God wants to free us from the bondage of Satan’s lies through the truth of his Word. God’s truth frees us from the elaborate deceptions Satan uses to manipulate our thoughts, feelings, and decisions.
Jesus gave his disciples a remarkable promise: “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” —John 8:32, HCSB
When God reveals the truth to us, those supernatural insights shatter the carefully crafted illusions of the evil one that prevents us from experiencing the full and meaningful life that Jesus offers.
In good times and hard times, in season and out of season, you are always the same new creation in Christ designed to flourish in a relationship with God.
This new life in Christ is a life of freedom grounded in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Nothing can change your true identity in Christ. When you walk in Christ, you live out of your new identity. Your life will be characterized by God’s freedom.
God’s Freedom
In Christ, you have been set free from the bondage of sin and guilt, the spirit of rejection and condemnation, the yoke of demonic deception, worry and anxiety, and all fear – including the fear of men, evil, death, and hell.
“Above all, you are been set free from your old self – your old way of living, thinking, feeling, reacting, everything! You have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer you who live, but Christ who lives in you.” (Galatians 2:20)
God expects you to enjoy the freedom that you have been given in Christ regardless of the world around us. Imagine a life free from the bondage of sin and deception — a life where feelings of guilt and rejection are quickly handled as you apply God’s truth. Imagine being so secure in your relationship with God and in your dependence on His promises that your life is virtually free of worry and fear! No longer external circumstances will have control over you.
God’s Peace and Joy
One of the results of your freedom in Christ is his peace and joy. They, too, transcend our circumstances. God is even more committed to our happiness and well-being than we are because the Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17). When we live from the perspective of God’s kingdom, we live free from worldly influence. The result is a life of peace and joy.
God’s peace is more than the absence of disturbance or discord. It also refers to being whole and complete. God alone can make you whole. Your new self is complete in Christ. Its source is God, and it begins with your restored (harmonious and complete) relationship with God.
God’s joy is the joy of Jesus (John 15:11). It is in asking and receiving in His name that your joy may be full (John 16:24). Jesus’ heart was fully aligned with the Father’s heart. As our hearts become more like the heart of Jesus, we ask according to His will and receive what God has for us. In His goodness and grace, we rejoice.
God’s Victory
Another result of your freedom in Christ is God’s victory.
In Christ, God has not only secured your freedom from the domain of darkness but also guaranteed His victory over death, evil, darkness, and Satan. In Christ, you have overcome the evil one (1 John 4:4) and will be able to overcome adversity. A supernatural lifestyle is not free of misery, pain, and suffering because we live in a fallen world and the spiritual enemy of God is determined to destroy you and His creation. But with the right perspective, in adverse situations, we finally grasp the truth of the exchanged life in freedom that our old self is dead with Christ and that our new life is Christ in us.
Adverse circumstances also provide a showcase to demonstrate the quality of God’s workmanship in us to the watching hosts of both physical and spiritual universes. In other words, both human beings and spiritual beings are watching you closely during this crisis to see if your God is who you say he is.
Finally, adversity comes because we live in the universe at spiritual war. The doomed forces of evil are doing their worst to damage the unshakable kingdom of the invincible King.
God does not expect us to endure evil. He expects us to triumph over it. Against evils, we are commanded to resist and stand firm. Adversity can be brought about by natural causes such as pandemics, drought, earthquakes, and tsunamis. Spiritual enemies will take advantage of these natural disasters to spread fear and panic, stirring up in our hearts hatred or selfishness. Even in adversity that is caused by humans, people are not our enemies. The Word of God gives us a different (God’s) perspective. “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12). So, our weapons of righteousness (2 Corinthians 6:7) against adversity are spiritual and wielded in genuine love (2 Corinthians 6:6).