When I speak of our servanthood to God, some people protest. Would you remind me that you are a son, and not a servant?

God's ways seem paradoxical to the human mind. He says, “To live, you must die. To find your life, you must lose it. To become strong, you must first become weak.”

One of the greatest paradoxes of all is this: To be truly free, you must become bound. To gain the greatest liberty in God, one must give up all rights and become a lifelong bondservant to the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a glorious servanthood that leads to the highest form of freedom. It is a voluntary surrender born out of love and affection, causing one to consider servitude even greater than liberty.

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18, NKJV). We become what we observe! The focus of our attention spreads its influence all through our lives. What we behold with our spiritual eyes obsesses us; it takes over.

The blood of Christ cleanses from all sin; it is our atonement. First of all, it is our security. It is God's way of securing to himself a people ready for a full deliverance. Remember that on the night of the Passover the Israelites were safe but not yet delivered. They still had to face a Red Sea, a wilderness, warfare with giants, imposing walls and enemy strongholds.

“Your right hand, O Lord, has become glorious in power; your right hand, O Lord, has dashed the enemy in pieces” (Exodus 15:6, NKJV).

Even though some Christians know they are forgiven and safe, they lack a sense of power against the flesh. They have not come into the knowledge of ‘full deliverance’ from their evil nature. By his blood, he secures us; then by his mighty hand, he breaks the power of sin in us. Sin still dwells in us, but it does not rule!

God begins the process of surrender by knocking us off our high horse. This literally happened to Paul. He was going his self-assured way, riding toward Damascus, when a blinding light came from heaven. “He fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’” (Acts 9:4, NKJV).

The Holy Spirit gave David the key to deliverance from his sorrows. David could say, “The reason God delivered me is that I am precious to him. My God delights in me!”

“He also brought me out into a broad place; he delivered me because he delighted in me” (Psalm 18:19, NKJV).

“If you ask anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:14, NKJV). We show the measure of our Christ by what we ask in his name. We are told to ask large and to expect great things. We show forth the greatness of Christ by the greatness of our requests. We have so little of Christ because we ask so little.

We limit our petitions to material things. It’s true that we are to make our needs known, but to ask only for food and shelter is to diminish our vision of his greatness.

“Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:20 NKJV).

We are all pressed down by problems and distress, but Paul has given us the answer when he tells us to “do it unto the Father.” The great preacher John Calvin said that singing and giving thanks always is all feigning and hypocrisy unless we are fully persuaded that God is our Father.

Some time ago, I had an unusual experience while in meditation with the Lord. His still, small voice asked me, “Do you still believe? Do you still believe I love you unconditionally…that you are right now being led by the Holy Spirit…that I bottle every tear you shed…that you are right now in this place, in the perfect will of God?