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 ONE: day 5

Fill your soul with the hope of Jesus

Let’s say you’re a baseball player and you’re about to bat. It’s the bottom of the ninth, two outs, the bases are loaded and you’re down by a few runs. The pressure is all on you. How successful do you think you’re going to be in your at-bat if you walk into the batter’s box repeating to yourself, “I’m going to strike out! I’m going to strike out!”?

Now let’s say you’re in a marriage that has seen better days. You’re still trying to make it work but you’re struggling. How successful do you think you’ll be if you wake up every morning saying, “My marriage is going to fail. My marriage is going to fail.”?

Freedom is no different. If you constantly say to yourself, “I’ll never be free. I’ll always be addicted. I can’t beat this.”, don’t be surprised when you stay in chains. Filling your soul with the hope of Jesus means speaking to yourself, “I am free because Jesus sets me free. I can overcome this because of the power of Jesus living inside of me.” (Try saying that last statement out loud). The first step to freedom is hope because until you believe that you can be free, you’ll never experience freedom. The beauty and power of the death and resurrection of Jesus is that our hope to change isn’t wishful thinking, it is reality. When Jesus conquered death and the grave he overcame the power of darkness, and His presence inside you through the Holy Spirit now gives you that same power to overcome the darkness within you. Do not despair! Through Jesus you can be free! Let that hope fill your soul and light the path through the next nine steps to freedom.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

1. Describe an experience where your attitude had a negative effect on your life. Do you tend to be more optimistic (hopeful) or pessimistic (despairing)?

2. Instead of praying to God to set you free, how would it change your perspective (and begin to fill you with hope) if you started to thank God that He has already set you free through Jesus?

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