Happy and Free

One of the greatest songs ever written is, “His Eye is on the Sparrow.” It’s legendary, as many people have sung it in churches, galas, award shows, in movies and more. One of my favorite lines is, “I sing because I’m happy. I sing because I’m free.” It’s these words that keep my focus on Jesus and why I sing. Only God can make us both, happy and free. It’s His power that lifts our lives out of the ashes and sets us in a place of peace. It’s God that heals our bodies, our souls and our minds. No one else can go to the core of who we are like He can and it’s because of this that anyone can be Happy and Free.

The greatness of God is revealed in so many ways. He is love, He is everlasting, He is kind, He is good and He is all powerful and yet the one that stands out to me, is our deliverer. He sets us free! Think about the power of being free. Every one of us was born with this inherent desire deep within us, as God made us and called us to be free. Freedom is a part of His plan and agenda for all people all over the world. And yet we see the fight for freedom being waged in front of us today. So many countries are bound. So many people are trapped, and so many lives are vexed by oppression. This oppression comes in both spiritual and political forms and it seems to be increasing every day. What stands out to me is the need to be free and then the desire of our enemy and people to oppress and bind others; therefore, when you think about our freedom in the United States of America, we have a lot to be thankful for.

The very nature of evil is oppression and the very nature of God is freedom. He sets the captives free, delivers us from bondage and helps us escape the traps against us. He is light and where His light shines, the darkness must scurry away in terror. His heart is that all people are happy and free through His love and power in their lives. Because of this, it’s amazing that in God, we can be happy and free because of who He is in us and not necessarily because of what’s happening around us. Think about that! We don’t have to live by our circumstance but rather we can live through our faith in Jesus! This is how we can be happy and free!

I love two verses that speak to this truth.

“Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and the perilous pestilence.”

Psalms 91:3

“Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped.”

Psalms 124:7

Notice how God sets us free and notice how the enemy wants to make us bound. Both of these are true; therefore, our decisions have great impact of what we see in our lives. Let me unpack that statement a little bit. To be clear, God is the deliverer. He’s the one that has the power to set us free from anything, anywhere and anytime. Our will power is limited and our ability is limited but with Jesus all things are possible. However, we must receive who He is and what He has for our lives. In some ways, we ALL need more of His freedom. There are parts of us that can use the love of God to soothe and heal because we’re imperfect and flawed. It’s our faith that connects to who He is and it’s our faith that causes us to receive His freedom. This is why our decisions are huge in what we see happen in our lives. We must give God something to work with for His miracle to be received.

In the bible almost every miracle had an element where a person responded to God. That means God required a person to be a part of the equation to see a miracle. We have Noah building the Ark. Moses raised his staff. The widow got jars to pour oil in. Esther fasted three days. A Pastor brought Jesus to his house to see his daughter who died. Lazarus sisters took Jesus to his tomb and the little boy gave Jesus his lunch of five loaves of bread and two fish. These examples and more are insights to what happens when someone releases their faith and when that happens, miracles take place.

Therefore, this speaks to you and me today.

We must release our faith and give God something to work with. The main thing is our heart and when we do that He’ll lead us to take steps of faith. It could be to forgive someone. Say sorry to someone. Do an act of kindness. Take your wife on a date. Join the Dream Team at church. Begin giving tithes and offerings. Loving a difficult person. Starting a business and more. These steps cause a chain reaction of God’s power in our lives so we can say, I sing because I’m Happy and Free. This is possible because of Jesus and when we move toward God, He moves toward us (see James 4:7-8).

What area of your life can be freed today?

Whatever it is, I believe God can do it. So I encourage you to take your step of faith today. This time of year is a great reminder that our freedom in America wouldn’t be possible if not for someone taking a risk of life itself and our freedom in Christ is the same. He gave His life for us so we could be free. Many of our soldiers gave their lives for the vision and cause of freedom in spite of the imperfections and flaws in our Country and Jesus did the same. He gave His life for our freedom in spite of our flaws and mistakes, so today we can be Happy and Free! So how can you move forward?

I encourage you to step out in an act of faith and watch God do the rest. To be Happy and Free is not about money, homes, fame, sunny weather or more. It’s about God and when we have Him in our lives, anything can happen. This is the moment to be Happy and this is the moment to be Free.

Like this legendary song says –
“I sing because I’m happy. I sing because I’m free. For His eye is on the sparrow, And I know He watches over me.”

Have a great day and through the Holy Spirit, may He cause you to be Happy and Free.
PD