For the next while, I’m going to share with you some of the highlights of my new book, FREE AS A BIRD because the number one (and only) complaint I get about this book is that there are SO MANY points to make note of, that they either have to either grab a pen and underline (almost every page) or stop the audio version (still FREE here on YouTube) and take time to think it through.
So, I’m going to highlight a lot of them for you and send them out via email and also post some of them on the blog. (If you don’t want to miss any of them, be sure to subscribe at the VERY BOTTOM of this page.)
This first clip is from the Introduction to the book. It sets the tone for what's coming. I'm including the transcript after the video version of it...
Now, here's the written version in case you prefer the written text of the excerpt...
We were all born in prison. Slaves to sin. And we didn’t know it. And because that’s all we’ve ever known, we adapted our lives to that condition.
But it wasn’t always that way. In the garden of Eden, at the beginning, we had no fear, no shame, no scarcity anxiety, no fear of lack, no oppressive toil, no separation from God. We had freedom and we had dominion.1 And it was beautiful.
But the unthinkable happened in that garden through deception, and we were sold to sin.2 No longer free, anxious toil became the norm. Fear and worry became our daily companions.
And from that day to this something inside us longs to regain that freedom, for that connection to God as our Father3, to be delivered from anxious toil that drives us on, and from “the bondage of corruption into the glorious freedom of the children of God.”4
Have we forgotten or did we not know that Jesus came to “proclaim liberty to the captives… to set at liberty those who are oppressed.”5 That it was for freedom that Christ has set us free6. We love to quote those verses, but so few experience the promise they contain.
Every man, and every woman, craves, and longs to be free. But yet, so many are shackled by the cares of this world, or the lust for other things entering and choking7 and strangling and draining the life out of them. Keeping them from experiencing the promise they know is true, but have yet to experience. So they take a raincheck on the promise and settle for getting it in Heaven when they die.
But we are free right now. He has opened the prison doors. We are
free to walk out and step into liberty, to be free as a bird. Sadly, for
most, they prefer the confines they’ve gotten used to... those long
hours, and lost connection, not only with God, but even with their own family sharing the same prison cell with them. The door is open, but they prefer the familiar, and the consolation of their fellow inmates, as they sing songs about the sweet by and by, while the exhilaration of the amazing “here and now” passes by their window.
Heaven can wait. We have work to do on this earth8, and that work is not burdensome, nor is it anxious toil. It is our destiny. We have a life of adventure and conquest and purpose awaiting our agreement to take hold of it – fearlessly, confidently, and faithfully. But will we? Will you?
To be continued in the next blog.
In the meantime, be sure to get your copy of FREE AS A BIRD on Amazon or you can click on the image beside here to get more details and read reviews.
It would mean a lot to me if you like this book, if you shared this post with others and give me your feedback from the book.
Peace and blessings,
Michael