FREEDOM! LIFE! JOY! POWER!

“FREEDOM! LIFE! JOY! POWER!” is the official slogan for Fountain of Life. Why? Because it’s catchy but, more importantly, because it’s thoroughly biblical and reflects what we’re all about. To explain, let’s look at all four words from a scriptural standpoint.

But, first, it’s important to understand a couple of things…

God’s Primary Will for People

The Creator’s primary will is revealed in 1 Timothy 2:4 where it says that God “wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” So God’s will can be broken down into to two main parts:

For people to be saved from separation from the LORD and eternal death.
For them to come to a knowledge of the truth.

The first one—obtaining salvation—is apprehended through turning to the LORD in repentance & faith in response to the gospel (Acts 20:21) and the corresponding spiritual rebirth (Titus 3:5), which makes us spiritually alive to God (Romans 8:10).

God then wants us to grow in the “knowledge of the truth.” Why? Because it’s only through truth—through reality—that we’ll be set free. The more we increase in accurate knowledge—reality—and the corresponding understanding and wisdom, the more freedom we’ll experience. This is why Christ said “If you continue in my word, then you will know the truth, and the truth shall set you free” (John 8:31-32).

The Kingdom of Darkness OPPOSES God’s Primary Will

Understanding the LORD’s primary will is important because it reveals the devil’s primary will, which is to stop God’s two-pronged will from occurring! In other words, the enemy is intent on:

Keeping people from being saved.
Keeping those who are saved from knowing the truth more than they already do.

To carry out the first objective satan does his best to deceive the masses into believing that Christianity is all about bondage, lifelessness, drudgery and weakness, which of course is the express opposite of the truth. (Check out these mind-blowing passages that reveal the devil’s ability to deceive people: 2 Corinthians 4:4, 1 John 5:19 and Revelation 12:9).

If a person is saved through the gospel and the corresponding spiritual rebirth the enemy resorts to his secondary objective—to keep that individual from increasing in the knowledge of the truth. Why? Because if he can keep people from growing in truth he can limit their freedom and therefore their effectiveness as a believer, not to mention their quality of life.

One of his greatest ploys is to seduce believers into the realm of dead religiosity. Whether that’s through morphing them into impotent cultural “Christians,” who “have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof” (2 Timothy 3:5), or by seducing them into being pharisaical sourpuss religionists, it’s all bad.

Either/or, this saps the freedom, life, joy and power that God offers believers through Christ. Those who are duped then falsely represent Christianity to those who are lost and dying in the world.

The good news is that every believer can fulfill God’s primary will, and subsequently hinder the devil’s will, simply by (1) learning of and (2) walking in the freedom, life, joy and power that the LORD has for him or her. Let’s go over each of these as it’s important to understand how biblical all four are…

FREEDOM!

Fountain of Life is a teaching ministry where we focus on teaching from the Bible in an honest, balanced and unbiased (non-sectarian) manner. Why is this important? Because Christ said God’s Word is truth—that is, reality or the way it really is—and it’s only through continuing in God’s Word that we’ll know the truth. The more we know the truth—reality—the more we’ll be set FREE! (See John 17:17 and 8:31-32). This explains why God’s Word is referred to as “the perfect law that gives freedom” (James 1:25). While counterfeit “Christianity”—legalism—puts people into bondage, true Christianity sets people FREE because it’s rooted in living by the perfect law that gives freedom, God’s Word.

What does the rightly-divided Word set us FREE from?

The flesh, which is the sinful nature, the beast inside us all that veers toward what is negative, destructive and evil (Galatians 5:19-21).
Legalism, which is a spirit of dead religiosity and the false veneer thereof (Galatians 5:1).
False teachings (doctrine), whether religious or secular in nature.
Curses of the law, which we overcome through spiritual warfare (Galatians 3:13).

All four of these freedoms are rooted in the balanced, unbiased teaching of God’s Word and the corresponding knowledge, understanding & wisdom that results, which is what Fountain of Life is all about.

The best way to handle an un-free world is to be so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion—righteous rebellion.

LIFE!

Christ declared why he came: To give LIFE and LIFE to the full (John 10:10). He was referring to eternal LIFE, which is aionios zoe (ay-OH-nee-us ZOH-ay) in the Greek and could be rendered “the LIFE of the age to come.” Since the age-to-come is perpetual translators render aionios as “eternal,” as in eternal LIFE.

Receiving eternal LIFE is a 2-phase process, which begins with spiritual rebirth where the believer’s spirit is regenerated and receives the life-of-the-age-to-come, i.e. eternal life (Titus 3:5 & 1 John 5:12). This process is completed at the bodily resurrection where believers receive immortal glorified bodies (1 Corinthians 15:42-44), which takes place at the Rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

Here’s the point: You can tap into this abundant LIFE, this eternal LIFE—this LIFE-of-the-age-to-come—anytime you want simply by learning to live out of your new nature, which possesses eternal LIFE and was “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24). When you do this, you’ll “participate in the divine nature” and naturally produce the fruit of the spirit (2 Peter 1:4 & Galatians 5:22-23). Experiencing the life-of-the-age-to-come is the ultimate high and carnal temptations lose their allure the more you taste of it (Psalm 34:8 & Hebrews 6:5).

JOY!

JOY means “to be cheerful, happy, well-off, in a good frame of mind, rejoice-ful.” Unlike worldly happiness, it’s not dependent on outward circumstances being hunky dory. JOY is a fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) and is therefore a character trait of the LORD. This explains David’s statement that there is fullness of JOY in God’s presence (Psalm 16:11). In light of this, it’s a mistake to view the Creator only in terms of solemnity, holiness and judgment; those who do so are unbalanced. God is JOY.

Since your new nature was “created to be like God” (Ephesians 4:24), the more you learn to live out of your new nature—that is, be spirit-controlled rather than flesh-ruled—the more you’ll experience JOY. Peter described it as “inexpressible and glorious JOY” (1 Peter 1:8). Moreover, since God is JOY, the more you hang out with the LORD the more JOY you’ll experience because you become like those you spend time with the most. Godliness—i.e. like-God-ness (not religion)—is the result of spending time with the Most High, which you can learn more about here.

Why is JOY important? Because it’s linked to vigor (Nehemiah 8:10) and freedom (Proverbs 29:6) and therefore health and quality of life.

POWER!

The Mighty Christ imparted authority and POWER to his disciples over the dominion of darkness (Luke 9:1). This was before justification was available via Yeshua’s death and resurrection. Spiritually regenerated believers (that’s you, if you’re a believer) intrinsically possess these blessings because you’re born-again of the seed of Christ, which is sperm in the Greek (1 John 3:9 & 1 Peter 1:23). It’s due to this rebirth that you’re a “co-heir” in Messiah (Romans 8:17). This means that believers share in the inheritance of the heavenly Father with the chief heir, Jesus Christ. If this doesn’t get you excited read it again or check your pulse.

My point is that YOU have authority and POWER over the powers of darkness and the curses thereof. Authority is the right to rule whereas POWER is the ability to rule. You possess both, but you won’t boldly walk in them if you don’t know it, which is why I’m sharing this with you.

Additional POWER is available thru the baptism of the Holy Spirit. See this article for details. If you don’t yet have this baptism, drop everything and get it. Go over the pertinent passages, which will increase your faith and you’ll surely get it. I didn’t receive it until 2.5 years after my salvation.

Now chew on this: Nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37; 18:27) therefore you can do anything as the LORD empowers you (Philippians 4:11-13). Fan that POWER into flame, as encouraged in 2 Timothy 1:6-7!

Does Christianity Weaken People or Empower?

I was talking to a man a couple years ago who argued that Christianity weakens people and instills fear. He likened God and the devil to forest monsters in fairy tales that Christian leaders use to control and limit people through fear. While such a view may reflect some religious groups who propose to be Christian, it’s not supported by the Bible in the least.

If Christianity weakens people why did Christ give the Holy Spirit to empower us (Acts 1:8)? Why did Paul say we haven’t been given a spirit of fear, but a spirit of POWER (2 Timothy 1:7)? Why did the Messiah say he came to give us “LIFE to the full” (John 10:10)? If Christianity uses the devil to instill fear why did Christ give authority to believers “to trample on snakes and scorpions”, which are types of the devil and demons, and “to overcome all the power of the enemy” (Luke 10:19)? He even added, “nothing will harm you.” If Christianity teaches that believers are to have a negative fear of God why does the Bible say “God is love…There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear” (1 John 4:16,18)? The only fear believers are encouraged to have is a healthy, reverent fear of God because it’s the “beginning of wisdom” and protects us from foolish paths (Psalm 111:10).

It’s stunning how deceived people are about Christianity, all because they confuse it with the counterfeit — religious, legalistic non-Christianity.