12 Then the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. 13 When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, 14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15 Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. 16 For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. 17 As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, 18 then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man as ruler in Israel.’
Precious Father, my elder brother Jesus, abiding Holy Ghost,
Sin breaks, fractures, shatters, destroys. I see the effects of humanity's fall into depravity all around me. I grieve the crippling impact of sin.
Addictions make people intended for freedom into slaves. Up the nose, in the vein, permeating the liver... Drugged into stupor. Judgment is compromised. Pharmaceuticals possess the spiritual potential of the soul with demonic-control as they invite other spirits to inhabit the darkest regions.
Sexual sins make people intended for wholeness into shadowy ghosts of humanity. Giving away one piece of oneself at a time to a series of temporary, broken loves that lack potential to mature into something whole and enduring strips dignity, worth, value, and esteem from Your precious creation. Lust robs and steals. Immorality uses and loses, leaving shattered, empty shells behind. Shells that were intended to be the crowning glory of Your Creation!
Our sin of abandoning Christian marriage declares: "God cannot provide for me!" In desperation and desire we join ourselves in hopelessness to another and multiply our desperation in the lives of our children. Poverty, instability, and despair are the bastard offspring of our faithless immorality.
Slaves are powerless. Slaves are dominated. Slaves are controlled by another. Slaves lack autonomy, hope, self-determination, freedom, and choice. Slaves need a Deliverer. Slaves need Someone to free them from the dominion of darkness and grant them entrance into the Kingdom of Light!
Only the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ can change lives, restore hope, fulfill potential.
"What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! 16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? 17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.
20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:15-23 NKJV
"The Truth which Jesus brings liberates us from estrangement from God; it liberates us from frustration in life; its liberates us from our on fears and weaknesses and defeats. Jesus Christ is the greatest liberator on Earth" (William Barclay in The Gospel of John, vol. 1, 1955, p. 48).
We have a Champion! We have a Deliverer! We have a Savior!
Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature's night;
Thine eye diffused a quick'ning ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free;
I rose, went forth and followed Thee.
My Lord, create in me a passion for promoting holiness rather than protecting sin. Root out my sin. Leave me with no recourse, no hiding place, no provision for my flesh. Burn every bridge of retreat and excuse until I am wholly Thine, consumed by Thee, and Thy fulness. Make me free from slavery, my identity as an ex-slave, and create Your renewed identity within me as a free and holy disciple of Jesus Christ.
In the Name of my Lord Jesus Christ who sets me free! And sets all free who come to You in faith,
Amen.
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