Awakening Freedom

Introduction

Fighting A Battle of Spiritual Freedom

Christ freed us from the bondage of sin! In that freedom, we become aware of our role to love others by serving one another. Hallelujah! (Gal. 5:13).

Activities

• Icebreaker:
  • Share how you wake yourself every morning from sleep?
  • How many alarms do you set?
  • Where do you have the alarm positioned?
  • What is your alarm set to – music, beep, sound.
• Play them music video “Walking Free. Micah Tyler” On YouTube for the testimony of people who are now walking free in Jesus.
• Take a 5 mins walk around the home, chapel, corps, or around the block and pray for freedom for the individuals in the homes, congregation, corps and in neighborhood.
• Game – “Breaking Free”
  • Divide the group into teams of 2 or 3
  • Each team wraps one person in toilet paper
  • Once wrapped, they must “break free” and race to the other side of the room
  • The first team to successfully break free wins!

• Craft

Print Bible verses on different colored card stock about being set free. Check the Internet for suggested verses. This is one site:

https://www.biblestudytools.com › topical-verses › freed…

Invite the women to cut them apart and place in a jar. One for each day of the month to help them remember that Christ has sent them free. Have craft materials available for them to decorate their jars.

• Design key chains with the name Jesus in beads, to remind them that Jesus is the key to freedom.

Refreshments

Serve a sugar free fresh lemonade https://sl.bing.net/buimblKj7rE or Minute Maid Zero Sugar Lemonade. Look on the Internet for sugar free desserts.

Awakening Freedom

One of my favorite quotes from our founder, William Booth, is: “‘Not called!’ did you say? ‘Not heard the call,’ I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father’s house and bid their brothers and sisters, and servants and masters not to come there. And then look Christ in the face, whose mercy you have professed to obey, and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world.”

William Booth’s quote awakens our calling to be free … We are called to be FREE! “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” (Gal. 5:13 NIV). Jesus sets us free from sin.

Illustration of a set of keys

As an officer, when you arrive at a new appointment, you are given a whole set of keys. Sometimes they are marked, color coded, allowing you to know what key is for what door. On other times they are not, and you must figure it out on your own. There are many doors in life that we can open that we think give us freedom when in reality it only indulges the flesh. There is one key that opens the prison door to release us from sin. That key is Jesus Christ. Sin holds us hostage. Sin places us spiritually in a prison cell that only Jesus Christ can open the door and set us free.

Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross gives the power to set us free from any kind of bondage that we have allowed the devil to put us in. Jesus has the power to set you free from sin, shame, guilt, fear, worry, anger, anxiety, depression, a word curse spoken over you, a generation curse, or oppression. Jesus broke free from the power of sin and death. He was resurrected from the dead to break the power of death over the ones who believe in Him, the ones who will put their trust in Him. Jesus broke free from the grave clothes out of the tomb and overcame death.

We read in John 10:9, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Jesus wants to set you free today.

Activity

Break up into groups of 2-3 and discuss the following questions:

Discussion Questions

• What kinds of things might Jesus be breaking you free from today? (Pause and pray with each other thanking God for breaking you free and giving you the victory.)
• How can we rely on Jesus’ power to break us free from what binds us? (Pause and pray for each other on how we can rely on Jesus’ power.)
• Truth sets us free. Are you seeking after truth? If so, how? If not, how can you begin? (Pause and pray to encourage one another in seeking after truth in your life.)
• Think of someone in your life who you can share that Jesus being the key to freedom. (Pause and pray for them.)

Close in Prayer