July 4th in the United States is Independence Day, a time when Americans celebrate words like liberty, independence, and freedom. As people, we often pride ourselves on being independent and self-sufficient. We admire the idea of the “self-made” person. We may even equate independence with freedom.
But Jesus taught us something very different.
Jesus said,
“If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 8:31-32
There are two important truths in this passage.
First, true freedom does not come from independence, but from complete dependence on God. Jesus said, “If you abide in My word.” Abiding is not a one-time act. It is the continual choice to remain with Him, to listen to Him, to trust Him, and to make our home in His truth.
Second, truth sets us free. But truth is not merely a concept, principle, or idea. Truth is a Person. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). As we abide in Him, we come to know the One who is Truth, and He sets us free.
Jesus is our model. No one who ever walked the earth lived in greater freedom than He did. Yet Jesus was never independent from the Father. He said, “The Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing” (John 5:19). Jesus lived in complete and utter dependence on His Father.
That is not weakness. That is freedom.
It is human nature to try to do things on our own. It is a story as old as the Garden of Eden. We try to fix what we were never meant to fix. We carry burdens we were never meant to carry. We try to control outcomes, manage people, solve problems, and hold together things that only God can hold.
Sometimes we do this without even realizing it.
What freedom might we experience if we let go and said, as Jesus did, “I can do nothing by Myself”?
Jesus invites us to lay down self-sufficiency and enter His rest. He calls us away from striving and into abiding. He invites us to celebrate dependence on Him, not as bondage, but as the doorway to true freedom.
Whatever you may be facing today, you are invited to make this declaration of dependence.
Jesus, I want to lean into You and trust You with everything in my life. Forgive me for the ways I have tried to do things on my own. I acknowledge my total dependence on You. In whatever I am facing today, I choose to declare my dependence on You and You alone.
I declare:
God is sovereign. All authority and all power belong to Him. Matthew 28:18.
Nothing takes Him by surprise. All circumstances are His servants. He knows the end from the beginning. Psalm 119:91; Isaiah 46:9-10.
The One who did not spare His own Son will freely give us all His best things. Romans 8:31-32.
God’s lovingkindness never ceases. His compassions never fail. They are new every morning. His faithfulness is great. Lamentations 3:22-23.
God is able to supply His abundant grace in this situation, so that in all things, at all times, I have all the sufficient grace I need for encouragement and hope. 2 Corinthians 9:8.
I can know with certainty that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him. 2 Timothy 1:12.
God promises that He is my strength, my shield, my strong tower, my refuge, my hope, my joy, my peace, my everything, my all. Psalm 18:1-3; Colossians 3:11.
God promises that He will never leave me nor forsake me. He is with me, a very present help. Hebrews 13:5-6.
God never goes back on a promise. Joshua 21:45.
Today, I choose to depend on You for everything.
Declarations taken from For The Family, page 45
