Freedom: What does freedom mean to me? What does it mean to you?

Poem: Freedom

I was a slave to sin like a caged bird

bound like a prisoner with no way out;

A slave to the flesh, to the vices of the world;

Christ died on the cross, nailed our sin to it,

I walk in freedom and victory; conquered the flesh

walk in the Spirit

led by Christ and not the world

bare God’s fruit and character

What freedom means to me? I have traveled outside of America and I learned to appreciate the freedom that we have in America. For instance, some countries don’t allow the freedom of speech and expression and freedom to worship God (Jesus Christ). Imagine being in prison for worshipping God, preaching the God, handing out Bibles. We as Americans are given the freedom to express our love for God. We don’t have limitations on that. I have traveled to Jamaica and they don’t have welfare which means they are out there hustling for food and shelter. I went to Fiji Islands and parts of the country is very nice while others live in straw houses. I even work with foreigners and many talk about how women are treated inferior to men in their countries. America has fought for freedom but Christ gave us freedom from sin when he died on the cross over 2,000 years ago. Christ gave us freedom from want when the bible says in Psalms 34:9, “O fear the Lord, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him”.Jesus also gave us the freedom from fear when the bible says in 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Christ also frees us from bondage when the Bible said in Joshua 24:17,For the Lord our God, he it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed. Also in Galatians 5:1 says to “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage”.

So when I am in situations, pressure of life where I feel there is no way out, I must remember that Christ freed me, John 8:36, who the Son sets free is free indeed. In Luke 4:18 Jesus said “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”

We also have the freedom to pursuit happiness, in Psalms 37:4, Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. I also found happiness in endurance. In James 5:11 says “Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy”.So my question to you is, What does freedom mean to you?