I had a dream last night and in that dream men and women were being bought by traders and they were going to be used for the slave and sex trades while others were going to be used to tend to their fields, to their children, to all sorts of things.

In waking up I recognize very quickly that my dream had to do with the captivity of man. One of the things we often forget to think about are the benefits of God.

These people had no visible benefit other than the fact that would be kept alive as long as they were viable, as long as they have worth. “Forget not all His benefits” we are told.

In Christ we have freedom. And in that freedom we have the ability to become all that we desire to become. Too frequently a man or woman who is given the choice of freedom as witnessed around the world in many cultures, often do not know what to do with that freedom. On occasion, that man or woman who has had their eyes on the big picture, that is being free , acts. Upon notification of their freedom being complete they simply run out the door and never look back. But there are others who do not think like that and they’ve always been a slave and so when freedom is offered up to them and they’re given the choice to no longer have control over them, they no longer know what to do.

Over the years we’ve often talked about this analogy of what it is to be free. It is like the bird that has been in a cage and desires to be outside the cage but when that door is opened, many will choose not to leave because they still feel that they are captive. And then there are those that leave, later to have the desire to come back to that cave or that cage because it represents safety.

We are going into a new hour and a new day where freedom is on the table. There are many that myself and others talk to who resist Christianity and its freedom in part because they need to give up that hold they have on the past. That security. They need to give up that hold they have on captivity that they might truly be free. For those who have been given freedom and walk in the freedom of Christ, it is imperative that we look to the benefits of God as opposed to the what was that we might truly enjoy all that Christ given us through His death and his resurrection.

Today celebrate the freedom that the Lord has given you that others might come alongside and not look back.

For whom the Son has made free, is free indeed.