Five Keys to Freedom

Daily Reading: Luke 13

Scripture Focus: Woman, you are freed from your disability. (Luke 13.13)

Devotional Thought: She suffered for eighteen years, finding no freedom. When she met Jesus, however, she was set free! Neil Lozano, in his book Unbound, offers Five Keys for Freedom:

· Repentance and Faith. The first thing we need to be free is peace with God. We do that by repenting from our sins and trusting in Jesus for salvation. We don't do anything to earn his love. He loves us because he loves us. We simply have to turn to him in faith.

· Forgiveness in the Name of Jesus. When we are given the freedom of God's forgiveness, we need to forgive others. We are unable - humanly - to do that. We must do it in the name of Jesus. Forgiveness is not something you feel. It is something you give.

· Renunciation in the Name of Jesus. What are those things that bind you? Fear? Jealousy? Lust? Pride? Take time to search deep within your heart. When those things are revealed, renounce them: “In the name of Jesus, I renounce the spirit of ________.”

· Taking Authority in the Name of Jesus. Verbalize your authority. “In the name of Jesus, I command the spirit of _________ to leave me and never to return." This is not the same as casting out a demon. It is simply refusing to let things like fear, anger, self-condemnation, etc. have a place in your life.

· Receiving the Father’s Blessing. Remember: God loves you. He wants to bless you and make you a blessing. When you offer yourself to him, he works his good will in your life.

Jesus wants to set you free. Use these Five Keys to Freedom!

Prayer: Father, I thank you for setting me free. I turn to you in faith and receive that freedom. I forgive those who have wronged me. I renounce and cast out those things that have controlled me in the past, and I receive your blessing. In Jesus' name, amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 139.7-16

7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” 12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.

13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.