Summary: <br> Who were you in the past? The girl who made bad choices? The girl who never followed through with what she said she would do? The girl who started strong and fizzled fast? The girl who hated mornings, slept like it was her job, gossiped like a pro, bent the truth to suit your lies? The girl who was unfaithful? The girl who failed? The girl who just couldn’t seem to get her crap together for more than 2 days in a row?<br> THAT GIRL WAS NOT THE REAL YOU! It may be who you were showing up as in the past, and the past may be as recent as yesterday, but honey that isn’t you. That’s the false identity of a lesser than version of you the enemy has tried to sell you. Don’t settle for this imposter. Don’t be held captive by who you were and what you did. Scripture tells us Jesus came to set the captives free. If you have been imprisoned by past mistakes and held back by voices that tell you ‘you can’t and you never will’, Jesus came to set you free! YOU ARE FREE FROM YOUR PAST. FREE TO LIVE UP TO YOUR POTENTIAL. FREE TO BECOME WHO YOU WERE CREATED TO BE.<br> I have a new song for you today, “Slave to Nothing” by Zach Williams.<br> You can tell me what I did<br> You can show me who I was before<br> Where I fell short<br> Hang it over my head<br> But I’m not the same anymore<br> One thing’s for sure<br> The shackles have fallen<br> So I’m showing shame to the door<br> Make no mistake<br> I’m a slave, to nothing<br> What have you been a slave to in the past? A slave to a bad habit? A slave to a label someone put on you, and it stuck? A slave to lies that told you you’re a nobody with nothing who will get nowhere? A slave to a mistake you made that has haunted you in every new relationship and new season of your life?<br> The shackles have fallen, you don’t have to stay there. You have been set free and you never have to be a slave to this again.<br> Throughout scripture we read of slaves who God led to freedom. We read of the innocent imprisoned, then walking right out of where they were, free from what had once held them prisoner, into the life God created them for. We read of those who were on the wrong path having an encounter with Jesus that changed the entire trajectory of their lives.<br> I believe these stories are abundant in scripture because it’s OUR STORY. Every one of us have been slaves to something. All of us have been held back by someone or something. Each of us have been on the wrong path somewhere in our journey. That’s ALL OF US. The enemy tries to convince you you’re some kind of epic failure beyond repair, oh girl, you’re not a standout on the list of screw ups, my list is long too.<br> Romans 3:23 says “ALL FALL SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD.” We all have a past full of failures and a present full of struggles, and this is where we are attacked. This is where the enemy tries to chain us up and hold us back. Yes, it is true I have fallen short of the glory of God, but there’s more to this story. There’s more to your story. Read the next verse.<br> Verse 23 says “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”, then verse 24 says “and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”<br> The devil wants you to dwell on verse 23. You don’t measure up. You’ve fallen short. You aren’t good enough. But God says read on girl. Own that next verse as your truth.<br> Yes, you screwed up, and your most recent screw up may have been yesterday, but you are JUSTIFIED FREELY by the grace of Jesus. Justified. Declared righteous in the sight of God.<br> You are not who you used to be. Guilty is not who you are. You have been delivered, set free, justified!<br> Now, you don’t have to be a slave to anything.<br> After what Jesus did for you,
