The new edition of The HomeFront e-newsletter is out now.  Check it out.  For now, here is my article and the "extended" version.  My prayer is it will minister to you.

What does liberty truly mean and what does true freedom feel like? Engraved into the Liberty Bell is an excerpt of Scripture from the Jubilee call taken from Leviticus 25:10 saying "...Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." On July 8th, 1776, the bell rang out summoning the people to hear the reading of the Declaration of Independence.

Our Founding Fathers understood the importance of founding our country on God's laws and His Word. We are truly blessed to be able to call America our home and to live in freedom each day. How wonderful that our troops are part of bringing liberty to other nations now, so they may experience what true freedom feels like! But, what is so important about having those words from Leviticus inscribed into our Liberty Bell?

The word jubilee, in its essence, means liberty. The Jubilee call is taken from Leviticus 25, where God showed His chosen ones (Israel), His deep desire for forgiveness and to see their liberty. Set forth in this passage is the opportunity for all debts to be forgiven and the slaves to be set free. The Year of Jubilee was celebrated every 50 years in commemoration of the Israelites' flight from bondage in Egypt. God knew that they, and all peoples, would long to be free.

In answer to that longing, God introduced the Year of Jubilee in preparation for the Incarnation of the Year of Jubilee to come. That Incarnation is the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is our Jubilee! At God's appointed time, His desire for forgiveness and liberty for His chosen ones became Man. In Galations 5:1, it tells us that "it is for freedom Christ has set us free." (NIV). We are then exhorted, by standing in our Jubilee (Jesus), to "not let ourselves (italics mine) be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."

So then, if 2 Corinthians 3:17 tells us "...that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty," we are truly free. Jesus came and became the Sacrificial Lamb so that we could be free and He is our Incarnation of Jubilee. We can live a life of Jubilee every day! We are free from the bondage or slavery of worry or impatience or any of the other things that hinder us in our daily walk as His children and as teachers to our children. I, then, exhort you to not be burdened by that yoke of slavery and live in His freedom. Live in His Jubilee!

Memory Verse:

2 Corinthians 3:17(NIV) "Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."

Additional verses:

Galatians 5:1 (NIV) "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."

Leviticus 25: 10 (NIV) "...proclaim liberty throughtout the land to all its inhabitants.  It shall be a jubilee for you..."

John 8:32 (NIV) "Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free."

Application:

Spend some of your quiet time just praising the Lord for America. 

Thank Him for the freedom you have in Christ.

Pray for America, her leaders, her citizens, all government, and for the troops as they take her freedom to foreign soil.