—You feel guilty all the time.
—You’re fearful.
—You live with a profound sense of rejection.
You might know intellectually that God has accepted you and forgiven you, but you don’t feel loved or accepted. This can cause you to reject others through prejudice or fear.
So what is required here is a paradigm shift. An exchange of one line of thinking for another. And that’s exactly what the Christian life is—an exchange. We exchange an old life for a new one, bad habits with new ones, a death sentence for the gift of eternal life.
We replace fear with freedom.
You cannot be free and be controlled by fear. Fear is the worst kind of tyranny and oppression. It hinders life and paralyzes its victims. Fear quenches the Spirit, and deceives us into forgetting our heavenly Father, who promises, “For I know the plans that I have for you, says the Lord, plans for peace and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jer. 29:11).
As I made clear Romans 8:1 is one of the most liberating statements to ring through eternity. And, for those who have given their lives to Jesus, it is the truth that will set us free and help us to love others without fear and prejudice.
When I contemplate this powerful Scripture, I want to echo the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. in celebration, and cry aloud with joy, “Free at last, thank God Almighty, we are free at last!” {eoa}
Ray Bentley is a pastor, prophecy expert and author. He founded Maranatha Chapel in August 1984, and the church now serves 7,000 people weekly. His daily radio show can be heard across the United States and on stations around the world. His latest series—”The Elijah Chronicles”—is a fiction series based on end-times events. The first two in this three-part series is available here: raybentley.
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