"I'm Free"

This is the message behind the song on my album called "I'm Free." The song features Two:Eight - check em out @ twoeight.org. I wrote some messages behind the songs on my latest album "Intimately Consumed" and am going to do my best to start posting the message... enjoy and g g get you some!

The Bible makes it clear that what you present your body to you are a slave to that thing. If you choose to constantly live apart from God, and choose not to believe in His power and freedom that's available through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, then you will choose to live in your flesh apart from the Spirit of God. You will choose to live apart from the Author of Life itself in whom should be your very life source. You will be a slave to your flesh or a slave to sin. The mind set on the flesh is death. The mind that is set on what's best for you, and living for your own glory and self is death. There is no life in it and there never will be. It's horrible (I know because I once use to live this way) and we were not created to function apart from having and being filled with God's Spirit dwelling inside our being.

When you submit your life to Jesus, there is freedom and rest. I am not talking about going to church on Sundays or maybe even Wednesdays although these things are good. I am talking about a whole hearted surrenderence where you no longer are on the throne of your own life - Christ is. Where you live completely sold out to Jesus. There is peace and hope out of this place. There is joy and life in abundance. I'm not saying that everything will be peaches and cream when you submit to Him. Life is hard whether you are a believer or not. However, even through trials, there is still a deep sense of peace, joy, and fulfillment deep down because you know that God is bigger then anything you could ever go through or face and that He's on your side. You know that He is for you and not against you (Rom 8:28, 31). A lifestyle apart from God, which I talk about in this song, led to depression, emptiness, and a lack of what the Bible talks about as "life."

Jesus said that He is the way, the truth, and THE LIFE. It says in John 10:10 that He came to give us life and life abundantly. This song is called I'm free. You might be asking, free from what? Let's start off with this - I'm free from living an eternity condemned to hell. I'm free from the mind that lived to please myself and lived for my own glory. You might say, there's no way you can be positive. The Bible teaches something different. It teaches that we have a guaranteed promise through the Holy Spirit. It says that nothing will separate us from His love - the ones that are His children (Rom 8:38-39; 1 Peter 1:3-5). I can say with confidence that I'm going to see Jesus face to face some day and I cannot wait! This is what I live for. I know that I will be in paradise with Him when I leave earth. I am not just living to "get rich or die trying" or living just to retire - I am living with the hope of an eternity of life with a good, living, amazing God. I am living with a reward that is being stored up in heaven.

Sin has a way of drawing you back for more and more. It has a way of puffing you up and putting you on the throne, where only God Himself should be in your life. It's very enticing to the eyes, and deceptively promises immediate gratification and satisfaction. When it's all said and done, it does the opposite and leaves you unsatisfied, unfulfilled, and empty. I am now free, through the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ, from this constant marry go round. I no longer have to submit to the ways of the flesh and the simple patterns that this world offers. I want to be like Moses was in his generation, "choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt (this world); for he was looking to the reward (Hebrews 11:25-26). I no longer have to drink to be cool or feel good. I no longer have to smoke weed to find a fake sense of peace. There is peace and joy in Jesus Christ that is eternal - it doesn't leave when you wake up the next morning. You will never know peace, until you meet the Prince of Peace. He will never leave you nor forsake you. You choose! I'm free from the bondage that sin had on my life. The chains that once were, have broken and I live in intimate fellowship with Jesus. I have been freed from a mind that was full of depression and questions; a mind that never truly rested.

Now, I'm not saying I don't mess up, or go through hard times - but there is life available through fellowship with Jesus. The Bible says that if we walk in the Spirit we don't gratify the sinful desires of the flesh (Gal 5:16). The Bible also teaches that who the Son sets free is free indeed, and as you know the truth, you will be free (John 8:32, 36). Jesus Christ, came here as fully God and Man, lived a perfect life which none of us could, and hung on a cross. You might be thinking, ok.. heard that a million times.. Jesus died for me blah blah blah. He did not stay on that cross. He was literally resurrected completely back to life and walked and talked to people after this. This is history. This is a proven fact. Jesus Christ has been resurrected from the dead! Now, you might be thinking... yep heard that one too. Let me put it this way - let's start all over. Adam and Eve, the first people to be created, had it all! They lived in communion with God. They lived a life that was truly amazing! They were made in the very image of God. They were created to reflect the glory of God for His own pleasure and delight. The Lord took pleasure in them, and He was pleased. They took pleasure in Him and were amazed by His matchless splendor. The beauty of His creation has been seen clearly by all (Romans 1:20). We were made to live and be connected to the Author of Life itself - a divine Creator in whom all things were created through and for (Col 1:15-18). Now you might be saying where are you going with this J-Mack? Well... this great life that they had was lost in the garden.. They sinned and turned to their own ways, which we all have done, each to our own way! This masterpiece that God had designed was now ruined. He created them in His own image. They also had the power of choice. And choose they did... They chose to go there own way. The Bible teaches that we have all gone to our own ways - we have all sinned and fallen short of His glory. The Lord sent His only and only Son to redeem all that was lost in the garden. We were created for fellowship and intimacy with a God who is love. We were created with a part of us, the spirit, that can only be filled with God's Spirit. We were created and designed to be the image of God! This point is this: you will never be truly free until you submit to the only One who can set you free - that is Jesus Himself. There will always be an empty void deep down inside apart from living from God. He restored that fellowship and it's available today through His blood, death, and resurrection. I'm free from the corruption that living apart from God caused in my life. Through the power of the resurrected Lamb, I have been set free. Chains broken... I live free! Praise the Lord!!!!!!