When the phone rang, the young, 16-year old boy answered. It was his aunt. Her car had a flat tire, and she couldn’t change it herself. She needed his help.

The young boy hopped into his small, American car and headed her way. When he arrived, he was eager and ready to change her tire, but she didn’t have a lug wrench for her German-made car. No problem. The young boy grabbed the lug wrench out of his American car, not realizing that the US-made lug wrench used inches and the German-made wrench used millimeters. That’s okay, he thought. It still fits.

He used the jack to lift the car up, and then placed the wrench on the first lug nut. Felt snug. So, with all his strength, he twisted the lug wrench. He felt it moving, but it slipped a few times. That’s okay, he was strong. He continued to push the wrench round and round, not realizing he was stripping the lug nuts.  Not sure what was happening, he tried the next lug nut.  Same thing. Then, the next one and the next one.  When he was done, all but one of the lug nuts were ground down to a finely polished surface. Nothing would grab them now. He thought he was fixing the problem, but now the problem was worse.

I tell this story to illustrate a profound truth in my experience with panic attacks. There are lots of “tools” out there today that promise freedom. In fact, I tried almost all of them. But, now that I am free, I have realized that most of these tools actually do more damage than good. Like this lug wrench story, the wrong tool even in the right hands can create more problems than it solves.

So then, what is the right tool for freedom?

Humanity has two key problems:

1. We are born into this world disconnected from the Source of true life.
2. Because of that, we have connected with ourselves as our own source.

Think about it, when struggling with crippling fear, anxiety, depression and panic attacks, do you find yourself with these thoughts:

• If I just had enough courage, I could beat this thing.
• If I could find the right book or tape or doctor, then I can get free.
• If I could just find the right medication, then I would have peace.
• If I just prayed the right prayer, then God would answer.
• If I just had more willpower, I can overcome this.
• If I fight hard enough, I can win this battle.

The problem with these kinds of thoughts is that we think we are the source of our freedom, but we’re not.  We can’t fix ourselves.  It’s like trying to arm wrestle with yourself–even if you win, you lose.

Have you heard this phrase: “God helps those who help themselves.” Guess what? It’s not in the Bible. It’s not scriptural. It should say, “God helps those who cannot help themselves.” Or, let me say it this way:

• “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners” (Romans 5:6).
• “Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5).
• “Whoever clings to this life will lose it, and whoever loses this life will save it” (Luke 17:33).

The harder you work at fixing your own problems, the harder you turn that wrongly-sized lug wrench, doing more damage than good.

I encourage you today to stop using the wrong tool. Set it down. Give it to God, and “cast your cares upon the Lord, for he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). Connect with your True Source of freedom. Let him whisper his love over you, because he wants you free more than you do. So, let him take you there.

Prayer: Father, I’ve been working so hard for so long with the wrong tool. I give up. I’m tired to doing more damage than good. I lay down my tools, my efforts, even my strength, and I put all of my trust in you, for you alone are my true Source of peace and freedom.

When struggling with an issue in our life, it’s hard not to focus on the problem. In fact, the most common response is to “try harder” or “learn more” or “fight, fight, fight!” So, we pour energy, time and resources into overcoming the problem. We believe that focusing on the problem will help us overcome it.

• If I could just stopping eating so much, I could finally lose some weight.
• I hate it when I yell at my kids. I wish I wasn’t so angry all the time.
• I will not be like my mom. I will not!

Here’s the problem with that thinking: What you focus on organizes your life.

If you focus on fear, then fear organizes your life. If you focus on overcoming anger, then anger organizes your life. Whatever your focus on will organize your decisions, your thinking patterns, and your way of life.

Do you remember the Chinese Finger Trap toy? As a kid, I played with these all the time. You put your finger in one side and someone puts their finger in the other side. As you each try to pull your finger out, the “trap” tightens making it harder to escape. Your strength makes the problem worse.

The same is true about focusing on our problems–the more we focus on them, the tighter the grip and the harder it is to escape.

So, what’s the answer? Change your focus.

In Matthew 6, Jesus talks quite a bit about the struggles we face here on earth and encourages us not to worry. His solution was not to focus on the problems. His solution was to “…seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33).

Jesus encourages us not to focus on our problems, but to focus on God because when we focus on the Kingdom of God, then the Kingdom of God organizes our lives.

So, how do I focus on the Kingdom of God?  Here’s what Paul told the Philippians: “Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise” (v4:8).

As it says in Romans 12:2, we must change the way we think and renew our mind. For freedom to happen, we must change our focus and seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness.  When we do, then freedom will organize our life!

Prayer: Father, give me a Kingdom focus. Help me to cast all my cares upon you for you care for me (1 Peter 5:7).

Note: Thanks to Bob Hamp for teaching these incredible principles.  Check out his new book, Think Differently, Live Differently.

This week, I’m starting a new series on Freedom. With this inaugural message, I want to lay some groundwork for Freedom—what it is and what it isn’t.

There are times we get caught up in something that binds us, hinders us and keeps us from walking the abundant life. So, we pray and plead with God to take away, but freedom seems so elusive sometimes. We pray harder, we fast, we start bargaining with God; yet, the fear is still there. The panic still hits.

When I was at this place in my life, I just assumed that God wanted me to go through this “wilderness of fear” to help me grow in him. I rationalized that panic attacks were from God to make me a better a Christian.  Or, maybe it was that I needed more faith, more righteousness.  If I could just do good enough or strive harder to be better, then surely, God would set me free. But, I realize now that that kind of thinking is not Biblical.

Let me start with God’s heart towards you. In John 10:10, Jesus tells us very clearly what the devil’s motivations are and what God’s motivations are. “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

My theology has become pretty simple. “God is good. The devil is bad.” I believe with all of my heart that God has great plans for you (Jeremiah 29:11-14), that God is for you, not against you (Romans 8:31). Jesus made it clear that he has come to give us not just life, but abundant life. And, he makes it very clear that the devil comes to steal, kill and destroy. Think about fear, panic and anxiety—does it steal, kill and destroy, or does it sound like the abundant life?

I believe Freedom is available for each and every one of you. Whatever is holding you back—fear, panic, anxiety, depression, whatever—God has made a way for you to experience abundant life through Christ.

As we get ready to kick off this Freedom series, it’s very important for you to understand God’s heart towards you. He is on your side. He wants you to walk in peace, not in bondage. He has great plans for you, plans to give you an abundant life in Christ. And, “if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed” (John 8:36).

Over the next few weeks, we’re going to dig into some of God’s truths about Freedom. I hope to tear down some of the lies that are keeping us in bondage. Truth will set you free. I can promise you that though Christ, because he himself said, “You shall know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.”

Are you ready for Freedom?

Prayer: Father, prepare my heart to receive your Truth. I want to know your freedom-empowering Truth. Make to clear to me that your heart towards me is good, and that you’re on my side.

The more I learn about who we are in Christ, the more I realize this incredible truth: sin has no power over us. You are no longer a sinner. Do you find that hard to believe? Let me explain.

In Christ, we are dead to sin (Romans 6:2). We are free from sin (Romans 6:18-22). It was dealt with on the cross. When we receive Christ and are baptized into his death, we have died to sin. We are no longer “sinners”. Rather, we are “saints” (called ones).

Think about what John said when he saw Jesus coming to be baptized. He said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Did you see that? What did Jesus take away? “The sin of the world.” Reminds me a bit of the often-quote scripture, John 3:16, “For God so loved the world…” He sent his son to die for the sin of the world.

We must move from a place of a “sinner mentality” to a “saint mentality”. Do you often have thoughts like, “I’m such a sinner”? Or, “I can’t go to God, because I messed up yesterday.”

In Christ, you are not a sinner. You are a saint. And, you can boldly go to the throne of grace in your time of need (Hebrews 4:16). And not only that, you are seated with Christ in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). And, if God cannot sit in the presence of sin, then you must be completely free from sin.

Think about this scripture from John 16:8-11 where Jesus explains why it is good for him to go to heaven and send us the Holy Spirit. He explains what the Holy Spirit’s job is here on earth:

And when He [the Holy Spirit] has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

of sin, because they do not believe in Me;

of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more;

of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

It tells us immediately what the conviction of sin is, “because they do not believe in [Christ]“. Notice it didn’t say, “of sin, because they do not know the difference between right and wrong.” According to this scripture, sin is not believing in Christ.

That’s why the second in that list is “of righteousness, because [Christ] goes to the Father.” If you are in Christ, you are free from sin. Most believers understand that Jesus died for their sins. What most believers don’t understand is that if you have put your faith in Christ, then you are righteous. You have been “saved by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

The Holy Spirit’s job is to convict Christians that they are righteous in Christ. And, through that righteousness, we have access to God our Father. We are children of God (John 1:12). We are justified (Romans 5:1). We are friends of Christ (John 15:15). We are saints (Ephesians 1:1).

Can Christians still commit sin? Yes, of course. But according to Romans 7, it’s the sin in my flesh, not who I am in Christ.

“For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.” Romans 7:15-17.

Paul talked about this “body of death”. He said in the next verse (18), “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells.” He understood that in the flesh, there may be sins, but it doesn’t define who we are.

In Christ, we are saints, we are free, and we are seated with him at the right hand of God.

Prayer: Father, help me see that in Christ, I am a saint. I am not a sinner. You have cleansed me from all sin. Help me understand that I am righteous because of what Christ did for me.

After a deeper study of repentance in the original language, I think we’ve got it wrong.

I was reading today in Acts 2 and 3 from a newer translation. Two scriptures stood out:

Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:37-38, emphasis mine)

“Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away.” (Acts 3:19, emphasis mine)

You hear this term quite often, “Repent of your sins,” implying that repentance of sins is a turning away from sins, to stop sinning. But, I don’t think that’s what the original language was implying. If you search through a more accurate word-for-word translation (KJV or NKJV), you can’t find a single instance of Jesus saying, “Repent of your sins.” He never said that. He said, “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.”

Look at the original Greek word for “repent” – metanoeo. It comes from two root words, “meta” and “noeo”.

Meta means an over-arching change. There’s a difference between “morphing” and “meta-morphing”. Morphing is changing from within something similar. Meta-morphing, on the other hand, is changing from a caterpillar to a butterfly. It’s an over-arching change–a broader, more high-level change.

“Noeo” is where we get the word Knowledge. It means to think, to perceive, to understand.

So, combine the two meta-noeo, and you have a word that means “an over-arching change in how you understand or perceive”.

The message Jesus had for us was not “stop sinning so that you change your thinking” – his message was “change the way you think and you’ll stop sinning”.

What most people miss today is that our sins are dealt with, done, covered, taken care of. Jesus died “once for all” (Hebrews 10:10) and provided “eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:12). He no longer has to die for your sins. All your sins (past, present and future) were taken care of once and for all.

Now that are sins are gone, we need to repent.

Prayer: Father, help me realize that all of my sins are gone, dealt with, cleansed. In Christ, I am fully and completely accepted by you. Teach me how to change my worldly perspective to a Kingdom perspective. Teach me to see you more clearly.