10 Steps to Freedom: Are You Saved, but Not Free?

CHAPTER ONE

The Adventure Begins

WHAT PRICE FREEDOM?

Horrifically, Aron Ralston had no choice but to amputate his own arm. The twenty-seven-year-old Colorado resident was climbing in Blue John Canyon, adjacent to Canyonlands National Park in southwestern Utah, when a thousand-pound boulder fell on him. His arm was pinned, and he couldn't move for five days. Finally he ran out of water; as one more day passed, he knew that if he wanted to stay alive he had to do something drastic.

The Associated Press reported that Aron used his pocketknife to amputate his arm below the elbow, then applied a tourniquet and administered first aid. He rigged anchors, fixed a rope, and rappelled seventy feet to the canyon floor. He was hiking downstream to safety when searchers in a helicopter found him. They'd started looking after his employer reported him missing. One of the rescuers, Sergeant Mitch Vetere, said on the Today show that Ralston had no other options if he wanted to survive. Had he stayed trapped under the boulder, they never would have seen him from the air.

The next day rescuers returned to the site to attempt retrieval of the arm, but they were unable to lift the boulder. Authorities said that Ralston is an experienced hiker who has climbed forty-nine of Colorado's major peaks. ‘I've never seen anybody who has the will to live and is as much of a warrior as Aron is, and I've been doing this for twenty-five years,’ said park ranger Steve Swanke, who was with Ralston in the emergency room. ‘He is a warrior—period.’"

Who would deny that Aron Ralston wanted to be free? It took great courage and personal sacrifice to get out from under that rock. Some Christians live—or should I say, they labor—under a spiritual boulder every hour of every day. Either they don't know how or are simply unwilling to make the sacrifice necessary for freedom. They are eternally saved from their sins, but they are not yet spiritually free and victorious in Christ.

Are you ever plagued by past sin? Although you know that God has forgiven you, do you sometimes find yourself struggling with guilt about it? If so, you are not alone; I constantly meet Christians around the world experiencing the same thing. That's why I'm writing this book. And I have good news for you: There is hope! You don't have to live the rest of your life under this load.

The very fact that you're reading this book today is proof that your past sins haven't destroyed you. You've likely experienced enough of Satan's promises to be convinced that none of them is worthwhile. When it comes to the devil's offers, there's simply nothing good to go back to, is there? Those awful things in our past should make us grateful for God's goodness and for the gracious salvation He offers us in Christ.

Before we even begin this journey toward freedom together, I assure you: You can go to bed tonight with peace of mind. Neither money nor medication can give you that. This is a peace that comes only from Jesus, the Prince of Peace. To receive it, simply trust Him.

MY STORY

In the early 1970s I was minister of music at a wonderful church in the Dallas area. We had doubled in size in two years. People drove from all over the DFW metroplex for services. God showed up regularly. We had a large choir and were producing a music album at the time.

Prior to accepting the job, my wife, Alice, and I had traveled for many years conducting music in churches and stadiums with some of America's best-known crusade evangelists. By then we had produced ten albums, including one with the London Westminster Sinfonia. We had experienced a measure of success; we had lots of things going for us that some people dream of and strive for, things we didn't deserve. Some were from God; others, I'm sure we forged in our own furnace. Of course, we thought we were doing all these things for God, but looking back now, we had mixed motives—some of our religious activity was for ourselves. (I'm amazed at God's patience and love. Aren't you?) I thought we had it all together; at least it seemed everything was going our way.

Then one day the Lord began to expose the real me to me. (How other people see us—how we dress, how we speak, how we act in public—may be impressive, but it seldom represents our true selves.) He began to show me that I was not the kind of man others thought I was. Though hardly anyone knew my inner struggle, I came to a crisis point.

You see, I had always struggled for every morsel of spiritual food I could find. I often felt stalemated in my Christian life; while it appeared that other believers were marching from victory to victory, I seemed to drag from defeat to defeat. (Two steps forward, three steps back. . . . ) The battles that raged in my mind seemed to sabotage even my smallest spiritual successes.

Mental accusations based on past sins plagued me. Some were satanic allegations, while others were self-condemnation and feelings of worthlessness. Fact is, both were successful in keeping me mentally and spiritually exasperated. Unable to overcome these obstacles, they constantly defeated me. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that neither of them was justified.

Using one Bible teacher after another, book after book, and experience after experience, the Lord disclosed the lies I'd believed. He showed me how I was ignorantly undercutting my own spiritual and mental health. He also revealed to me the means by which the devil was trying to gain victory in my life.

Great news! God disclosed a biblical strategy that so completely set me free that it's been many years since I've had to deal with such mental rubbish. The truth is, He showed me how to live in such a way that any satanic accusation thrown at me is welcome. Welcome? Yes. Why is it welcome? Odd as it may sound, as a result of implementing this approach, the devil's accusations against me now cost him far more than they can possibly cost me. Tens of thousands have also found freedom through this message, and you can as well!

On that liberating day, I sat down under a tree on my front lawn with pen and pad to listen to and to do business with God. The book you are holding in your hand is a result of my encounter with Him that day. I had to work it out in order to walk it out. I will now provide the tools that can bring you to a fulfilling level of Christian living that many dream about but few discover. This is the resurrected life God has always meant for you to enjoy—abundant life! Before we finish, you are going to need your own pen and pad; for now, let's lay a foundation for our freedom.

(Note: If you have never received Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, please turn now to Appendix A. Do not proceed with this book until you've received God's forgiveness for your sins, settled the issue of your eternal destiny, and know for certain that Christ lives in you. The new birth is the launching pad—without it you can never soar the heavenlies!)

DISCOVERY ONE: OUR NEW FUTURE

One day Jesus told His disciples, I am come that they [humans] might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly (John 10:10). A rather strange statement to make to living people, don't you think? Imagine how it must have sounded to them at the time; after all, they already had blood flowing through their veins. That's life, isn't it?

We, of course, hear Jesus' words with the clarity of an additional two thousand years. We know that although His original hearers were physically alive, they were spiritually dead, separated from God and His plan by their sins. Jesus had come to bring them spiritual life. He had come to literally give them His life so that they could live victoriously on earth and live forever with God in heaven.

Let's investigate, then, the eternal life that Christ has given US.

All life-forms have three things in common: a past, a present, and a future. The moment we (1) acknowledged that Christ's death paid the price for sin; (2) repented of our sins; (3) believed in our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead; and (4) confessed that He is our Lord, He inexplicably came to live inside us by His Holy Spirit. We actually received Christ's own life—what John referred to as eternal life, which is not a quantity but a quality of life.

The King James Version of John 3:16 says that those who believe will have everlasting life. The fact is, the quantity of our lives is a settled matter. Although our days on earth are numbered, Scripture is clear that all people will live forever, somewhere. The real question: Where will we live forever?

The difference between the quality of life for the lost person and the saved person is another matter; quality varies greatly on earth and extraordinarily throughout eternity. The lost on earth are limited to human nature, their natural life source, and then they face eternity in hell, separated from God.

God never intended this. He created hell as a place of eternal punishment for the devil and his fallen angels. Scripture blatantly declares, however, that lost people—those who have never received God's forgiveness and redemption—are children of the devil, who was the first to reject God. If they reject salvation and die without Christ, they will spend eternity apart from Him.

John 3:16 in the New International Version says that we who believe will receive eternal life. The triune God alone is eternal; He created everything else for His own pleasure and purposes. So eternal life is God-life—God's own life. It is eternal life, God's life within us, that distinguishes the saved from the lost. The moment you received Christ, you knew that you had eternal life and that heaven was your ultimate home. We, who have received eternal life, are equipped to live with God on earth and to live with Him forever in heaven. Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people. That's quality living.

Therefore, the initial revelation that God gives to us as new believers, babes in Christ, doesn't pertain to our present state but to our future. We realize, I'm not going to hell. I'm going to live forever with God in heaven!

DISCOVERY TWO: OUR NEW PRESENT

Spiritual maturity requires time—we can't rush it. Many years ago when our oldest son, Robert, was a preschooler, he and I were waiting patiently as his mom shopped for a pair of shoes. He was entertaining himself with the shoehorns, the mirrors, and anything else at hand.

To pass the time, I called him over to where I was seated and, though teasing, asked in a serious tone, Son, when are you going to grow up? A puzzled expression fell across his cherubic face. Robert precociously put his tiny index finger to his chin, rolled his big brown eyes, furrowed his little brow, thought for a moment, and answered confidently, I'm gonna do it right now, Daddy. With that, he stood on his tiptoes, stretched his little shoulders up, craned his neck, and strained with all his might. He gave it his all, then said with a look of resignation, "Daddy, I'm gonna