What’s wrong with the following sentence? “Well, my siblings are getting jobs left and right, and I’m just a mom.”
Hopefully, you see the lie. It reeks of self put down. It basically says that what this person is doing is some how less worthy than what their siblings are doing. I like what a European philosopher once said, “The real test of a man is not when he plays the role he wants for himself, but when he plays the role destiny has for him.”
Believers in Jesus are God’s workmanship created in Jesus with a specific purpose in mind. We don’t get to choose what our talents and abilities will be. We do choose, however, whether to exercise them in the Spirit’s power or not.
Your job, secure child of God, is to listen to and follow Jesus right where you are in this moment of time. Choose today to be who your God made you to be, not someone else. Operating in this manner keeps you free from your drugs of choice as you’re not in pain all the time from trying to be someone you were never meant to be.
Jesus gave you life. Go live it!
“S”et Free Nowww

I wasn’t able to walk and talk with Jesus until it was 89 degrees outside due to my schedule. That’s a little warm for some, but just right for me. Before I headed out, though, I grabbed a bottle of ice cold water. It took less than two miles to turn lukewarm! Why? It stop being where it could stay cold.
Jesus lovingly nailed the church that existed at Laodicea for being neither refreshingly hot nor cold. They had become lukewarm. They stopped doing what got them hot (i.e. staying on the stove) or cold (i.e. staying refrigerated) in the first place.
Hey, I drank the lukewarm water, but it surely wasn’t very satisfying, let alone refreshing. Here’s a few questions to ask from Acts 2:42-44 to keep drinking in a refreshing life. One, is your trust in Jesus and His Word increasing (“apostles teaching”)? This goes to your daily reading of the Word while listening to Jesus speak to you. Two, is your love for Jesus and His people growing (“fellowship”)? This goes to the fact that you gather with other believers because you need them to grow in Jesus.
And three, is your worship of and witness for Jesus developing a stronger hope (“breaking bread,” “prayers,” “and the Lord added daily those being saved”)? As you keep using your biblical tools each day to listen to and follow Jesus with every thought, word and action, your life will change. This is worship. As your life changes, others will see it and hopefully want what you have. This is witness.
Your life will be refreshing as you keep answering “Yes” to these three questions. Stop doing any of them and you’ll become as lukewarm as the water I drank on the trail. It’s barely satisfying and certainly not refreshing.
Set Free Now“W”w

The oil light just came on my dashboard. I can do one of two things with this information. I can ignore it and watch my engine burn up, which would cost thousands of dollars down the road. Or, I can heed it and put oil in my car, which would only cost a few dollars today. It was a no brainer. I put oil in my car.
Suffering is like that oil light. It’s a warning signal to a potential character building situation (Romans 5:3-5). Suffering or challenges should cause us to slow down and ask ourselves, “Is there something I’m doing that is going to cost me big time if I don’t take care of it now?” If the Spirit, who has been poured into your heart, doesn’t reveal anything, then keep using your biblical tools to listen to and follow Jesus. If He does point something out, it’s time to use your biblical tools to discover where the problem is (aka the lie in your thinking) and let Him fix it.
If we heed suffering’s warning signal, our lives can be changed, which brings eternal dividends. If we choose to ignore it by continuing to drive down the road of life doing what we’ve always done, now with a terrible attitude, we’ll pay the price, maybe not today, but definitely down the road.
Life is not just about living. It’s about using life’s daily situations to draw closer to and become more like Jesus. Head your warning lights – let the Spirit change your life.
Set Free Now“W”w

I’m reading a book about Louie Zamperini, who recently died at the age of 97. It’s a story of two guys who survived 47 days in the open waters of the Pacific Ocean and then years in a Japanese concentration camp during WW II.
In the early days of their journey to be rescued, his floating partner, Allen Phillips, told him of a story he’d read in Life magazine about WW I ace pilot Eddie Rickenbacker, whose crew lasted twenty-four days in the Pacific. Rickenbacker recalled that the greatest threat to their survival was not exposure to the elements, dehydration or starvation, but insanity.
Because of this, Louie starting “thinking about a college physiology class he taken (USC of course!), in which the instructor had taught them to think of the mind as a muscle that would atrophy if left idle.” Louie was determined that “no matter what happened to their bodies, their minds would stay under their control.” They would daily play games to keep their minds sharp.
Jesus said the greatest command ever given is, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Believers must exercise the muscle between their ears and their main piece of workout equipment is the FREEdom process.
Because exercising is not a way of life for many, it’s going to be tough. It might even hurt…a lot! But as you practice thinking through life’s situations using the biblical truths given you by Jesus from His word, you’ll not only survive, but you’ll also become more like Jesus, which lasts for eternity, not just 47 days.
Watching life go by creates a mushy brain. Processing life through God’s word creates a healthy brain. Love your God today. Go take your brain for a walk.
Set “FREE” Nowww

Ever had a song stick in your head? This happened to me this morning, but at an inopportune time. I was out walking and talking with Jesus when a song popped into my head. (This is the view I saw. It was even more gorgeous when the sun rose and the colors brightened). The song was okay, but it was a huge distraction to talking with and listening to Jesus.
My walk started at 5:30AM. I hadn’t  even been listening to music! Yet, here I was when, seemingly out of no where, this song popped into my head. I tried to ignore it, but I knew better. The only way to get rid of one song is to replace with another one.
And was this thought really out of no where? Not really. We have an adversary who doesn’t want us to walk and talk with Jesus and will use all kinds of distractions to keep us from doing so.
Only we can stop ourselves, not him! We have control over the grey matter between our ears. We don’t always have control over where the thoughts come from, but we do have control over what we do with them once they pop up on the screen.
Once I realized what was going on, used the FREEdom process to replace the distracting song with a Jesus focusing song, the distraction was gone and Jesus’ presence was restored. Defeat your distractions today by taking ownership of the stuff between you ears. It really does matter.
“S”et Free Nowww