The word I have received for anyone who follows this blog or reads this post is that in 2017, the Passover window for you will be a time to walk in freedom. This is the message of Passover, yes, but some of you have prayed for years to be free in a certain area, you have gotten in every single prayer line but nothing has never seemed to work – The Lord says, for those willing to walk out of bondage, you can receive complete freedom!

The Hebrews chose to come out of Egypt but there was a point in the wilderness when they said, have you brought us here to die? Let’s go back to Egypt and they listed the benefits of Egypt. It was because of this a few days journey took forty years. This is the area that we as believers can fall back into bondage’s we have been freed from. Freedom isn’t as quick as we thought, we find we have to war to stay free and instead of enduring the fight and winning victory we decide to be captured again back into the bondage of the enemy.

Passover is a spring feast because spring is the time when kings went to war in the Old Testament. God is saying I have provided your freedom through the death and resurrection but you have to be willing to face down the enemy – sometimes, if we are honest with ourselves, we are simply not willing to face down the enemy to gain victory.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 KJV “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: For the weapons of are warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ”

After Passover we will do an in-depth series on our spiritual weapons but for this post we can all acknowledge that prayer is a weapon, worship is a weapon, the Word of God is a weapon and the words of our mouth is a weapon. We know these things, we know truth and we quote the truth shall make you free but actually the full translation in the original language is the truth that you know and that you apply will set you free. Even before that though we are missing something.

John 8:31-36 KJV ” Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; ³² And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. ³³ They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? ³⁴ Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. ³⁵ And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.³⁶ If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”

First of all, lets point out that Abraham seed was in bondage for years, that’s why God had to raise up Moses, so on that point alone they are wrong. Spiritually speaking though, they had taken the beauty of the commandments of God and made them a heavy burden. This is why Jesus said my yoke is easy and my burden is light. A rabbis teaching was a yoke and how he taught his disciples to live the teaching was called the burden. Take that in view of what Jesus was saying. Jesus came for us to experience freedom and to be sons of God not servants.

To enter freedom we must allow ourselves to change the way we view how to walk holy before God, it isn’t a hard thing, Jesus said, yoke = easy and burden = light, so come follow me.

The first step to walking through the door of freedom is to believe that one statement. We are not called to be Pharisees that manipulate and pervert the scriptures we are called to be the Pharisees that walk in the spirit of the law which is love. If you are uncomfortable being called a Pharisee, we shouldn’t be, In Jesus time that just meant someone who carefully observed the teachings of God . Yes, some people took it to extreme but don’t we have people in our day who do the same thing? When I look at the meaning of the word I would hope people would say of me that I carefully observe the teachings of God. Now, I’m not saying we need to start calling ourselves Pharisees, my point here is that we have been empowered to obey what Jesus has given us, it’s just that many of us have the wrong impression of what Jesus intended, to clear this up lets look at a few more scriptures.

Matthew 5:17-20 KJV “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.¹⁸ For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.¹⁹ Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.²⁰ For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

Messianic commentary on verse seventeen says that Jesus fulfillment of the law which in the Hebrew means teaching of God, is to show us how to live it. With this understanding when we look at verse twenty where it says our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees can seem pretty intimidating. That is until we look at Romans 13:8 which says love fulfills the law. many religious leaders in Jesus’ day did not walk in love and they made the teachings of God hard things to do. For our righteousness to exceed the Pharisees al we have to do is walk in love.

Now what does all this have to do with Passover being the open door to freedom? Jesus loved us enough to give His life. Do we love ourselves enough to forgive ourselves for always turning back to bondage? Do we love others enough to forgive them of their wrong doing towards us? The first step of freedom is believing that we can do what Jesus said, the second step toward freedom is forgiveness; for yourself or for others. As we continue on our journey towards Passover ask yourself, who do I need to forgive and forgive them, when we do that we are taking a necessary and huge step towards our freedom.

Last week and this week both dealt with love. Love and forgiveness go hand in hand. Next week, we will talk about giving. Don’t worry I won’t be asking you to send me an offering. Giving is key to unlocking what God has for us, especially giving during the appointed times, the first of the three, which is Passover. Giving does so much, not just to the ones we give to but for us as well. So be looking forward to what God has for you next week as we continue preparing for Passover.