The Sound Of Freedom . . .

By Petty Officer 2nd Class John Hetherington (https://www.dvidshub.net/image/1445515) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

When I was a young bride in the mid 1970’s, my Navy husband David and I were stationed at the Naval Air Station on Whidbey Island, Washington.  We lived in base housing on the small sea plane base near downtown Oak Harbor and had to drive in nearly every day to the main base about four miles north.

That daily trek took us to the entrance of the base which sported a famous sign that embodied the warrior spirit of those attached to the base.  When I drove onto the base to go to the Commissary, the movies, or the doctor, my heart would swell with pride when I saw that sign.

Daily, squadrons of fighter jets would practice for their landings on aircraft carriers.  This involved routine passes over the base and surrounding areas followed by short landings on the runway, to simulate carrier landings, then quick take offs immediately after touch down.

These drills were called “touch and goes.”  The rapid decelerations and accelerations necessary to accomplish this caused the engines to absolutely scream.  Even today, everyone who lives near the northern end of Whidbey Island has to get used to the roar of those aircraft doing their maneuvers.  It is a sacrifice, but most seem willing to bear it.  This roar could be deafening at times, so the sign at the entrance to the base read,

“Pardon Our Noise, It’s the Sound of Freedom!”

Although, sadly, the sign has now been replaced by a sleek wall with a Prowler jet mounted above it, I still miss the old sign.  When I visited Oak Harbor and my brother a few years ago, who has since retired as a career Navy man, I asked him to take me out to the end of the runway just so I could hear the “noise” again.

It resonates, along with the words of the old sign, within me because freedom has become the cry of my heart.  That cry is not only for freedom in our land, though that is important, but it’s a cry for the needed spiritual freedom I seek for everyone.  Instead of by the sacrifices of our brave service men and women, that freedom was purchased by the priceless, precious blood of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

The sound of freedom is the call He issues.  But as always, freedom isn’t free.  It required His sacrifice, and it requires ours as well.  Galatians 5:1 reveals the fight that is necessary,

“It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.”

If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and follow Him as a true believer, then you have received the call He issued.  You heard the sound of freedom from sin, and responded.  But did you realize that when you made this wonderful decision, you also were recruited as a warrior for His kingdom?

Not only that, but like that young bride I once was, I was called to sacrifice right along with my brave husband.  Thankfully, our sacrifices were only those of inconvenience, for the most part.  Today, we still bear many of the marks of his military training and service.

Those of us who have heard the Freedom call from Jesus are also called to prepare ourselves as His Royal Bride, and to follow His sacrifice.  This means we are both recruited and betrothed.  Both callings are serious, and require training and preparation to fulfill.  We must become separate from”civilians” and set apart for this calling.

My prayer for you today is that you’ll be willing to allow yourself to be put through the spiritual “boot camp” God uses to make us all ready as warriors.  I hope you will embrace and willingly take on that role.  The days ahead are going to be full of the challenges of war.  We can’t afford to be “soft” or out of shape spiritually.  Please join with me today as I stand up and shout like a trumpet making the battle cry and proclaiming the sound of freedom!

 2 Timothy 2:3-4  “Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.  No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.“

Always in Jesus,

Desireé Figg

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Not Made For A Cage . . .

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My neighbors have two pretty large dogs and when they leave for work in the morning they put the dogs in a very small kennel.  It’s really more of a cage.  For at least an hour after they leave, the dogs bark and literally climb the chain link trying to get out.  One of them jumps up on top of the igloo shaped dog house which takes up almost a quarter the space, and he barks at anything and everything incessantly.  It is extremely annoying and an un-welcomed alarm clock.

I was thinking about this when deciding what to write for the day and realized those dogs were never meant to be caged.  I understand my neighbors dilemma because they can’t be allowed to run free in the yard since the alpha male always tries to dig out under the fence.  I also realized they don’t have a lot of choice, so I’m not judging them, although it is quite frustrating to deal with their problem everyday.  I’m pretty sure a bark collar would eliminate some of the big dog’s ridiculous behavior.  But it doesn’t remove the reality that they should not be caged.

Both of those dogs were made to run in open fields chasing rabbits or cats or birds.  It’s so sad to see them locked up like that.  When the one tries to climb up the chain link, its a very disconcerting sight.  I don’t want to belabor the point.  This is a pretty simple analogy.  Let me just put it bluntly.  We were not made for a cage.

God made us to be free, to roam and explore the earth around us.  He made us with creativity and the ability to use natural things to make something new.  I believe when we are creating, we are most like Him.  We were made for walking in freedom with our Lord.

But what happened when our race fell into sin because of Adam and Eve’s choice, is that we were put in a spiritual cage designed by the devil.  He hates our freedom and our ability to walk in fellowship with God.  He hates us because God chose to put his image inside of us.  He hates us vehemently and will do anything to stop us from experiencing the freedom that God gave us.

Obviously, since at the fall, we lost the ability to walk in freedom the way we were intended, Jesus Christ had to pay the ultimate price of His blood and His death on the cross to purchase our freedom for us once again.  I for one, don’t want to waste His incredible sacrifice.  But even though I had accepted Jesus as my Savior, there was a time when I was still caged.  Because of the lies the devil threw at me, which I believed, I was imprisoned.  I could not get out of my sin, confess cycle.

Every day I would do things that I knew were against God’s desire and will for me, but I felt completely powerless to stop it.  Paul talks about this in Romans, where he shares with us the internal struggle he has, to do what is right and explains his recognition that the flesh stops us.  I believed that for many years and could identify with Paul.  It actually helped me keep from losing my mind because I knew a godly man struggled with the same thing.

Romans 7:15- 20 “For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.  But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.  So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.  For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.  For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.  But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.”

My problem was, I didn’t recognize the other truths in that passage.  I missed the most important message in it.  I saw myself not doing what I knew to be right, but somehow missed the part about it being sin which dwells within me warring against me.  I thought the problem was with me.  I thought it was all my fault for not being able to obey what the Lord clearly wanted me to do.  But, you see, I was caged.  Trapped!

I was being held captive by my mis-beliefs.  I couldn’t see past the problem to the solution.  Jesus was standing outside my cage, telling me He had already paid to set me free.  He was showing me there was no lock on the cage gate any longer and all I had to do was walk out of it.  But I was blinded and couldn’t grasp the truth.  Once I quit focusing on my failures and realized that my true self wanted to obey Jesus more than anything, I finally saw that I wasn’t being held down by those sins anymore.  I quit beating myself up all the time and started quickly repenting of any known sin, then gladly received the forgiveness Jesus paid for.

It took me many years of re-shaping my thought processes to walk in the truth that I had already been set free.  But I was on my way.  Unfortunately, this problem of mis-belief seems to characterize much of the Body of Christ today.  Too many find themselves trapped in the sin cycle and feel there is no way out.  They may weep and claw to get out, but fail to see that the door is open.

I pray that today you might begin to examine some of your beliefs to see if you’re believing the truth of the gospel.  I am not a proponent of the hyper-grace message which dismisses any responsibility we would have regarding sin.  I still believe we have to acknowledge our sins, confess them and receive forgiveness.  There are no shortcuts.

I hope you will stop today to take a little time and make sure you realize that Jesus paid in full for every sin you would ever commit, and He wants you to see that He has opened the way for you to be free of sin’s miserable grip on your life.  Only His power to deliver you can make the necessary changes.  Your job is to believe He can do it and offer your heart up to Him in humility and with a thankful heart.  Push that gate open and refuse to stay in a prison of unbelief.  Jesus has set you free!  Just like those poor dogs in the kennel, you were not made for a cage!

 Galatians 5:1 “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.”

Always in Jesus,

Desireé Figg

I hope you like my blog of Daily Devotions.  I would be honored if you would subscribe to receive the posts as they are created.  Please sign up with your email address and click the Follow button below or on the sidebar to receive emails when a new post is made.  Thanks again for visiting Trailing Ellipsis.  I’ll see you on the trail.

PS.  Some of you reading this blog may wish to continue now that the 30 Day Content Challenge is over.  I’m committed to writing the devotional and would love to have you join me.  Here is a quick survey for you to let me know just how you’d like it to come as I go forward.