The Lord says that His people are carried into captivity, even destroyed, for lack of knowledge. What we don’t know about this new life in Christ not only can keep us from entering into blessing, it also opens doors for the enemy to prey upon us. In the spiritual life ignorance is not bliss—it quickly becomes bondage!
For a remedy Jesus invites us to seek truth. He says that if we will take pains to pursue a true knowledge of God and His ways, He personally guarantees that we will become so liberated that we will truly enjoy our lives. The truth, if it is His truth (and not your own version of it), really will set you free. But it won’t drop into your lap without some effort of seeking on your part. Grace is good, but it’s not that good!
Our loving God is the perfect Parent. The Lord is not about to spoil His children by doing everything for us. That’s why I say grace is good, but it’s not that good. Otherwise, we might think that God “cushions us” by doing all of the difficult and unpleasant things for us. Or that He “cushions us” from experiencing just what it means to live in a real world with true freedom of will and hard consequences.
No, this “God of All Grace” wants us to grow up into our maturity. But even painful growth through all the times of trial and error will be well worth what He wants us to experience: the glorious liberty of the children of God.
All of us will enter into that glorious liberty once we arrive in heaven. That’s a done deal! Jesus declared the work for that great gift of grace “finished” at the cross. What I want to know is this: How many of us will make it into those glorious heights this side of heaven?
Don’t you yearn for this? Isn’t this the secret thought that captures your heart: “There must be a way to live free.” Gloriously free. Free like a child is free. Free to love, to laugh, to explore, to wonder, to pursue.
Near the end of the movie Braveheart, William Wallace is being tortured to death by the British for leading the fight for Scottish liberty. At the very brink of death it appears he wants to speak. The torturer/executioner bends low to hear. Summoning all his final reserves of strength, Wallace bellows forth one word: “Freedom!”
That word takes wings. It sails out over the once jeering, now silenced crowds. It rings a death toll in the ears of an frightened tyrant. It flies out to Bannockburn and inspires the rousing charge of his countrymen to victory. Even in the writing of this the Holy Spirit is all over me—so great is His own yearning for your freedom and mine!
To gain this kind of freedom we will have to become determined to climb the heights of true knowledge and live by faith alone. That means embracing the new way of living by believing Truth above all else.
This new life is entered into whenever we choose to put our faith and trust in the grace that is being offered to us, promised to us, and poured out upon us every second of the day. We are saved by grace through faith. You have to know what grace is really offering you. You have to 
know that no one can do the believing for you. You have to use The Keys to Freedom!
As young believers most of us enjoyed a “honeymoon” with the Lord. By His grace He was making everything easy for us. Since then the going got hard. Grace seemed scarce at times. It wasn’t. It is always either our knowledge or our believing that is deficient. Never is His grace in short supply!
If you are living in a “low land” fog, it just may be time—high time!—to climb out of those valleys of confusion towards the fabled heights. Sure the climb is difficult and tiring. Believing truth is hard work! Jesus says, however, that this is the work we are intended to do (John 6:28-29). We have to “labor diligently” to enter this place of freedom and rest (Hebrews 4:11), so great is the adversary’s work against us. But God will give us victories if we don’t quit!
Read more about growing an active faith through The Power of Believing at our website.
About the Author: Steve Evans
For over a decade Steve Evans and Healing Streams have been helping people recover inner peace and freedom. Find out how to gain mastery over negative emotions and live with childlike freedom of spirit by taking his completely free "eCourse for Healing" at healingstreamsusa.org. Get started now!
