"All Freedom is measured by its
boundaries.
So carry a tape measure." |
The Freedom I Choose may be the Freedom I lose.
How do you measure your boundaries - in inches or in cinches? Living
free in your own power is not a cinch! It's no easy task. When I began
my journey back toward a relationship with Christ, I needed guidelines
to help me stay within God's parameters. I have found ten principles
that will keep us within the boundaries of our freedom in Christ.
If we are ever going to have any success whatsoever in our efforts to
experience freedom in life, we must determine that if God tells us that
something is wrong, it is wrong. If God is against it, so am I. I grew
up in a Christian home and had lots of boundaries and rules put on me.
As a young person, I misunderstood their purpose. I used to plan for the
day when I became an adult and could release myself of all those rules.
I could not wait for the day that I could live in what I thought would
be true freedom! But make no mistake about it, friend, true freedom is
found in boundaries. For you only exchange boundaries for bondage.
After stubbornly refusing to allow anyone to tell me what was right
and what was wrong, and after my life was destroyed from the "freedom" I
chose, I finally realized the lie to which I had become enslaved. As I
sought to gain stability once again in life, I struggled because part of
me was still living like the world but on the weekends I would sober up
and go to church. God taught me a valuable lesson after several months
of struggling, ten principles to conquer stubborn habits and that is
what I needed to have oneness with God in all parts of my life.
I had to come to a point where I set the standard that if God pointed
out to me that something is wrong, I must adapt the same standard. I
made the decision that if God would tell me through either my umbrella
of authority or through His Word that something was wrong, I was going
to get on the right side of the fence. The first line that I drew for
myself was when I started coming back to church. I knew that using drugs
was wrong. So, I drew a line in my life and set the standard that I was
not going to use drugs anymore. But I could not stop there, I soon
discovered. Because it would only take a bad day or a wrong choice and I
was merely one step away from my addiction. I continually found myself
falling over that line. However, as God began showing me more things
through His Word and through my leadership, I began drawing more lines
in my life. Each one pushed me further and further from the life I once
knew. I continued to take steps in the right direction.
As I began to follow this first principle in its entirety, God gave
me several others to help me maintain complete sobriety! They are what
is now commonly referred to as the RU Ten Principles of Prosperity:
Principle #1- If God's against it, so am I.
Principle #2-Every sin has its origin in our hearts.
Principle #3-It is easier to keep the heart clean than it is to clean it
after it has been defiled.
Principle #4-We cannot fight a fleshly appetite by indulging in it.
Principle #5-Small compromises lead to great disasters. (Little sins
lead to big sins.)
Principle #6-Those who do not love the Lord will not help us serve the
Lord.
Principle #7-Our sinful habits do hurt those who follow us.
Principle #8-It is not possible to fight a fleshly temptation with
fleshly weapons.
Principle #9-We lose our freedom to choose when we give in to
temptation. Our consequences are inevitable and incalculable and up to
God.
Principle #10- God balances guilt with blame. Accept the blame for your
actions and God will remove the guilt.
These principles I still apply, as daily I seek to die, their
relevance you cannot deny; if on self you once did try. So soon you
will reply, "In Him I must rely"!
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