Floodgates of Heaven Devotions: Freedom

Today’s Reading: Psalm 51-53, Romans 2

Today’s Reflection: Psalm 51:12-13 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

Upon what grounds shall we teach transgressors of the ways of The Lord? Upon what character traits of the Almighty shall sinners be converted unto Him? It is, in verse one, His ability to restore the JOY of His salvation, and to uphold us with His FREE spirit! So we see restoration, joy, salvation, and freedom.

What, in this list of God’s “ways” is there NOT to be desired? Is it not the heart cry of every single human being to have that which was lost restored to them? Is not every person crying out for a Savior to save them from their seemingly permanent condition of hopelessness? Are we not starving for joy in an otherwise dark and gloomy world around us? Do we not wish above all else to enjoy freedom in its truest sense?

I would give the answers to all of these questions a resounding YES! Even so, I now hope to focus in on one specific word in these “ways” of The Lord that have profound depth, meaning, and implications; and that is the word “free”. The Psalmist prays, “…uphold me with thy free spirit.” Now, looking more deeply into the Hebrew dictionary, the original word from which we get our translation “free” means NOBILITY.

Webster defines nobility rather exhaustively to include, but not be limited to, the following meanings; “greatness, grandeur, antiquity of family; descent from noble ancestors; distinction by blood, usually joined with riches, and persons collectively who enjoy rank above commoners.” Looking at these meanings, can you now see why I’m so excited to point this out? David is literally praying that he will be upheld by God’s free (aka noble, great, distinct by blood) spirit.

Friends, when we are forgiven of our sins and washed in the blood of Jesus, we become heirs and joint heirs with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. We rise above the common place of sin in which He found us. We are no longer slaves or peasants to sin and shame; we are, in fact, nobility. And it is in THIS spirit of FREEDOM that we are to be UPHELD! Having said that, one can then truly understand, based upon THIS knowledge, that we can then and only then be able to “teach transgressors thy ways” and see sinners converted to Christ!!

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Today’s Reading: 1 Chron. 25-27, John 9:1-23

Today’s Reflection: John 9:13 They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind.

I can just feel the over-reach of abusive authority in the air as I read this verse. Here, a man who was blind from birth has received healing through the miraculous work of Jesus Christ, which would be reason for celebration for almost anyone, right?

Well, ALMOST is the key word, because there was at least one group of people (namely, the Pharisees) that was not so happy about this healing. Why? Because it was all about control. Anything and everything that happened in their town was to either be run through them, or at the very least authorized by them.

The temple was the epicenter of all of Jewish life and customs, which affected not only their worship, but their laws, their economy, their travels, you name it. This was the place where it was always happening. And the Pharisees had the community surrounding the temple well trained to bring any and all matters to their attention for their swift approval or disapproval.

Now, this is where we come in on verse 13. Here they are, bringing this man who was healed of blindness to the Pharisees, as if some law was broken. Now, let that sink in; the over-reach of authority and power amongst the religious elite was so bad, that even a healthy, positive, wholesome event such as a miraculous healing, was to be scrutinized by these self-righteous individuals before it could be commonly accepted as a good or bad thing.

Isn’t it amazing just how sickly skewed the perspective of such individuals can become, when power, authority, and greed take over their hearts? The truth was, “church” had just become routine, and the “powers that be” fought to remain so, because they loved to be seen, heard, and yes, even obeyed. And if there was to be any miracles looked at in a positive light, it would only be because they deemed it so.

It mattered not to them as to the validity of the incident, because they just took for granted that they were the ones in power, and would always be the ones in power.

The only problem with that was, their authority was weak and powerless in the light of this miracle-working man named Jesus Christ. In fact, Jesus neither sought for, nor was granted, the approval of these men in power. My advice, if you are under their spell, is to cut the strings TODAY!

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Floodgates of Heaven
Volume 2
Entry 145 of 365

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