Week 12 Maintain
“The truest form of bondage happens when a captive’s chains are cut off, and yet he willingly returns to the pit from which he had been set free.”
In Exodus we see God’s justice exacted on Pharaoh and all of Egypt. He violently rescued the Israelites from bondage and set them on the path to deliverance. Moses lead God’s people and became a witness to the frustrating process of God taking the Israelites out of slavery, then taking the slavery out of the Israelites.
Every generation of warriors must take off the chains handed to them by their culture and their sinful nature. The Apostle Paul spoke to the church of his time much the same way we speak to you now about freedom. He used the mindsets and behaviors of the Israelites in the desert to paint a picture of what the Christians in Corinth needed to see in themselves. The following scripture gives us a quick look at God extracting the slavery mentality from His chosen people:
1 Corinthians 10:6-11 (TPT)
Now, all these things serve as types and pictures for us—lessons that teach us not to fail in the same way by callously craving worthless things and practicing idolatry, as some of them did. For it is written:
The people settled in to their unrestrained revelry, with feasting and drinking, then they rose up and became wildly out of control!
Neither should we commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, which caused the death of twenty-three thousand on a single day. Nor should we ever provoke the Lord, as some of them did by putting him to outrageous tests that resulted in their death from snakebites day after day. And we must not embrace their ways by complaining—grumbling with discontent, as many of them did, and were killed by the destroyer!
All the tests they endured on their way through the wilderness are a symbolic picture, an example that provides us with a warning so that we can learn through what they experienced. For we live in a time when the purpose of all the ages past is now completing its goal within us.
Israel's experience in Egypt and in the wilderness is a lesson that God desires us to reflect on frequently. Once freed from their slavery to Egypt, it took the Israelites seven days to cross the Red Sea. Once they were across that river, they broke completely clear of Egyptian control. In dramatic contrast, it took them forty years to walk the remaining few hundred miles! During this trek, every man of war numbered in the first census after leaving Egypt—except for Joshua and Caleb—died without reaching the Promised Land. This plays out in our lives today as men and women allow themselves to match this miserable record by failing to maintain their freedom after they are set free.
What a costly expedition!
Hebrews 3:16-19 clarifies the cause of their failure more specifically:
The same people who were delivered from bondage and brought out of Egypt by Moses, were the ones who heard and still rebelled. They grieved God for forty years by sinning in their unbelief, until they dropped dead in the desert. So God swore an oath that they would never enter into his calming place of rest all because they disobeyed him. It is clear that they could not enter into their inheritance because they wrapped their hearts in unbelief.
The Israelites did not make the right efforts to defend their God-given freedom. They never celebrated the good God was doing in their lives daily or the things He had promised. They never deeply acknowledged His constant guidance and efforts on their behalf. Instead, they exacerbated their circumstances by failing to discipline themselves, submit to God’s instructions, and surrender their hearts to the one who loves and rescues beyond measure.
Time and time again, the Lord freely rescued them from the consequence of grumbling, moaning, idolatry, and pagan worship. On the journey towards a profoundly great promise and abundance, the men and women of Israel still behaved as slaves and were unwilling to pay the costs of remaining free.
Generations of bad-behavior and negative thinking had been ingrained into the Israelite’s thinking. Freedom was not a manageable concept – it was elusive and strange to their mindset. In other words, the Israelites didn’t know what to do with freedom. It made no more sense to them than if an iPad dropped from the sky and on landed their lap. They refused to go to the source of their freedom to find out how to walk it out moving forward. They just kept looking back to what they knew.
God knew that His delivered people would have a problem maintaining their freedom. So, He put together a SYSTEM that would equip them for success.
God’s system included disciplines, boundaries, and detailed instructions that covered everything they needed to do daily to be successful. Here is the problem: The Israelites DID NOT BELIEVE in God’s system and this led to their demise.
Your God-given freedom must be supported by a God-given system.
This system should include:
Prayer
Devotion
Accountability
Connection
Support
Positive Routine
Healthy Eating/Fasting
Worship
Discipleship
Serving
Exercise
Reading
Journaling
Celebration
Your Journey is not over until you see God face-to-face. You must take ownership of God’s freedom and learn how to master the system He has given you to maintain success, DAILY.
Be prepared to fight for your freedom. Our enemy is one who does not let his subjects go easily. The beast you rage against is always hungry and on the prowl. The system God gives you will help you stay alert and ready; the goal is to help you fight smarter, not harder. Your efforts to maintain your connection with God is the difference between you seeing the promise land and perishing along the way. The most tragic among us are the ones that look back to slavery and forfeit what God has for us on the other side of this current desert.
Daily Scripture for Week 12
DAY 2 | SCRIPTURE
Galatians 5:1
So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.
Process & Reflect:
What system has God given you to follow? Be detailed and thorough. Share this system with your peers.
Example:
Monthly
· Check in, or meet with a counselor or pastor.
· Start reading a good book.
· Fast lunch or dinner.
· Go out with friends.
Weekly
· Go to church.
· Come to Emmaus.
· Journal.
· Come to Corporate Prayer on Saturday.
· Work out 3 days out of the week.
· Avoid sugar and too much caffeine.
· Sabbath and rest!
Daily
· Pray.
· Eat healthy.
· Meditate on scripture.
· Encourage a friend.
· Play with your kids.
· Affirm you spouse
Hourly
· Take a deep breath.
· Be thankful.
Who will make you accountable to following this system? it’s ideal to pick one or two people to help you. Take your time throughout this week and ask God to help you develop a realistic and doable system. Afterward, submit it to the Lord in prayer and ask him to bless it or correct it.
DAY 3 | SCRIPTURE
Romans 8:21
That the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
Process & Reflect:
A system without relationship is nothing but staunch religion. As you follow a system, be reminded that God loves you and he calls you His own. Visualize you and the Lord doing this together.
DAY 4 | SCRIPTURE
Peter 2:16
Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as children of God.
Process & Reflect:
It’s easy to go through your healthy daily routines, check off the boxes, and have your heart completely disengaged.
How will you not use your system as a cover up to hide your sin?
How will you prepare you heart to stay connected to God through this process?
DAY 5 | SCRIPTURE
Galatians 5:13
You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
Process & Reflect:
How will you use your freedom to exercise selfless and serving love? Maybe this can be added to your personal system?
DAY 6 | SCRIPTURE
2 Corinthians 2:17 NIV
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
Process & Reflect:
Jesus paid the price for you on the cross. You have been redeemed and set free into a spacious and victorious life. He didn’t sacrifice his life for you to remain bound to sin and defeat. Yes, there will be challenges and difficulties in life – that’s a certainty! But we will not go through our trials as defeated soldiers, but as champions in Christ.
The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in us. He who conquered the cross is alive in YOU.
Ask the Lord to develop in you full dependency on Him and the Holy Spirit. How do you make the most of the Spirit of God in you?
Spend some time in prayer and ask God to active your passion, self-control, strength, patience, and endurance.