1. Why is obedience so necessary to freedom in Christ?
I like to picture a door, that has a really old lock, you know the kind that takes one of those skeleton key's, but this lock and key are unlike any other, and there is only one key that will unlock the door. Behind this door is God's blessing, and freedom from all of the things that bind us, peace that goes beyond anything we can understand, and much more...Obedience is the key! When we obey God's commands, it unlocks everything God wants to give us, and everything we could never deserve on our own. Freedom!!
2. How have you experienced gaining freedom in one area only to have bondage appear in another area of your life?
Somewhere between the ages of five and ten, I developed a fear of bugs. Not just a "eww, get that away from me!" fear, but a "Oh, bee!!" jump out of the fishing boat into freezing cold water when you can't swim, type of fear. Once when I was putting on my shoe, the way the laces moved made me think there was a spider on the shoe, and my first reaction was to fling the shoe as far from me as possible. It went up in the air, across the room and hit the wall just inches from my husbands head. I think he thought I'd gone crazy! The same year as this incident, I was a part of a ladies bible study at our church, and the study covered faith, and fear. I felt God telling me that the fear was not from Him and that He wanted to take it from me. I told the ladies, and they all gathered around me to pray for me. The next day, there was a bug on the wall and I just walked over and killed it with out thinking about what I did. My husbands jaw just about hit the floor, and the look on his face told me something was off, but I couldn't figure out what, then he said, "You just killed that bug!" and it was like a light-bulb went off in my head as I realized that the fear was gone. But soon I found that the fear of bugs was replaced by a new type of fear, and I had to pray and ask God for deliverance once again.
3. How are we today like the rebellious Israelites in Isaiah 30?
The Israelites didn't act like they were children of God, and the same is true for many Christians today. The Israelites didn't listen to God's instructions, hmm I think that sounds like us too. Also, the Israelites preferred pleasant words, rather than the truth that might hurt...this one is so true of us today. The Israelites relied on oppression, today we may not even realize that we are oppressed and yet without the oppression we would not know what to do. The Isrealites learned to depend on deceit while running from the real answers God provided, today we take the lies of the enemy and depend on them, while we turn our backs on God's Word and the answers He has for all of the problems in our lives. We really are not much different that the Israelites, we make the same mistakes, they made, everyday.
4. Which of the characteristics of a rebellious child of God have you experienced?
I think in my life I have experienced the not listening to God's instructions more than any of the others. But I am sure at one point or another, I have experienced all of these to a degree.
