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You can have freedom in the Spirit. “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (2 Corinthians 3:17).” When you try to follow Jesus Christ by your own power, you get bondage and frustration. In Christ, you are free. Galatians 5:1 states, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free; stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”

Some Christians still say, “God gave us intelligent minds to figure things out.” That’s a deceitful statement.

Jeremiah 2:13 “For My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”

This Scripture sums up the problem. Religious people have many ways of trying to bottle up the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is like an ultimately powerful spiritual river that can’t be put into any dogma, theology, form, ritual, or any other bottle.

John 16:13 “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth.”

You will have all truth. The truth will set you free. As anger, pride, and every human passion has made you a slave, the truth will set you free from all those passions. No vestige of them will be left. With freedom will come the power of the One Who created the heavens and the earth.

Galatians 5:1 “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free; stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

2 Corinthians 3:17 “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

Truth brings freedom and power.

Ephesians 3:16 “I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being.”

Ask God to answer these questions.

1. What does it mean that the Lord is the Spirit?
2. How does the Spirit bring freedom?
3. What does it mean when the Bible says the heart is deceitful?
4. What does it mean that Christ set you free?
5. What is a yoke of slavery?

Bonus questions:

1. What is God talking about when He says broken cisterns can’t hold water?
2. What is the water in the parable?
3. What are the cisterns in the parable?
4. Why can’t they hold water?
5. What is the Holy Spirit like in the parable?
6. What does it mean that the Spirit will guide me into all truth?
7. How does the truth set me free from my passions?

1. Pray for the Lord to protect you and keep you in His presence and His presence only.
2. Direct your mind toward the Lord only.
3. Ask God what He want’s to talk about.
4. You can ask God any questions. In all of this, be led by the Holy Spirit. God promises that He will answer you if you ask Him.
5. Do not edit or change what God says even if you don’t understand it.
6. Reject the lies and receive the truth.
7. Take notes.
8. Transfer your notes to your journal without editing what God said to you.

Keep in mind that God doesn’t want you to ever disconnect from Him. He wants to flow through you constantly in knowledge, wisdom, and love.

God designed you to be connected to Him. Without that constant connection, nothing works right. Learn to stand in God’s presence and hear His voice. Then teach others to do the same.

Search Engine Exercise

Type “what does the Bible say about deceitful heart” into a search engine and find websites like biblestudytools, sunshynegray, or openbible that list many Bible verses on the topic. Use the ones that take input from the users rather than those that are trying to cherry-pick Scripture to prove some point. As you go through the verses listed, you will find that some are on the topic and others don’t fit very well. This is a great place for discussion about which ones fit and why.

Let the Holy Spirit lead you in this. (Romans 8:14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.) Take what you learned, your notes or what you produced and videotape yourself. Be a kid influencer for Christ with your own social media platform by uploading your video as God leads.