Juneteenth and Father's Day

 

Hey , gang, Today’s devotional, Mornings with Jesus titled ‘Juneteenth and Father’s Day, stirred many memories in my heart and mind.  First of course, my earthly father who was a Godly example of a father and who taught me to trust and love my Heavenly Father. 

This week I learned more about Juneteenth. It was signed into a Holiday by President Biden in 2021 a national Holiday but is not a paid day off in many states. Texas declared slaves free June 19, 1865.  

 My Mother was born and raised in Missouri about 50 years after the Civil War.  She had close relatives who fought on both sides, and the war was still an open wound to many.  I grew up singing many of the Spirituals that came from those in slavery but had freedom in Jesus!!

 

Devotional Juneteenth and Father’s Day by Barbranda Lumpkins Walls

“Now the LORD is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the LORD is, there is freedom.” II Corinthians 3:17

I was in college when the ground-breaking TV mini-series ROOTS premiered in 1977. My friends and I gathered around the television on eight consecutive nights, riveted by the story based on Ales Haley’s family history that detailed the enslavement of Haley’s African ancestor Kunta Kinte to his descendants’ liberation.

 While ROOTS was unsettling to me and my African American friends, it gave us a real appreciation of our ancestors and all they overcame to survive. The characters in Haley’s story talked about the LORD and called on Him for help and protection throughout their trials.  Although they were in bondage, they dreamed of freedom.  But when I stop to think about it, many of these people were already experiencing freedom in their minds and hearts because they knew Jesus.

 I believe my own enslaved ancestor’s faith in God and the presence of the Holy Spirit is what sustained them during the dark times.  They, too, believed they would be free someday. I’m not shackled in physical chains as my ancestors were, but from time to time I still battle things that try to hold me captive, fear of failure, guilt for sins past, present and more.  But as one who knows Jesus and the power of His Holy Spirit, I am Free!

 Unlike many of the enslaved people who had to wait to get word or the freedom long after their official emancipation, I have been free ever since the day I gave my life to Jesus.  He gives on-the-spot liberation to all believers, and that’s the reason to celebrate today!

FAITH STEP:  What is holding you captive? Your job? Financial worries? A past sin? Lnow that there is freedom in Jesus.

Blessings.

Gma J