Freedom!

"Take with you words and return to the Lord." Hosea 14:3

Sometimes all I do is talk, talk, talk to God,

not allowing Him to say a word to me! What are the words that we should say to God? This passage from Hosea is always

recited on the Sabbath preceding Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the holiest day of the year for the Jewish people.

The Jews usually observe this holy day 

with long fasting and prayer in the synagogue. It is a day of atonement and repentance. Perhaps the words we are to say are, “forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us." 

No amount of sacrifice, punishment, no length of jail sentence can give us the forgiveness we need from God. He gives it freely, when we accept Jesus’ finished work on the Cross for us. If we realise the immensity of the freedom we have in Christ, we will spend our life rejoicing. 

(Erwin is in red)

In our prison ministry, we got to know Erwin Escalante. He was in prison for 18 years for a crime he did not commit. At the end of his case, the verdict handed down was “Reclusion Perpetua”, or a life sentence. He was transferred to Muntinlupa, where all the hardened criminals, the drug lords, the murderers, were. Inside, he was caught in the middle of a riot between two warring gangs. He almost got killed when one gang member cocked a gun at him but the gun did not fire. Other inmates were bloodied, others stabbed, but God kept Erwin safe, behind his plastic Orocan cover he used as a shield. 

Then, his case was overturned, and his family came to bring him home. After 18 years, he was out of prison. The family stopped in Star Mall to use the rest rooms. When Erwin saw the insides of the mall, he started jumping up and down, screaming in excitement and kissing the walls and floors! That is how excited we should be to realise the freedom we have in Christ!