Jesus stopped and turned around. Faith was calling out.

He didn’t approach them. He didn’t touch them. All He did was look at them and command: “Go… and show yourselves to the priests”.

What a strange answer to their plea! Wouldn’t He heal them as He’d done it to the leper they heard about? The Law (Lev. 13) commanded strict segregation of a person who had leprosy, for it was a graphic picture of uncleanness; therefore showing themselves to the priest would only make sense after the healing, when they’d make an offering for the cleansing, just as Moses commanded (Lev. 14:1-32).

They looked down at their lesions and realized they were still there. They hesitated.

But what if it is indeed Messiah?

One by one, they lowered their heads, and chose to obey His command. They headed to the temple. And as they hesitantly walked away, in simple obedience, they looked down at their hands. Their jaws dropped in awe. The wounds that once plagued them, were replaced by clean, fresh skin.

We know the rest of the story – nine of the lepers went on with their lives, celebrating healing. Only the foreigner, most likely a Samaritan, understood and accepted Jesus’ divinity and went back to thank Him.

But healing came to all TEN. Why’s that?

I think I know the answer.

I don’t think that all ten lepers believed in the healing right away. I don’t believe that they leaped to the temple, knowing that healing would meet them there, for sure. I don’t think they even knew what they were doing.

They simply obeyed.

We Christians talk so much about waiting on God. Indeed, that is one of Scriptures’ most beloved subjects.

God blesses those who wait upon Him… Psalm 37:7-9

He strengthens those who wait… Isaiah 40:29-31

He loves those who wait… Lamentations 3:25-26

He rewards those who wait… Isaiah 64:4

He protects those who wait… Isaiah 49:23

There’s no question about it: Waiting is one of the hardest, yet most essential things a child of God should learn to do.

But when the waiting is over and Yahweh decides it’s time to deliver, He often requires obedience as a condition for receiving the blessing.

The promises for Abraham were abundant, but none of them would have come to pass, had he chosen to stay in Chaldea. He had to leave his country and family, travel unfamiliar paths, give up his comfort, pressing on in unwavering obedience, before he would receive His promise.

Likewise for these ten lepers, healing had a price. Had they chosen to stay where they were, waiting for the promise, they would never have experienced healing. They had to obey. That simple first step of obedience brought forth their promise.

About six years ago, God put a longing in my heart to minister to women. Every time I prayed, my soul was flooded with the awareness that there was something God wanted me to do. I had no idea what it was. I prayed and shared my struggle with my closest friends and my husband. One year went by and I still had no answer. But deep down in my heart, the Holy Spirit was working. He started bringing to my attention habits that I judged harmless.  I thought He wanted me to do something about it. His voice became louder and louder. In the beginning, I honestly didn’t think it was God. Rather, I thought I was being legalistic. After all, God is a God a freedom, right?

One Sunday, God used a visiting pastor to speak loudly to me: “It’s not a matter of right and wrong, Patricia. It’s a matter of obedience. Will you lay it down?”

Are you going to the temple… or keep on hiding in the shadows?

That Sunday, I walked away from the presence of Yeshua and in the direction of the temple. I chose to “show myself to the priest”. I laid down my life. My desires. My understanding. I chose to blindly obey.

Less than two weeks later, God revealed to me His ministry for my life: I was to be a writer and speaker.

I was scared, honestly! And I had good reasons! English is my second language. I had never written before. I had never spoken in public before. But I chose to put my hands on the keyboard and let Him speak through me.

Because I obeyed, left the comfort of my understanding and everything that was familiar to me, choosing to blindly obey the Voice of the Promise, today I stand in awe of what He has done. I received the promise.

But I had to leave the shadows and take the road to the temple… and, by faith, show myself to the Priest.

On the way to the temple, I was set free.

On the way to the temple, His promise met me.

So here’s my question to you today: Are you sure you’re waiting on God?

Or could it be that He is waiting on YOU?

Your honest answer to this question could be the key to receiving your promise.

Your first step of blind obedience could be what it takes to set you free.

The post Are You Waiting on God…or Is He Waiting on YOU? appeared first on Soaring With Him Ministries.