POSITIVE WRITTEN SERMON - Bondage or Liberty
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One woman finds soul freedom in gardening. Another woman finds soul freedom on her bicycle.
One man says that he finds soul freedom riding his motorcycle on backcountry roads.
What is your way to find soul freedom.
How can you make it more lasting, beyond the freeing short-term activity?
While proudly showing off his new apartment to friends, a college student led the way into the den.
“What is the big brass gong and hammer for?” one of his friends asked.
“That is the talking clock”, the man replied.
“How’s it work?” the friend asked.
“Watch”, the man said then proceeded to give the gong an ear shattering pound with the hammer.
Suddenly someone screamed from the other side of the wall “Knock it off! It’s 2 AM in the morning!”
The road to freedom does not mean infringing the rights of others; it is finding that personal inner road that leads to a freeing sense of self.
Songwriter and singer Charlie Daniels wrote:
A brief candle; both ends burning
An endless mile; a bus wheel turning
A friend to share the lonesome times
A handshake and a sip of wine
So say it loud and let it ring
We are all a part of everything
The future, present and the past
Fly on proud bird
You’re free at last.
Do you feel free right now? This is a great day for beginning the road to personal freedom. Right now, this very moment, is an exciting moment in the history of our lives IF we choose to make it so.
H. L. Mencken once said, “The average man does not want to be free. He simply wants to be safe.”
I believe that the people in this room are here to learn first, to be spiritually free, and second to have a sense of freedom creating positive feelings about their life.
Bondage or liberty?
We choose liberty. We choose to walk with God and not be held down captive and enslaved by our problems.
Just relax, for a moment, and let me prepare with a prayer that I often prayerfully affirm before I speak. Have Thy way in me, Lord. Have Thy way in me.
Have Thy way in my thoughts, my actions, my feelings, and in my decisions. Have Thy way in me, Lord. Have Thy way in me. Dear God, we are ready, excited, and non-resistant to this healing, loving experience. We go forward in the Spirit of Jesus Christ. And so it is … Amen.
H. L. Mencken also said, “I believe that liberty is the only genuinely valuable thing that humans have invented, at least in the field of government, in a thousand years. I believe that it is better to be free than to be not free, even when the former is dangerous and the latter safe. I believe that the finest qualities of a human can flourish only in free air – that progress made under the shadow of the policeman’s club is false progress, and of no permanent value. I believe that any human who takes the liberty of another into his keeping is bound to become a tyrant, and that any human who yields up his liberty, in however slight the measure, is bound to become a slave.
So we celebrate our inner freedom today from oppression and limitations, so we can grow and change and develop as a spiritual people.
We love to experience all the things God has already provided for us.
We cannot do that if we are not thinking freely – if we find ourselves in bondage, if we are holding ourselves back or limiting ourselves.
In John 8:31, Jesus said, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
The spiritual truth is that you have God, with you every moment of the day and night, that knowledge and awareness will make you free.
Let us define freedom. Do we think freedom means we can do anything we want to do? We have heard people say, “This is my life and I’ll live it as I please! You cannot tell me what to do with my life. I’m a free person. How dare you try to limit me?” I can remember hearing teenagers say something similar.
What is a recipe for adolescent salad? Lettuce alone!
Frederick Douglass wisely said, “Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are people who want crops without plowing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters. The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both. But it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand; it never has, and it never will.”
Think of the story of the prodigal son. The son said, “I want to be free. Give me my inheritance so I can go about my own business and do what I want to do.” [paraphrased]
As the biblical story goes on we read about all the mistakes that this son made, UNTIL he came to realize the truth.
Gandhi spoke these words, “Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err.”
Human life does make mistakes, and that is okay as long as we learn from those mistakes, correct our course direction, and rise higher.
Many times, we see freedom as the opportunity to spread our wings and express our own individual, personal self, irrespective of where it takes us, and no matter what it means to us.
A person, being paroled from prison, might say that he or she is now free. Of course he/she is free; he/she is no longer incarcerated and can move about the nation, and do the things he/she could not do while in prison.
Adolescents, leaving home for the first time, surely, could say they are free. Can you identify with that? I could. When I was young, I knew I was ready to go and I said, “I’m free.” My father and mother didn’t know nearly as much as I wanted them to know.
(It’s amazing that, as I became older, they became wiser.)
There are times in our lives, especially in our early years, when we want to do our own thing, so we say, “I want freedom. I want to get out of this house. I want to do my own thing. I want to make my own mistakes.”
As the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, surely, they must have felt free from the bondage they experienced in Egypt. Truly, they felt free.
I want to give you a working definition of freedom.
Freedom is what you do with what has been done to you. Freedom is a quality or state of being without thought or restraint, bondage, limitation, or repression, having a sense of complete well-being. It is the result of regulating one’s life according to Divine principle – not according to what anyone else may think or say. Freedom is not something that anybody can be given. Freedom is something people take, and people are as free as they want to be.
Does this mean I do not have to listen to other people? That I can follow a principle and let it work for me? I can do the opposite of what other people might think I should do? Has anyone ever tried to advise you and you did just the opposite thing? Has this ever happened to you? I know it has. You made your greatest progress when you followed your guidance from God, not that outer prompting that often comes to us.
Jesse Jackson has said, “No one should negotiate their dreams. Dreams must be free to flee and fly high. No government, no legislature, has a right to limit your dreams. You should never agree to surrender your dreams.”
We can be free from bondage, and we can be free from what is known as slavery. Let me give you a working definition of bondage: Undue attachments to thoughts in lower personal consciousness.
“Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever shall be loosed on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:19, KJV
Now let me give you a definition of God’s Truth: That which is, has been, and always will be. The straight and narrow path on which Spirit directs. That which accords with God’s Divine standard.
“You shall know the truth and that truth shall make you free.” John 8:32
Why can’t we have it both ways? Why can’t we enjoy life and do all the things we want to do without changing? Why can’t we? Why cannot we just read a book on spirituality and say, “All right. I have read the book. Now I am God’s Truth in action!? Why do I have to pay a price for change? Why can’t I have my cake and eat it too? Why do I have to take a different approach to life?”
In the past, we have found ourselves in bondage. You can be in bondage for so long that you get used to it. You’ve always acted a certain way. You’ve been limited, so you get accustomed to being limited. It is like being in a prison cell and not knowing that you are in a cell, and not knowing that the door to that cell is unlocked. We stay there, exist there, and function there, not knowing we can change and do wonderful things with our lives.
Often the one thing that is missing is wonderful personal relationship with God.
There is an innate desire in each of us. It is like God knocking at our door saying, “Listen, My child. I am here! You think you have it made now. If you put your hand in My hand, I will show you things you haven’t even dreamed of. Prove me now. I will open up the windows of heaven and pour you out blessings.
Life is about soul growth. There are easy classrooms, and the school of hard knocks and we decide which we will enroll in. Sooner or later, life will bring what I call a “cattle-prod” that will nudge you the way you need to be nudged. It comes as an experience and nudges you as no human could. It nudges you toward your God given good. It makes all the difference in the world. How much easier life is when we go to God first to pray about our direction, our action, and reaction to life.
Freedom is not being free to do the things you should not do. Freedom is doing the things that are in your best interest, and the best interest of others. You are free to actually live, move, and express yourself as a child of God. That is the freedom we have!
The life you thought was so great is nothing compared to the life you have available to you now. You can have a wonderful relationship with God. You can feel the whole Spirit of God active in your life. Nothing in the past has ever been greater, and nothing ever can be. This is it.
“None who have always been free can understand the terrible fascinating power of the hope of freedom to those who are not free.” Pearl S. Buck
When a human decides to exercise his or her freedom to break God’s laws … [when I say, “break God’s laws,” I mean just not doing to others as you would have them do unto you. In His teachings, Jesus said to love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and love your neighbor as yourself. Those are the greatest laws we could break.] When a person decides to exercise his/her freedom to break God’s laws, he/she is like a person who ascends to the top of a tall building and jumps off. For the first several stories he/she feels great. “So what? I’m free!” There are no restraints, no restrictions, no hang-ups. But suppose, ten stories from the ground, he/she realizes that a sudden stop awaits, and he/she doesn’t want to endure his/her consequences.
It’s like we are doing something that we know is not in our highest good, but we think, “Just one more day – THEN I’ll change.” We put it off and put it off. Finally, we start to see the consequences of our decisions. Have you noticed that?
Can he or she reverse the fall in process? Can you stop the fall? In spiritual life this is what Grace is defined as. But often in ordinary life, in the final ten stories, our tragic character will examine its definition of freedom and realize, too late, that his or her line of thought or the decision he or she was making was not in their best interest.
We can change NOW. Freedom lies in being bold. We can redirect our thoughts and actions, right now, at this moment. Would you like to do that? Would you like to look at a new approach to your life and experience more freedom? Would you?
Pray and ask for guidance and strength. When we want to redirect our lives, when we really want to move beyond the status quo, when we want to make a drastic, dramatic, definite change in our lives, we need help. We, definitely, need God’s perfect help.
I’ve tried to do quite a few things in my life using my own actions and my intellect alone, without Divine help. I’ve made a little progress, but the price I paid to get there … So, I must have help. I ask God, “Have Thy way in me.”
When I say God and I are one, I want it to be a real experience. So, I ask God to have God’s way in me now. We need strength and courage to break any habit or any pattern.
Only you, can say, what you are imprisoned and chained to.
The bold step is to take the change one day at a time. Persistent constant progress is what we are looking for instead of many starts and stops. With God’s help even the turtle crosses the finish line, and many times wins the race.
If we want to be free, we have to be patient with ourselves and take it one step at a time. Look at the Israelites. They took forty years and moved ahead patiently. I am not saying it’s going to take us forty years – it could be much sooner. The forty years actually means: 4 equals four square, complete, and the 0 is a multiplier, more than enough time. The less we resist, the quicker will be the results. We must take it one day at a time, and sometimes, we must take it one moment at a time, or one hour at a time.
Associate with people who are free or who are working toward becoming free. You know those who are free because of their conversation. They will talk like they are free. They will not always complain about how bad things are. Their conversations will not be limited, and they will not limit you with what they say. You know the people who are free. You want to interact with them, talk with them, and experience with them. Enjoy life with them. Be careful about those who wish to stay in bondage. Do not think it will not rub off on you, because it will. It may have, already. If you want to be free, make sure you find people who are already free or who are moving towards freedom so you can come together and support each other toward the change.
It probably won’t happen overnight. Be patient. We berate ourselves all the time. “I don’t know what’s taking so long. I see someone else demonstrating their good. Why can’t I demonstrate like him? I want to be free, but it’s taking so long.”
Sometimes, it takes a long time to change a habit, but the process of it is done, one day at a time. It takes time to break a habit, to make a change; to be free BUT with God’s active ever-present help it will be done.
A woman told me, “It was a process for me to stop smoking. I replaced smoking with toothpicks. I use toothpicks now. They are a lot less damaging to my body. I am free of smoking forever.”
A man told me, “I had to free myself from my daughter. She always saw me as her inexhaustible financial supply. I had to let her know that God is the inexhaustible supply – not me. It took a while to free myself of that, because I was holding myself back, and her back, by thinking I had to provide for her, even though she was a 37 year old adult.”
There are people in your life, also, who you can have a wonderful relationship with, but you don’t have to be bound to them in the sense that you are the source. You are not the source; you are the channel.
Start learning about God’s Truth and the fact that we are all children of God. We are all free, and God is the Source, and everyone else in our lives are channels.
A man named Ken said, “I felt as if I was carrying the whole load. I will never forget the time I told my employees, ‘I’m not your source. I’m a channel.’ I want to empower you with the Source just like I am empowered.'”
If you persist, victory will be yours and your relationships will be upgraded. You will not be leaning on each other like a teepee; you’ll lean on each other as the Christ beholds the God creation in her/him. It is a different relationship. Unless the Christ is being activated in that relationship, the personalities are at work. And when there are personalities at work, there is change. Have people ever changed in your life? Yes. When one personality meets another, you never know what is going to happen. It is sometimes like a lightning storm. But if you behold the Christ in each other (the best in each other), it upgrades the relationship.
Give thanks for your overcoming, even before you experience it. Give thanks. Thank You, God, that I am free and unlimited now.
I like the word “unlimited.”
Life experiences – Don’t put chains around me!
Life experiences – Don’t put your self-imposed limitations on me!
I am free – I am unlimited!
The first step is to pray and ask for direction. Any time you want to make a change in your life, always ask for direction and ask God to give you the strength and courage to succeed.
Second, take the change one day at a time. In retrospect, you will see that God was in the plan all along and there was a necessary process unfolding. You are changing your consciousness, and when your change consciousness, you must take it one step at a time, or one hour at a time.
Third, associate with people of like mind. Associate with people who are moving toward the Promised Land, who have an upbeat attitude about their lives. They can lift you up. It is pretty difficult if you are trying to climb a mountain and you have to drag someone along, who is going reluctantly. Let go and let God, and then go on. The mere fact that you are moving ahead in your life will be a great asset to them as they see you change and unfold. It could inspire them to do the same.
Fourth, be patient with yourself. Never say, “I do not know if I’ll ever succeed,” or “I don’t know if I will ever be free.”
And fifth, give thanks. Always give thanks before the answer to prayer. Give thanks every single day of your life.
I am free and unlimited now.
Let’s have a moment of prayer.
Thank You, God, for the Truth. We know the Truth, and the Truth is that we were not created to be limited. We were not created to experience sickness, poverty, habits, or addictions that hold us back. We are free, God, to see the God-given good in ourselves and to see and experience the God-given good in others in our world. We are free to be optimistic. As this day continues and as our lives unfold, our commitment to You and to ourselves is to rise to that higher level of understanding, action, and interaction, whereby this freedom that we are will become an everyday experience.
Thank You, God.
In Jesus Christ’s name … Amen.
Prayer / Meditation_______________________________
Let us pray,
Dear God, no matter to what extent some person may seem to be in bondage to stimulants and habits not conducive to peaceful, satisfying living, there is freedom available NOW from You.
Help those that have not yet found an avenue of expression that absorbs their attention and gives them the inner spiritual joy, inner spiritual center that they seek.
May we each rediscover the God-given gift and choose to reopen and examine it at spiritual depth.
Within all people, within you, there is every power and capacity needed for full and interesting living. We discover this and set about developing and calling forth these God-given powers, we have no further desire for any of the more superficial things of life.
Through prayer, we discover this new and satisfying way of life. Through prayer, we find such a way. Prayer reaches to the depth of the mind and heart and reveals the truth of what fulfillment is.
Rest in the silence of prayer …
I am free and unlimited, now. Through God’s help I am free. Through God’s help I am unlimited now. Let us allow this truth of God to activate every aspect of our being – every cell, muscle, organ, and tissue. Let it activate our minds as never before to help us awaken to the truth, to the reality, that we are free and unlimited, now.
Think on this Truth of God in the silence of prayer …
Enjoy this spiritual upliftment. Experience it for yourself, and your dear ones.
Softly and gently, we move into that secret place where all healing takes place and where change is activated, that place where only the Christ can dwell.
Let’s turn over every problem and challenge to the Christ – this freedom we seek – that enables us to rise to a higher level of understanding and activity.
With God’s help I am free and unlimited, now. Softly and personally, whisper this to yourself. With God’s help I am free and unlimited, now. What a testimony! What an acceptance! What a joy it is to be free, so we can do the things that are there for us to do, without any limitations or restraints.
Rest in the silence of prayer …
As we continue to relax in this spiritual awareness, we have new acceptance of our freedom from old ways that have held us back and down, we know this not only for ourselves but for all those in our lives. In truth through God’s help we are ALL free and unlimited now.
Rest in the silence of prayer …
We go forward, today we each pray, we remain in this open and receptive Spiritual state of mind, freely opening ourselves to spiritual truth, understanding, experiences, healing, and illumination.
Thank You, God. And so, it is …
In Jesus Christ’s name … Amen.
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