Walk Free

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” — Galatians 5:1, NIV
• we learned that slavery is not only being physically locked up, because someone can be walking freely, smiling, working and living normally while still being controlled inwardly by sin, anger, pride, lust, fear, resentment, addiction or the need to please people; Jesus said, **“Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin” — John 8:34, ** and the Israelites showed this clearly because although God had taken them out of Egypt, their minds kept traveling back there, almost like a prisoner whose cell door has been opened but who still sleeps beside the chains because they have become familiar, and they remembered the food of Egypt while forgetting the whips, the suffering and the humiliation, which teaches that true freedom is not only leaving Egypt physically but allowing God to remove Egypt from the heart, because a chain does not become harmless simply because it is decorated, “Sin, however small it may be esteemed, can be indulged in only at the peril of infinite loss.” — Steps to Christ, p. 32

• Peter’s story in Acts 12 shows there are prisons we cannot escape from by our own strength, because Peter was chained between soldiers, guarded heavily and waiting for Herod to bring him out, yet while the church was praying an angel entered the prison and God did what Peter could never have done for himself; Peter was like a man trapped at the bottom of a deep pit with no ladder, because no amount of jumping could bring him out, and in the same way we may promise ourselves that we will change, try harder or never fall again, but human strength alone cannot break the power of sin, which is why Jesus said, “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” — John 8:36, NKJV, because Christ does not simply teach prisoners how to feel comfortable in the cell, He breaks the authority of the prison itself.

• When the angel came to Peter, he said, **“Arise quickly!” And his chains fell off his hands — Acts 12:7, **and although God performed the miracle, Peter still had to respond, because freedom is like being rescued from a burning house: the rescuer may open the door and clear the path, but you must still be willing to walk out; some people pray to be freed from something while continuing to hold onto it, we ask for victory over temptation while keeping everything that makes temptation easy, and ask God to change our lives while resisting every change He reveals, so when Christ gives us strength, light and an open door, faith must move instead of remaining comfortable in the place of bondage.

• After Peter’s chains fell, the angel told him, **“Put on your garment and follow me.” — Acts 12:8, **and this reminds us that Christian freedom is not simply doing whatever we feel like doing, because feelings without direction are like a car with no steering wheel, powerful enough to move but unable to avoid danger; true freedom is being released from the rule of sin so that we can follow Christ, and Peter did not know exactly how he would pass every guard or how the iron gate would open, but he obeyed the direction God gave him, and when he reached the gate, “they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its own accord.” — Acts 12:10, NKJV, teaching us that we do not always need to see the whole road before taking the next faithful step, because headlights do not show the entire journey at once, but they give enough light to keep moving forward.

• Freedom does not mean that temptation will never speak again, because old habits, desires and memories may still try to call us back, but hearing the voice of the old master does not mean that we still belong to him, just as a former prisoner may remember the sound of the prison door without being locked inside it; **“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” — 2 Corinthians 3:17,**and the safest way to remain free is to stay close to Christ, remove what repeatedly draws us back, remain in prayer and the Word and allow the Holy Spirit to fill the empty spaces left by the old life, because an empty room quickly gathers dust again if it is not cleaned and occupied, and as Ellen White wrote, “The only defense against evil is the indwelling of Christ in the heart through faith in His righteousness.” — The Desire of Ages, p. 324
Christ has opened the prison and broken the chains, so do not remain in the place from which He has delivered you, do not call Egypt home simply because it feels familiar, and do not rebuild the prison that Jesus has already destroyed, because your past may explain where you have been, but it does not have the authority to decide where you are going.
The chains have fallen, the door is open, and Christ is calling you to walk free.