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(Editor´s Note: This is part three of an article proclaiming the way of release to every man who will put his faith in Jesus Christ!)
Jesus Thoroughly Liberates Captive Men
Jesus Christ has superior power to release captive men from every one of Satan´s ties that bind and shackles that enslave! However, you must call upon Him in a personal expression of need. Why? Why doesn´t the Lord just appear in the sky and wave His hand to set men free? It is because while Satan did deceive Eve, she and her husband made a deliberate choice to disobey God and brought upon themselves and us their descendants, the consequences of bondage to sin, death and the dominion of spiritual darkness. Now too, men actually love darkness (John 3:16-21)!
To those men then, who will look to Jesus Christ to be completely released from Satan´s ties and shackles, He invites you to call upon Him right now! For it is written, '"Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved,'" (Romans 10:13, NKJV). In calling upon the Lord, you are to come owning up to your guilt as a sinner. You are to also come in deep regret and godly sorrow, ready to turn in what the Bible calls repentance, from your sins.
Next, the Lord wants you to believe in His love for you to the point He suffered and died for your sins on the cross. He also wants you to believe He arose from the dead and is in real time issuing you this invitation! Lastly, He wants you to purposely invite Him into your heart to rule over you as Lord. In so doing, He will grant you the gift of the Holy Spirit and eternal life! It is a matter of prayer. Won´t you?
If in prayer you have made Jesus Christ your Savior and Lord, He now bids you come and follow Him as a disciple and strong man of God in training. He requires that you abide, that is, remain, stay in His Word. If you do, you will show yourself to truly be His disciple. As the Lord´s disciple, "you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free," (John 8:31-32). Ignorance is not bliss! But someone will say, "What truth?" What do you want to know? The Lord is omniscient; He knows everything!
The first and foremost truth you need to know is what Jesus Christ says of Himself: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me," (John 14:6, NKJV). In knowing Jesus Christ, you know the One and only way into the presence of God, you will know the full truth about God and His Kingdom and you now know through personal experience the very life of God!
Very importantly too, God wants you to know and understand the truth about His purposes and plans in human affairs and history. As black American men, this includes very specifically all of our questions about why God permitted the physical enslavement of our West African ancestors to the Europeans and those of that ancestry here in America. Through James He issues this invitation: "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him," (James 1:5, NKJV).
As a disciple of Jesus Christ He requires that you walk with Him by faith. You come to Him by faith and you live in Him by faith! Satan´s dark world is a cold, harsh environment. "A brother can´t trust nobody." Even family lets you down. However, the Lord is not like sin-controlled men; He can be completely trusted and is trustworthy! He is perfectly righteous and does not change (Malachi 3:6a) or speak lies (Hebrews 6:13-18).
Faith in the Lord sets a man free from the sin of believing in and depending only upon himself. This is a violation of the first of God´s Ten Commandments: "I am the Lord your God...you shall have no other gods before Me," (Exodus 20:2-3, NKJV). Besides, "Without faith it is impossible to please Him," (Hebrews 11:6a, NKJV).
Confident trust in the Lord also sets us free from worry and enables our ability in Him to overcome the adversities, trials and troubles of this life (Matthew 6:25-34; John 16:33). In fact, God even works our sufferings together for the good as "tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope," (Romans 5:3b-4, NKJV). Hope in our spirits liberates as well as keeps us out of discouragement and depression (destructive states of mind Satan loves tie to us up with) and is one of God´s natural highs!
Finally, the Lord Jesus commands His disciples to love one another (John 13:34-35). If you love Him, you will obey this as well as all of His commandments (John 14:15). Love sets us free from bitterness and hatred over the heartbreaking experiences of living in a fallen world. It also enables us to forgive ourselves along with those who have sinned against us.
We are able to forgive others in love because God in love forgives us our sins against Him! Of course, the love we employ is not our own but God´s! His love supernaturally operates in us through the presence, power and working of the Holy Spirit (John 14:16-17; Romans 5:5; Galatians 5:22-25)!
To Be Continued Next Issue
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