What Does Freedom Mean To You?

Does the word RESTRICTED provoke a feeling of defense in you? If so, you are clearly in the majority. In our day, more and more people 'fight' for freedom wherever and whenever any sign of restriction is seen or deemed imposed. For most people, freedom is the absence of any form of hindrance or restriction. Therefore, the 'fight' for freedom is essentially a fight against restrictions. Yes, we all detest bondage and we must strive to overcome obstacles that stand in our way of progress. However, there is a challenge. In our fight for the freedom to choose whatever we desire at anytime, anywhere and at any cost; we run the risk of knocking down the walls that were designed to protect us and afford us the freedom we seek.

Take A Second Look At Freedom
Freedom is not the absence of restrictions. Freedom is the discipline to live within certain parameters that are essential for peace of mind and the enjoyment of the full pleasures of wisely selected options.

You would agree that if true freedom meant absence of restrictions, then nobody in the world would be considered free because everybody live under the law and laws are definitely forms of restrictions. Where there is no law there is no freedom. Where there is no boundary there is no peace. Free nations exist within geographical borders and it's citizens are governed by boundaries of rules and regulations that are essential for order and peaceful co-existence. Organizations operate within boundaries of specific products and services, core values, policies and procedures as well as government regulations and community requirement. Families exist within family boundaries and communities exist within community boundaries. Without the law, there would be no order and life would be chaotic. Think about it, would you and I be able to drive safely on our roads if there were no traffic rules and regulations? Freedom is gained and sustained by following prescribed rules and regulations that restrict the unwanted and safeguard the desired.

This principle of boundary-for-freedom is also true in health, finance and relationships. Wellness, as we know, has obvious requirements and those requirements are the boundaries within which everyone who desire wellness must live. You may choose to eat unripe pineapple, for instance but you won't be free to choose the consequences of the unripe fruit poison. The need to wait for the pineapple to ripen is the boundary within which the enjoyment of the pineapple fruit resides. If you choose to break through that boundary you get a bite of the fruit poison. You may choose to spend in one day all you have earned in one year plus what you hope to earn in the following year but if you choose to pursue freedom that way, you won't be free to escape the hurt of financial slavery. The need to live within your means is the boundary within which your freedom to choose wealth and escape poverty lies. It is important to always keep in mind that while we are free to break the boundary, we are not free to escape the bite. “…whoever breaks through a wall will be bitten by a serpent” Ecclesiastes 10:8b.

Do you fight for freedom by resisting rules and regulations? I'm afraid you cannot find true freedom and peace of mind that way. In normal situations, boundaries and walls are intended primarily for the peace and tranquility of those residing within it and the restriction of enemies outside it. If you find yourself always fighting against rules, regulations and any form of legitimate restriction, ask yourself if you are a friend or enemy to your own peace of mind. Consider this: “Duly constituted authorities are only a threat if you’re trying to get by with something. Decent citizens should have nothing to fear. Do you want to be on good terms with the government? Be a responsible citizen and you’ll get on just fine, the government working to your advantage. But if you’re breaking the rules right and left, watch out. The police aren’t there just to be admired in their uniforms”. Romans 13:1-4 MSG.

Be it nations, organizations, families, communities or individuals, living in freedom requires staying within set boundaries. Rules and regulations are protective boundaries against possible harm; not punitive measures against those for whom they are made. Real freedom is not the absence of boundaries and restrictions but the ability to choose what one desires and refuse what you don't desire. That ability is what we call discipline. The highest form of freedom is the discipline to live within certain parameters that are essential for peace of mind and the enjoyment of the full pleasures of wisely selected options. Freedom resides within walls. Without boundaries, there is no freedom.

Who Do You See In The Mirror?

When you look into your mirror, who do you see? What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? What have you done and what can you do? Do you really know who you have been in the last 12 months? If you don’t know who you have been, you are not likely to be any better in future. Why? Becoming better starts from knowing who we are. If we don’t know our current strengths and weaknesses, how can we take steps to improve? This is why many people continue to struggle in the same areas of weaknesses day after day and year after year.

Where did you achieve best results in the past year? Focus on this area(s) Yes, there is a place for striving to do things we have not attempted in the past but we cannot continue to put our best efforts in our worst areas. Our best results come from finding the areas of our strength and putting our best effort in those areas. I am certainly not who I used to be. People who knew me a decade ago and who still know me today will testify to this. I hope to continue changing; but I will only become my best by putting my best efforts in my areas of best results.

Before you begin life in the new year, please take a moment to reflect on the person you have been as well as what mattered most to you in the past twelve months. Did you notice any positive change between the person you were two years ago and the person you have been in the past one year? Did you notice improvements in your weaknesses? Did you develop new interests? Are you satisfied with your current level of accomplishment? Are you grieving over the loss of a job, friend or position? Please understand that the person you have been in the last 12 months can stand in the way of the person you need to be in the next 12 months. A wise man said "To wear a new shoes, you must first remove the old one" Before you crossover to the New Year, be sure to get rid of old habits and allow the person you have been in 2012 transform into a better you in 2013. To experience a new you, you must first get rid of the old you. 

Let go of the failures, mistakes, pains, regrets, guilt, bitterness as well as current successes. Yes, satisfaction with our current successes can also keep us from attempting greater things. It is particularly important that you let go of people who are not helping you move forward in order to bring in new important people into your life. There may be a few key people that are meant to be with you for life and even then it is important to be sure you are all growing together. To hold on to people who are not advancing with you or people whose tenures in your life are over is to keep yourself tied to the past. The people God used to help you in the past may not be the same people God will use in future. I am speaking from experience. While maintaining quality relationships from the past and appreciating those God has used to bring me to where I am, I am also learning to give attention to the important people God put in my life here and now. 

Before diving into the new year, sit down and do a personal evaluation of yourself and decide that the person you have been in the past year will not stand in the way of the person you can be in the coming year. 

Prayer: Lord, help me to know who I am and who you assigned to help me become the person you want me to be in the coming year, in Jesus name.

Follow The One Who Knows The Way

Before the 1988 Olympics began, a television program featured a group of blind skiers being trained for slalom (zigzag) skiing. These blind skiers were paired with sighted skiers, and taught how to make right and left turns. When they mastered this procedure, they were taken to the slalom slope, where their sighted partners skied beside them shouting, "Left!" and "Right!" As they obeyed the commands, they were able to negotiate the course and cross the finish line. Everyone applauded. What was their secret? The sighted skier’s word (Haddon Robinson).

That is the way it is with us and God. We are in reality blind as to what course to take in life. We must rely solely on the Word of the One who is truly sighted--God Himself. God guides us by his word. He said “you will hear a voice behind you telling you turn to the left and turn to the right” Isa 30:21. God has promised to guide all his children in this wonderland we call world. Are you listening and following the one who knows the way or are you wondering in the maze? Do you live by divine direction or do you live by trial and error? Do you know how to hear and recognize his voice or do you base all your decisions on what you know or feel?

There’s good news: we can hear God through his word. the word of God is like a lamp that guides us in the dark path. Hearing God through his word is more than reading or reciting the scriptures. It is more than listening to sermons or putting the bible under your pillow at night.

Hearing God through his word happens when we get personal with the word. Live in the word and let the word live in you. It is only by so doing that we contact the spirit and voice of God which is beyond the ink and paper.

You will hear a voice behind you saying, "This is the way. Follow it, whether it turns to the right or to the left." (Isaiah 30:21)

9 Reasons To Fall In Love Tonight

There is no better way to end a year and begin a new one than to fall in love. I do not know why we use the word “fall” to describe two people in love relationship but I like it. It seems to communicate the idea that when you are in love, you no longer maintain your stand or protect your own interests and personal space. People in love fall for one another-don’t they? You cannot be in love and maintain your ground all the time. It is this outward-focus nature of love that makes love truly blissful. Ok, let me say this right here before we go too far: this article is not about romantic love -although that is equally a beautiful topic. My focus is the importance and necessity of unconditional love in relating with other people. I want to share with you 9 powerful reasons you cannot afford to live a LOVE-LESS life or live in bitterness for that matter -at least not in the New Year. If you are already in love, remain in love. If you choose to NOT walk in love, I can tell you with confidence that you would hurt yourself more than you realize.

9 Reasons To Fall In Love
1. Love Is A Sweetener. Love is the flavour that makes life sweet. Without love life is bitter. Little things like ‘thank you’, ‘please’,’ sorry’, ‘welcome’, ‘I love you’, ‘I miss you’, ‘I want to be with you’, etc are the seasonings that make life taste good. People who complain about everything and everyone make life taste sour and bitter; not only for themselves but for people around them. On the other hand, people who show love, give complements and make effort to create harmony around them are the ones that make life taste good like honey. Fall in love and stay in love; then you will find that life is sweet!

2. Love Is Key To Good Health A person who loves enjoys good health but a person living with bitterness often fall sick. There is nothing as emotionally draining as bitterness and resentment. If you really hate another person to the point where you wish them dead the next minute, you might be putting yourself in the danger of dying before they do. Carrying bitterness in ones heart to the point where you cannot sleep without having your offender lying side by side in bed with you each night puts you in a state of mental and emotion breakdown. I believe one of the reasons our hospitals are full of sick people is because we have too many people full of bitterness. There are probably people on their death bed who are cursing and wishing evil on others right now. No wonder some people do not respond well to treatment. Resolve never to go to bed angry, it will do your health some good

3. Love Is Key To Financial Freedom. There is a link between love and financial freedom and between bitterness and poverty. If you love you will give and if you give you will receive. The reverse is also true. If you don’t love you won’t give and if you don’t give you won’t get. It’s that simple. Givers never lack and haters are never free from lack. Did you know that many of the world's richest people are the ones solving problems for people? It is hard to be a successful business person without a true desire to solve problems for people with genuine love. That is why when I see a person who does not care to solve problems for people I know I'm looking at a person who is going to be poor and broke sooner or later. Love leads to financial freedom. Bitterness leads to financial hardship.

It is not only giving that opens financial doors, forgiving also does. Did u know that many people will be rich if they did not owe anyone? If you are bitter and unforgiving, you may never get out of debt. Jesus taught this powerful lesson with the story of a guy who owed a large sum of money that he was unable to pay. Moved with compassion, his creditor forgave him and wrote off the debt. As soon as he left his Creditor, he met another guy who owed him a lesser amount of money and he refused to forgive. His former creditor heard what he had done, called him back and demanded that he paid up every cent he owed or spend the rest of his life in jail. Could it be that many of us are unable to get out of debt because we have refused to forgive people who owe us? Remember- it is God who gives power to get wealth and he gives it only to people who obey the commandment to love and forgive one another.

4. Love Sets Free. Loving people sets people free. Haters live in self-made prisons. For example, if you are bitter against someone, you want to do everything to avoid that person and avoiding people is hard work. If they are coming in one way, you want to take another way whether you like it or not. Does that sound like self-made prison? Yes, it does. Keeping a grudge keeps the grudge custodian in self-made prison. By prison, I mean any condition that restricts our freedom and makes life more difficult for us. Many people are in emotional prisons today because they choose to live with bitterness. No matter our justification for that bitterness or resentment, it still hurts the person carrying it. If you want to enjoy true freedom, learn to love people. Loving people set people free.

5. Love Attracts Love Gifts Every true gift is motivated by love. “For God so loved the world that he gave His Son…” Imagine a world without Jesus Christ. Many of the wonderful things that make life beautiful come as free gifts inspired by love; especially gifts that money cannot buy. Who can afford to buy oxygen and the lungs to suck it up? Who can buy happiness and acceptance? Who can buy genuine friendship and all the blessings that come with it? Without love there is no true gift and without gifts life becomes empty. Love is the inspiration behind giving and receiving. If you want to enjoy plenty, learn to love. You will not only give more but you will also receive more and your life will be full of love gifts.

6. Love Yields Good Returns On Investment Did you know that many of the love gestures and favours you and I enjoy today may quite be returns on the investment of love and kindness we or our parents showed to other people in the past? That is why we must not look away if we can help someone in need. There will be a time when you or your loved one will be in need; if you have not made any love investment you may not enjoy as much returns. “He who gives to the poor lends to the Lord and the Lord does repay “ Imagine God giving you returns on your love investment - huge dividends it will be. A person who loves secures God's favour. Believe that!

7. Love Is The Power Behind Faith. No one can accomplish much without faith but faith works only by love. The great Theologian Paul of Tarsus wanted to emphasize the superiority of love and he said “if I have faith to move mountains but have no love, it means nothing (1Cor13:8). Bible says let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works (Mat 5:14). Faith without work is dead and the works of faith are the good works motivated by love.

8. Love Makes You A Friend of God. I heard of a man who killed his wife and daughters because he felt they were dishonouring God. Do you mean to tell me that God kills everyone who dishonours him and the world's population still stands at over 7 billion today? Without knowing it, that man made himself an enemy of God because he is a murderer. Not many people will admit to being murderers but many will admit to being bitter against someone. Well, haters are murderers at heart and murderers don’t have the life of God in them (1 John3:15). Love covers multitude of sins (1 peter 4:8) but where there is no love, people commit all kinds of evil and violence against one another. Love makes you a friend of God because God is love personified. In the same way, bitterness (no matter the justification) expels a person from God’s presence because bitterness grieves the Holy Spirit. Without love you become an enemy of God.

9. Lovelessness Is An Invitation For Evil. Without love you indirectly invite Satan over. A person who walks in love carries the presence of God because God is love (1John 4:8) but where there is strife there is every kind of evil (James 3:16). That is why God said do not grieve the Holy Spirit (Eph 4:30) because if a person’s heart is not occupied by God, it will be occupied by Satan. It's that simple. I must emphasize here that if God says DO NOT do something you would do yourself a favour to run from it. Don't even think twice about it and don't attempt it. If you do, the price might be too costly. There is no better way to invite Satan into one's life than by harboring bitterness and hatred.

Allow me to quickly share a personal experience with you. I have always known this truth but there was a particular day I thought I must let a friend know that what he was doing was not good. My heart was filled with bitterness and I was determined to stay that way forever. Right there in the centre of my bitter mind, a scripture dropped. "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit" It was so strong that it felt like my heart was going to stop. I had to make a choice: continue to hold that bitterness even when I know it grieves the Holy Spirit or let go and please God. I didn't have too much time so I choose forgiveness. That moment it was as if a river broke up in my heart. Things changed and the breakthrough that followed that night was sweeter than anything I have known. Each time I look back and realize the power of that simple obedience I want to just love all my enemies. Why? -Because it benefits me more than them. If you hate them you hurt yourself.

Do we still need more reasons to love? Do we need any more proves that a loveless life attracts huge self-imposed fines? It's now your choice: Will you continue to be bitter or would you let go and inhale fresh air in the New Year? You still have about five days to unwind and release everyone who hurt you in 2011. Do yourself a favour, fall in love tonight! Enjoy a merry Christmas and a happy new year!