Freedom Ascent’s Affirmation

FREEDOM ASCENT’S AFFIRMATION:

God is the Rescuer, Healer, and Ruler who calls us to freedom from our hurts, harmful beliefs and bad habits. He calls us to a new identity as his beloved sons and daughters who have undeserved forgiveness and cleansing that removes the fears, shame, and guilt of our past. He offers us his power for living in peace, strength and honor. He therefore calls us to truth, humility and repentance with courage and wholehearted devotion to Him and His Scriptures.

Freedom Ascent weekly meetings include group recitation of our Affirmation. This holds very special meaning for those of us who are participants because it is our declaration of identity in relationship to God who is reshaping our lives. The Affirmation is an inspirational and instructive reminder for us in ways that outsiders perhaps don’t realize, but that frames how we approach living strong in God’s freedom.

Here is a brief overview of what it means for us:

1. The first sentence focuses on who God is. This is the proper starting point that puts everything else in perspective. Many things could be said about God because he is the one-and-only eternally supreme, all-powerful, all-seeing, all-knowing, all-wise, always-present Creator, Owner, Sustainer, and Judge of all mankind. Despite all that could be said about him, the Affirmation pointedly reminds us a few selected aspects of who he is that are especially relevant for why we are participating in Freedom Ascent, and this first sentence is a global declaration of that.

2. The second sentence highlights that God calls us to a new identity. This is not a merely academic statement, nor a head trip to disguise the same old us. Rather, it is true change that is vital to living out the new value we have in relationship to God, and new beliefs, new thought patterns, and new ways of behaving and relating every moment of every day. This one factor is foundational to the process of getting a new start in life and experiencing on-going healing and renewal. It is based solely on the forgiveness and cleansing which we can never earn or deserve, but which God grants purely by his grace. He is The One who has done what was needed to make this possible. This gives us the privilege of living out a new life that starts now and goes on forever. It is a process of undoing the guilt, shame, fear, and brokenness that came about as a result of the disobedience of the first people, and that has infected the rest of humanity ever since.

3. The third sentence reminds us of what God gives us for living out our new identity. This new identity is not merely an idea, but involves true power for a new life. Scripture says of those who are “born again” by the Spirit of God: “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” As Freedom Ascent participants, we humbly acknowledge our powerlessness to remedy our brokenness. We are therefore deeply grateful that the Spirit of God has given us three keys to our new being and living: power, love, and self-discipline. Each one of those affects the other two in every aspect of our life. The Spirit of God uses the Word of God —the holy Scriptures, also known as the Bible— to teach us how to live out our new identity in his power and love with self-discipline. The Bible is like no other revelation from God because it is his eternal message for all people, and speaks to the deepest issues of our lives to show us God’s way for us to experience an abundant life in relationship with him, ourselves, and others no matter what has been our past.

4. The fourth and final sentence reminds us of our responsibility. Given all that God has provided and done for us, it is now up to us to respond in an appropriate manner. God does not force us to obey him as if we were robots. He has sacrificially pursued us to give us everything we need, and now —in a way that is perhaps vaguely analogous to a mother bird pushing her young out of the nest to fly because she knows they can— it is up to us to receive what he has provided and put it into appropriate use with wholehearted gratitude and in accordance with the holy Scriptures.