The following is a devotion from my message series 10 Steps to Freedom. I hope these devotionals help you experience lasting freedom in Jesus!

STEP FOUR: day 2

Transform your mind through the power of Scripture

In John 17, Jesus is praying for his followers in the hours before his arrest, death and ultimate resurrection. In the final moments of his life, every moment counts and no words are wasted. So there is incredible power behind his prayer for all of his followers, including us today:

“Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” John 17:17

To “sanctify” means to set apart or to make holy. It also carries the idea of purifying or freeing from sin. Salvation is the decision you make to place your trust in Jesus; it is when he saves you from your sins. Sanctification is the process by which Jesus begins to transform you and free you from sin, and you become more like him. Sanctification should be the prayer of every believer walking through recovery, because as Jesus sanctifies you he frees you from the grip of addiction in your life. And in John 17, Jesus tells us the key component of our sanctification and freedom from addiction: the truth of God’s Word (the Bible).

Think of your life as a dirty, nasty bowl that’s filthy and grimy, stained with the remnants of rotting nastiness. To clean or “sanctify” the bowl someone would need to scrub you with soap and water until the filth is gone and only purity remains. The Word of God is the soap and water Jesus uses (Ephesians 5:26) to purify the filth from our minds and transform the way we think. And since the mind is the primary battleground for our freedom, when we allow Scripture to transform us, we walk in freedom.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

1. What has been your relationship with Scripture in the past? What was your motivation for reading it? Have you known the potential Scripture has to change your life by transforming your mind?

2. When Scripture sanctifies your mind, it scrubs away the lies and deceptions that have kept you enslaved and addicted. What grime and nastiness does Scripture need to scrub away from your mind?

You can read other devotional entries for 10 Steps to Freedom here.