Amazing Truth: In Jesus We have Freedom, Joy, and Eternal Life ⋆ Effie Darlene Barba %

Having laid a firm foundation for faith in Jesus Christ in Chapter 1, Paul now points to the practicality while re-iterating the amazing truth of our being in Jesus. In Jesus we have freedom, joy and eternal life.

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Colossians 2:6-7NKJV

Our roots and our firm foundation are in Jesus Christ.

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He [a]takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. John 15:1-5NKJV

It is His presence within us that gives us the nutrient rich sap necessary to do anything. Without His presence in us we could do literally nothing. A branch without nutrients is a dead branch. If you look at any vine, the branches that are dead may even appear to be alive, but on closer examination they are dead. Anyone who does not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, may even look “good”, but the truth is they are dead. If you try to burn a “green” branch full of sap, it will only smolder. Whereas a dead branch will heartily burn in

Our Firm Foundation Jesus gives us freedom, joy and eternal life

For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. I Corinthians 3: 11 NKJV

There is no other foundation that will hold us firmly promising freedom, joy, and eternal life. Anything less than Jesus Christ who holds all things together will merely crumble beneath us.

Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. Isaiah 28:16

Jesus said,

“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” Matthew 7:24-27 NKJV

Therefore like David we can sing:

Truly my soul silently waits for God;

From Him comes my salvation.

He only is my rock and my salvation;

He is my defense;

I shall not be greatly moved.Psalm 62:1-2 NKJV

A Warning not to be cheated of your Freedom, Joy, and Eternal Life

Pretty much, every day is filled with spam calls if you own a cellphone or any phone. Our televisions, emails, and communications are filled with so much false information. That includes a large percentage of so-called Christian organizations. Not to mention the massive numbers of books, all telling you how to find joy, hope, and peace in the world. Mainstream philosophy is filled with “words of wisdom” which are empty and foolish to say the least. But we know better if we know the only source of truth and wisdom: Jesus Christ.

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. Colossians 2:8-10 NKJV

Do not forget what we just learned in Colossians 1:

He (Jesus Christ) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. Colossians 1: 15-20 NKJV

He who is God Almighty, the perfect righteous son of God, enwrapped with the third manifestation of the Triune God (the Holy Spirit) rules over all. He is our firm foundation if we know Him as Lord and Savior. No one else and nothing else can transform us, secure us, and hold us. Why is that?

The security of our freedom, joy and eternal life.

In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ. Colossians 2:11 NKJV

God has taken the responsibility of circumcising our heart, so we might be holy. He cuts away the sinful desires, our sinful flesh from our hearts.

the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. Deuteronomy 30:6 NKJV

He also takes the responsibility of baptizing you in the spirit. This is the spiritual baptism for which our physical baptism is only symbolic.

buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Colossians 2:12-14 NKJV

For all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you have His power working in you. No longer are you condemned. He gave you a new life filled with His Power to perform it. Do you know that? Do you truly believe that and hold fast to that truth?

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places Ephesians 6:12 NKJV

But Jesus already disarmed them.

Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. Colossians 2:15

What can they do against us?

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?…. in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:31, 37-39 NKJV

Therefore you live with Freedom, Joy, and eternal life.

So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God. Colossians 2:16-19 NKJV

We are free from the law to live righteously due to His indwelling us. Rituals are not necessary for us to live. In fact, they lead to pride. If we do anything, it must be due to His guiding us to. Not because we are doing it to prove ourselves. It is a result of surrendering to His will not our own.

Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. Colossians 2:20-23 NKJV

In other words, we don’t just “fake it til we make it.” We recognize that in Him, we are new creations. He can live through us the life we have been given. So, it is a matter of reminding ourselves everyday of who He is and who we are in Him.

Yeshua Messiah, Jesus Christ my Lord

by Effie Darlene Barba

Yeshua Messiah, Jesus Christ my Lord

You are My Life, My Shelter, My Sword

All my desires, my hopes and my dreams

Transformed out of darkness

To light’s brightest beams

Changed into your likeness

Glory to Glory, as you work within

Changing my heart to hate its own sin

Your Spirit working, changing my life

Through moments of pain

and hours of strife

Washing my guilt, my crimson stain

One day my heart will be totally new

Reflecting Dear Lord all that is YOU

Chorus

Yeshua Messiah, Jesus Christ my Lord

Humbly I bow at the foot of your throne

You took all my shame, gave me Your reward

Transforming this heart that once was just stone

To a heart made of flesh, alive to Your Will

Molded by love, yielded and still

     In awe do I stand at the sound of your voice

Bidding me rise, to sing and rejoice

To go tell the world, the blind now can see

Proclaiming your praise eternally

Verse two

Yeshua Messiah, Jesus Christ my Lord

You are My Life, My Shelter, My Sword

You hung on the cross to pay all the price

Taking the wrath I justly deserved

My utter devotion could never suffice

The debt that I owe, the death I reserved

From a heart filled with pride, darkness within

Broken, despised from the weight of my sin

Yet, you called my name

You chose me to save

Covering my shame

You rose from the grave

That now I might live, death hath no sting

And to your dear Grace, forever I’ll cling

Chorus

Yeshua Messiah, Jesus Christ my Lord

Humbly I bow at the foot of your throne

You took all my shame, gave me your reward

Transforming this heart that once was just stone

To a heart made of flesh, alive to Your Will

Molded by love, yielded and still

     In awe do I stand at the sound of your voice

Bidding me rise, to sing and rejoice

To go tell the world, the blind now can see

Proclaiming your praise eternally

Verse 3

Yeshua Messiah, Jesus Christ my Lord

Creator of All, Living Word of God

Sustainer, Provider, all Sovereign One

Who took on Man’s flesh on earth You did trod

Equally God, Yet His Beloved Son

Bound with the Spirit, The Great three in one

Yet, you chose to man then descend

Oh how can I ever comprehend

The Breath and the Depth,

Your power, justice and might

Giving each creature their life’s breath

While guiding the stars each in their flight

Yet, You took the time to love and to see

A speck of sand, a worm like me

Chorus

Yeshua Messiah, Jesus Christ my Lord

Humbly I bow at the foot of your throne

You took all my shame, gave me your reward

Transforming this heart that once was just stone

To a heart made of flesh, alive to Your Will

Molded by love, yielded and still

     In awe do I stand at the sound of your voice

Bidding me rise, to sing and rejoice

To go tell the world, the blind now can see

Proclaiming your praise eternally

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. Furthermore, I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. That is except for my own books. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR. Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Please note: This Post only has quotes from the KJV Bible except where otherwise indicated

¹ J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)

BSB (BEREAN STUDY BIBLE)

The Berean Bible and Majority Bible texts are officially dedicated to the public domain as of April 30, 2023.

English Standard Version (ESV)

Common English Bible (CEB)

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