Free From Me by Jenifer Metzger

"Mom, I spilled the tea all over the floor!"

"Mom, the dogs ran away again!"

"Mom, the computer is not working, come help!"

"Mom, the boys are wrestling again!"

These, and many more, are phrases that make me sigh and say, "Not again!"  I am sitting down relaxing with a good book, working on the computer, cleaning or cooking and these phrases always cause me to stop what I am doing and give me more work.  Ugh, why do I have to keep chasing runaway dogs and playing referee to a wrestling match with my boys?  Why can't I just do what I want to do?!

I tend to have this I syndrome.  I want it my way.  Do you ever feel this way? 

"You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another humbly in love.”  Galatians 5:13

I was called to be free!  So, then, I can be free to indulge in me?  No.

We were called to be free from ourselves, free from our selfish nature.  We are free to serve in love.  I don't want to focus on just me.  Well, honestly sometimes I do, but that is not what God wants me to do.  I desire to learn to focus on others.  I want God to give me eyes to see what is going on around me, to see the lost and hurting.  I desire to be used as His hands and feet.

When I choose to be free from being selfish, then I am free from irritation, stress and bitterness.  I am free to love and serve others with a grateful heart.  I am free to see God's work at hand.  I am free to see miracles around me.  I am free from myself.

Are you struggling with the I syndrome?  Pray and ask God to help you become free from selfishness and be open to others around you.

Sweet Blessings~

Jenifer

Today's guest blogger is Jenifer Metzger.  Jenifer and her husband, Jeremy, have been married for fourteen years. They have been blessed with four children that she calls her blessings from Heaven. Jenifer is a housewife and homeschooling mom and enjoys serving alongside her husband as the multiplicity pastors of their church. She is the founder and co-leader of Woman to Woman Ministries and blogs daily at Sweet Blessings.

Links:

Blog - www.jenifermetzger.org

Facebook – www.facebook.com/sweetblessings.jenifer

Twitter – www.twitter.com/metzgersix

Blog for Woman to Woman – www.w2wministries.org

Facebook for Woman to Woman – www.facebook.com/womantowomanministries

Twitter for Woman to Woman –      www.twitter.com/w2wministries

Worry Free(dom) by Jason Hoover

5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. 6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.
Proverbs 3:5-6

If freedom is to live without constraints, then we are all self-enslaved by our own worries. We need to understand that worry is a product of fear and fear is not a gift from God. To truly be free, we cannot continue to direct our own steps and control our own destinies. When we do, decisions are based on “human level” knowledge which is greatly inferior to that of our Heavenly Father’s. This is not the journey of a Champion for God as theirs will always stretch to a higher altitude and is laid out by the hands of God Almighty!

To live a life fully immersed in freedom, it is necessary that we have the ability to be freely used by our King. He is our creator and with life He gave us a purpose. However, human nature keeps us from living out this purpose because we never let God have full control. It is the gift of free will that enables us to love God freely but it is the very thing that causes us to not trust Him with our daily lives. We worry too much that if we are not IN control, our life will spin OUT of control.

There is good reason we are not meant to worry. Not only is it bad for our health but it shortens our life span as well. If we do not believe He will provide then how can we be moved by God? How can He count on us to start that new business or form that new ministry that will not only elevate our own lives but many other lives as well? If you don’t, then He will use someone that will. OUCH! If we are too worried about our finances, status, or possessions, then we are tied to those very things. And if we are tied, can we freely move? No and God cannot use the gifts He planted in us either.

So why then do we let this fear consume our day to day lives so much that we cannot even trust the one that created us? One reason is we do not fully believe that God will provide for us daily. When this happens, we are not living in the freedom that God intended for our lives. Instead, we are bound by our own disillusions of security perpetuated by sitting in the captain’s chair of life while telling God to get in the back seat and keep quite.

Friend, start putting your full trust in the Lord and begin to believe that He will provide for you every day. Just like the Israelites in the dessert, God will give you your daily bread and you will never go without. He would not give you life and then walk away. He has a plan for your existence that is greater than you can ever imagine but you have to believe it first! Stop worrying about everything and start living in full faith! Once you completely understand this, great things will begin to happen. Heaven will shine down so bright that you will start glowing yourself. Joy will be in abundance, peace will consume you, and you will wear favor like a cloak. Live like one of God’s Champions and believe today in His power. Then start experiencing what it is like to truly live in freedom granted by His grace!

Today's guest author is Pastor, husband, and father Jason Hoover.  To learn more about Jason, please visit him at any of the links below:

Website: http://championforgod.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChampionforGod

Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/Champ677

Helping Comrades Achieve Freedom

Bud Toole, was born and raised in Dallas, Texas and quickly became a very astute investment advisor.  Within a short time he became the VP of Investments for Gulf Life Insurance Company in Jacksonville in the late seventies.  As a committed Christian, Bud and his wife loved to travel to unusual places and learn about their Biblical heritage.

In the early 80’s a close friend invited him to go on a unique trip behind the Iron Curtain to Russia.  But after he agreed, he was shocked to discover that they we going to smuggle in Bibles to some small underground home churches.  If they were caught, they could have been put in prison and he might never return to his wife and 2 kids.

His heart was racing as they boarded planes and trains with their suitcases and trench coats filled with Bibles, always stopping at every border crossing. 

But his Freedom had always taught him to exercise his faith and be a doer of the word.  He stepped out his comfort zone believing this was God’s purpose to help a few Christians in their small home who studied and shared together by candle light, in the middle of the night... so as not to be found out.  Whenever they heard noises outside their hut, they stopped and prayed until the person passed.  It was an intense and gut wrenching experience. 

Bud would return two or three times a year for 6 years helping more families and underground churches.  Bud would say that the intense experience dramatically increased his faith and prayer life.  “I felt like I was in the CIA instead of being a very conservative financial advisor to very wealthy people.  I could not understand why God would call me to this.” 

Until, without warning in 1989, The Wall came down.  Bud then quickly understood God’s purpose in his adventure and the sacrifice he had undertaken.  So he and Steve Maisel formed East-West Ministries.  They raised the money to go into Russia with American pastors to teach local Russians who wanted to build their own Churches.  For 12 years, they have helped over 1,100 Pastors reach millions of people through Churches all over the Russia.

Many of us would have rejected the vision and leading that God placed on Bud’s heart.  But, freedom is not freedom unless we exercise it by our faith and trust in the one who created us.  Not just our religious freedom, but political, economic, free expression and the ultimate... Freedom in Christ to use all our gifts and talents for His grand plan.

Freedom to be Yourself by Darren T. Carter

     Have you ever been to the zoo and watched the caged animals?  If so, you can see that even though these animals have been rescued from death, they are still not free to be themselves. It is said that injured lions mostly die not from their injuries but from the pain of being unable to do what they do best.  We are much like the lion in that respect.  We have been set free so that we can truly become the person we were created to be and when we are not that person, we die inside.  Proverbs 13:12 says, hope deferred makes the heartsick.  Could this be one of the main reasons we see so much mental illness today, because people are jailed in sin and a total lack of purpose?

     “Are you free?” is the question you have to ask yourself.  If you are free, you are going to be comfortable in your own skin.  Paul said, “I am who I am.”  Paul understood his gifts, developed them, and expanded them because he was free. His freedom allowed him to reach his potential.  In Romans 12, Paul helps us identify the differing gifts each of us have been given; he then tells us not to compare ourselves with each other (II Cor. 10:12).  If you are trying to emulate someone else, you are not free.  You can learn from others, but you are unique. It is your uniqueness that makes you who you are.  You must try not to focus on yourself but look to the grace that sets you free.  Grace is about taking the mundane and ordinary and transforming it into the special and extraordinary.  Grace does not focus on our insufficiency but on the all-sufficiency of the cross and the freedom of being found in Him.

     It was William Shakespeare who said, “God has given you one face, and you make yourself another?” You may not realize it, but not being yourself is actually a subtle form of hypocrisy.  I have a great desire to see the church break out of the box.  We should be the most unique, creative people on the face of the earth.  I don’t think people hide from their true uniqueness on purpose, but we have been bound so long it is hard to break free.  Let’s look at three main areas that bind people from being free.  We become many times a lot like the prisoner who has been so institutionalized that they can’t imagine living free.  Let’s look at three main areas that bind up people from being free:

• Traditionalism:  Jesus talked about allowing traditions to keep us from the will of God. 
• High Mindedness:  Paul said that when we think more of ourselves than we should, we miss our true calling.  We have to accurately assess our gifts, abilities, strengths, and weaknesses.
• Limited Thinking:  When we limit our thinking, we keep ourselves bound to the ideas that have shaped our thinking and kept us from His purpose.

     Refuse to allow anyone or anything to keep the true you from fulfilling your purpose in this life.  Break out of the cage that has kept you from being you.  Darren T. Carter

 

Today's guest author is Darren T. Carter, husband, father, author, and inspirational speaker.  To learn more about him, visit his website or follow him on facebook or twitter.

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Freedom from Fear by Yvonne Carson

One of the most debilitating emotions that we can experience is fear. Fear is so destructive because it causes us to hide, think, believe, and act small. Fear can paralyze you, preventing you from doing the things you love. It keeps many of us stuck, experiencing lost opportunities, and the list can go on and on. God does not want any of His children bound by a spirit of fear; He wants you to live in total freedom from fear.

One of the worst things about fear is it causes us to disobey God by giving into the fear, causing us to live in unbelief or lack of faith in God’s Word and what He has promised us as children of God. Fear also causes us to fail to see ourselves through the eyes of a loving, forgiving and merciful God.

The great news for you today is this. If you are a born again, spirit-filled child of God, you have been given freedom from fear the moment you made Jesus Christ the Lord of your life! However, it will take faith to appropriate the promise of freedom in Christ Jesus. John 8:36 says, “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” You appropriate this promise in God’s Word by decreeing and declaring it over your self daily until faith comes, if the fear in your life is greater than your faith at the moment.

Fear is based on a spirit of deception and lies or perversion, which are tools that the devil uses to contaminate your faith by using toxic people, thoughts, words, and images to produce fear in your life. There is only one way to counterattack the spirit of fear and that is the spirit of truth – God’s Word.

You can be set free from Satan’s lies by knowing the truth; however, you must read and study the Word of God in order to know what the truth is when you hear it. You speak the truth of God’s Word until it manifests in your life and you can testify that you are walking in freedom from fear. “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

How to Appropriate Your Freedom From Fear

1. Admit the truth to God and yourself that you have fear
2. Confess and repent for being fearful to God
3. Renounce the spirit of fear and its right to be in your life
4. Take authority over the spirit of fear (Luke 10:19) by binding it in the name of Jesus
5. Declare the truth of God’s Word out loud, making it a part of your daily life until faith comes and you’re living a life of freedom from fear

Never forget that God is and always will be our source of freedom from fear. Remember, Jesus is the wonderful Counselor and Prince of Peace – Jehovah Shalom!

Today's guest author is Yvonne Carson, Author, Speaker, Bible Teacher, Licensed Minister, Entrepreneur, and Blogger.  To learn more about her, visit  her sites: http://spiritualseedfoodforthesoul.blogspot.com, http://yourlifepurposecoach.com. ycarson2011@aol.com.

Freedom isn’t Free, there are consequences when it exceeds His Grace

On December 16th, 2011 the Security and Exchange Commission finally began taking legal action against two of the key culprits who crashed the US housing industry in 2007.  David Mudd, former CEO of Fannie Mae and Richard Syron, former CEO of Freddie Mac, along with four other executives, are charged with misrepresenting the number of sub prime loans they served to US Senate Committees investigating the economic meltdown of our economy.  

This is the first action of its kind toward receiving restitution from those who led us into the housing crisis and a broken economy since 2007.  These quasi-public and federal intuitions  were the instigators with certain congressional leaders in the early part of that decade as Wall Street derivatives and Banks joined the race to crank out as many loans as possible whether borrowers qualified or not.

When the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution they used the Bible as their guide.  That’s why we have laws against murder, stealing, bribery and lying (to name a few)... all from the Moral Truths of the Ten Commandments.  Our Judicial system is derived from the book of Judges.

America has been so blessed because of our adherence to His principles and it has been allowed more Grace than other nations. But when individuals, organizations, or our nation get out of His will and grace, we will feel pain.  There must be acts of remorse and seeking forgiveness.  He is waiting on us to seek forgiveness.

God’s call to Freedom has boundaries.  Greed is one of the Spiritual Sins of the Heart and when in excess it exceeds God’s grace, we are now paying the consequence.  The Lord’s first commandment says, “have no god’s before Me” and secondly “have no false idols.”  Greed, or the love of money, is a sin.  God requires us to ask for forgiveness or repentance or face reprimands. 

In January 2008 the Lord told me that our American economy would not rebound until there was repentance and an asking for forgiveness by the culprits.   As a kid nearly everyone of us was taught about asking for forgiveness beginning with simple things like hitting our little sister.  Simple pride and greed sins have kept many public company CEOs from saying “I’m sorry” or asking for forgiveness.  It has happened ever since Satan began messing with the heads of men.  The Lord has reminded me many times that “Humility is either a choice or a consequence.”  Or as Proverbs says “Pride comes before a fall.”

I believe Bankers will be the next to be sued.   Banks allowed the foreclosure process to dictate their reactions to those in crisis trying to save their homes. They let the government lend them tax payer money that increased our national debt and put our entire nation further at risk.   I believe if the banks took proactive steps of helping homeowners affected by value declines i.e. offering them a 30% reduction in the loan obligations, it would be a boom for both groups as people refinance.  Forgiveness of debt is Biblical.

So now it looks like the door is finally being opened by the SEC and not our government.  It’s the appropriate group to take action.  With legal action humility will come.  Sadly, repentance will come in the form of fault finding and eventual restitution.   It will waste more money and time proving fault, and drag out the bitterness and outrage of all Americans affected by the Greed of a few hundred men and women who created a culture of selfish interest over the common good of all Americans.

When the passion of some for Greed puts a majority into debt, the true rights of our intended Freedom are violated.  These individuals and institutions have violated our public trust.  The consequences must be faced.

The Word says, “the love of money is the root of all evil.”  In order to be open to God you must have Humility.   The clock is ticking for our national Financial Executives who are in denial or hoping this issue will go away.   But the Lord will get His way and the economy will turn when... He believes it’s time, and humility, is impacting those who are standing in its way.  


Written by John Beehner, author of the New Release "The Freedom Revolution... Rocking Our World."

Freedom of Thought by Karen Thompson

The theme for this Blog Tour is “Freedom Rocks.” Those of us writing were told to write about some kind of Freedom.  To be asked to participate was quite an honor and I wanted to say something profound.  I tried looking up quotations by great philosophers about freedom and found that what I got was information that was confusing and way over my head. I tried several other approaches including re-reading the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and must confess that the more I thought about freedom and the implications of our freedom, the more in a funk I got. I looked around at our current North American culture and found that more and more of our freedoms are being restricted or lost altogether.

Then, it occurred to me that I was in desperate need of an “attitude adjustment.” I needed to look at what freedoms I do have and then resolve to use those freedoms to the utmost! For example, I am free to change my attitude.  I can be in control of it. Now, when the world seems to be closing in on me and there is no good news in the media, how can I possibly change my attitude?  

The answer is in Paul’s letter to the Philippians 4:8-9 (NLT)

"And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me-everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you."

This tells me that in order to change my attitude I must not dwell on problems or on the evil in this world. That does not mean that I am to be unaware of the many problems surrounding us. I need to be informed on world and local events. However, I must also look for  the good in the world and try to continually focus my thoughts there.  As an example, throughout the day, my thoughts return to the precious sound of our two young granddaughters wishing us a Merry Christmas in song over the telephone or a beautiful full rainbow that glimmered through the residual raindrops.

 Furthermore, the verses from Philippians tell me that when I see a place where my gifts and talents can be used to improve life for someone, I need to get busy and do what is needed. It doesn’t have to be anything worthy of front page headlines, but can be as simple as letting someone with only a few items get in line ahead of me and my monthly grocery shopping cart at the checkout. It can be as simple as befriending a forgotten soul in a skilled nursing facility and visiting regularly. The possibilities are endless.

In obeying God’s Word, I’ve proven it true. My attitude changed and the funk is gone. My new found freedom has improved my life. It can’t be taken away unless I allow it. Freedom does rock!

Today's guest blogger is Karen Thompson.  Karen is a wife, mother of 5, grandmother of 8.  She is a retired anesthesiologist and her husband is a retired pastor.  To learn more about her, visit her blog at:

http://kat.christianblogsites.com/blog/