That One’s Full Price

Our son loves history, especially Civil War history. This summer as we perused the shelves of a store, he set his sights on a book about the Civil War. For days he sat in his room and looked through the pages.

One night as I was doing bedtime rounds, he sat staring at a picture and said, “Mom, what happened to this man?” It was a photograph of a slave with scars covering his back. I explained to him what a slave was and what had happened to him.

He sat silently. He then looked at me and said, “Mom, that’s wrong!” I said, “You’re right Noah it is wrong. That’s why all these men fought, and many died, so slaves could be free. It’s a reminder to always stand up and fight for what’s right.”

As that conversation has played back in my mind over the last week, I kept seeing the image of the slave’s back, but then something happened, it wasn’t the back of the slave I was seeing anymore, but the back of Jesus, bloody and bruised. Isaiah 53: 5-8 “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” I keep hearing, “Freedom isn’t free.”

Salvation is free. It’s not something we have to earn through good works and deeds. We simply need to ask and receive it, but I’m reminded of what Jesus told us in Luke 9:23. He said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?”

Freedom comes at a cost. It requires sacrifice. “Dying” to ourselves. Every one of Jesus’ disciples died the death of a martyr, except for John. They gave their lives to spread the gospel.

I was reading Psalms this morning and chapter 81 jumped off the page. Verses 8-12 says, “Hear, O my people and I will warn you- if you would but listen to me, O Israel! You shall have no foreign god among you; you shall not bow down to an alien god. I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it. But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.”

This is referring to Israel, but I thought how often history repeats itself. I started seeing the similarities to our own nation. Has He warned us? What gods and idols have we bowed down to in our lives? Has He left us to our own devices?

I was brought to 2 Timothy 4:3, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled they will accumulate unto themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires.”

I’ve heard people say, “This is my truth.” There is only one TRUTH friends, and it’s found in the pages of the Bible. Jesus tells us in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

He also told us in John 8:31, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciplines. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

Are we willing to fight for freedom? Stand for truth? I want to remind you, Ephesians 6:12 tells us, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” We only have ONE enemy. There are only two sides. God vs Satan. Good vs Evil. Truth vs Lie. Which side are you fighting for?

Jesus told us in Matthew 7:13-14 that the road would be narrow. “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

But we’re also told in Psalm 119:105 that his word would guide us, “thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”

I want to end with a quote that shook my spirit. A few weeks ago, my husband and I were watching The Great Global Reset on Jack Hibbs’ Real Life Network. Side note, this is a free app you can download on your phone or tv. The film discusses the globalist agenda, what many have dubbed the “Great Reset".

Jack Posobiec, the narrator, asked Noor Bin Ladin, a Geneiva journalist and activist, what the average person can do in their daily lives to fight back and make a stand for freedom. She said, “We are all watching what’s going on in America, and we are rooting for America and Americans. We know that the American people are completely separate from this ruling class, and all the harm they have done not only in the US but overseas. You are our best chance for all of us, all over the world to reclaim our sovereignty both nationally and individually.”

Friends, don’t let your “ears be tickled” or deception skew the truth. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, “Wake up and look up! Don’t forget your purpose!”

In the words of William Wallace, “Run and you’ll live – at least a while. And dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom!” ~Braveheart

He’s called us to rise up. To be warriors for the faith. What’s He calling you to?

"The chief danger that confronts the coming century will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, Heaven without Hell." ~ William Booth

Matthew 24: 11-13 " At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved."

Joshua 1:7-9 "Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."

Romans 12:2 “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Joshua 24:15 "But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

2 Chronicles 7:14 “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”