Your identity is based on what you believe the most important person in your life says about you.

It's easy to get confused in this area-- to believe that we're the sum of our past mistakes.

Or, perhaps we believe that our "greatest hits" moments truly define us.

Neither perspective works. To find your true identity we've got to see what your Heavenly Father says about you.

This is the first of seven steps in your freedom march.

If your vehicle is out of alignment, it will consistently pull to the right or the left-- and you'll find yourself expending a great deal of energy just staying on the road.

The same is true in life.

When we're out of alignment, we can still make forward progress. But it requires far more effort.

God provides us with two primary ways to align our life of freedom with His Kingdom.

And, He does this in the two areas that create the most stress for many people.

The second step in your freedom march is to see how God orders time and money.

Your freedom march wasn't designed be walked on your own.

Not only is freedom best enjoyed with others but we move forward, faster when we truly engage with others who are on the same journey. 

The third step in your freedom march is to engage in spiritual community.

By definition, “engage” means “to interlock or cause to mesh, to bring into an operative position as the components of a driving mechanism.”

You were created by God to create something no one else can create. 

Ephesians 2:8-10 tells us that the same grace that saves you is also the same grace that prepared great works for you to walk in. 

All of this is part of your walk of freedom. 

Part of connecting to the Kingdom of God, then, is connecting with the purpose and destiny God has planned for you!

This is the fourth step in your freedom march.

Don’t you get excited when you receive a beautifully wrapped gift, especially when there is no special occasion and you did nothing to earn it? 

You received the gift because somebody wanted to bless you. 

God has great gifts that He has already given us in the Body of Christ. They are gifts that God has given to us as members of the Body of Christ to minister in the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Moreover, these gifts of the Spirit aren't separate from the Spirit Himself. So, when the Lord comes to work through you, you receive the benefit of Him doing a great work to you at the same time!

The sixth step of the freedom march reminds us that one of the greatest ways to express our connection to the Kingdom God is to turn our eyes and open our hearts to the people Jesus cares about-- those in need.

God's primary plan to make the world a better place is by working through His people. 

When we think about making the world a better place in which to live, the Hebraic term or thought Tikkun Olam, which means "repair the world," comes to mind. God has put us in the world as Kingdom agents to be part of partnering with Him, repairing this broken world and making it a better place to live. 

Ultimately, our connection is all about Jesus. 

He is the author and finisher of our faith, He is the beginning and the end, and He is the one who promises to complete the great work He began in us...

Moreover, He invites us to invite others to connect to the life of freedom!

Connecting 101 is the first module of the 4-part Freedom Track framework.