Isaiah 61:1“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.” Today's episode talks about how God is calling us to live our lives in a way that is a reflection of Jesus. He wants us to be a light in the lives of those around us and He gives us the Holy Spirit so we can do that. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Set The Captive Free
Isaiah 61:1“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.”
My teacher from Encounter sent this verse to me yesterday. His words in the email where, “We need an army of Christians to live Isaiah 61:1-2!” I had know idea what this verse said, so I immediately looked it up and I agree, we need an army of Christians to live out this verse. The first part of the verse says, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me.” This is true for each one of us who is baptized. If you have been baptized then you have received the Spirit of the Lord. If you have made your confirmation you have also received the Spirit of the Lord. Sometimes we think we don’t have the Spirit of the Lord within us because we don’t feel it. We hear verses like this one and we think it is definitely talking about someone else. Be honest, when you heard the verse above did you count yourself out? The Spirit of the Lord is upon you, that is a fact.
The next part of the verse says, “The Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.” God is not talking to everyone else but you here. Whether you feel like you are anointed or not, you are. When we were baptized we were anointed as priest, prophet and king. Being a prophet means it is our job to proclaim good new to the poor. What good news are we proclaiming, hope and love, are what come to my mind. Hope that there is something better out there. Hope that this world is not forever and there is another world that is everlasting happiness. Hope that just because they are in this circumstance right now, doesn’t mean they will be forever. Hope that change is possible. Love, that they are not alone and forgotten, that their heavenly Father sees them and loves them.
The next part says, “He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness the prisoners.” That feels like a pretty tall order and yet it really isn’t because we aren’t doing it alone or with our own strength. How can we bind up the brokenhearted? Who do you know that is really struggling right now? Who do you know that is really sad and misguided right now? What could you do for them? How could you be there for them in their time of need? Next it says, proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness the prisoners. Who do you know that needs a little freedom? Freedom from worry, freedom from anxiety, freedom from their past mistakes. Who do you know that needs to be released from the darkness? The weight of bills pilling up, the darkness of mental illness, the darkness of divorce, separation, feeling alone. Even listing all that my mind keeps telling me I can’t help them. Who am I to help them? What can I do, I am just one person? We are not just one person though, we are one person with the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of us and there is nothing that the Spirit of God can’t do.
I get it if you heard this verse and counted yourself out. Who feels qualified to set the captive free and release from darkness the prisoners? How are we supposed to help the brokenhearted? It all feels like too much and we don’t feel qualified.
Even after taking a whole year of classes on the gifts of the Holy Spirit I still don’t feel qualified and yet, I know I am. I am not qualified because of the year I took at Encounter School of Ministry Boston Campus. I am not qualified because of my life lessons. I am not qualified because of my faith. I am qualified because God gave me His hope and His love and He asked me to share it with the world. He asked you to do the same too. We don’t have to know exactly what to say to heal people. We don’t have to know exactly the right thing to say to help people. We don’t have to know the right thing to say to pray over people. We just have to ask the Holy Spirit to come and do it through us. We can ask the Holy Spirit to give us the words to say to those in need. We can just listen and not say anything, sometimes that helps more than talking ever could. People want to be heard, they want to be seen. They want to know that someone cares about them. You can be the face of Jesus to all you meet, not by your own power, but by the power of the Holy Spirit and the grace of God.
Week after week in my prayer group God is asking us to go out and to be His love, His hope, His joy, His peace to others. If we were doing it, He wouldn’t have to keep asking us. The world needs more Jesus now more than ever. I say that although, if you read the lives of the Saints over the years, they always said that. I am not sure if these times are worse than other times, I do know that these times are bad. I know that we definitely need more Jesus. People are starving for His love and His peace. People are also starving for His Word. They are searching for truth and if we aren’t giving it them, others will. I was listening to Father Mike’s Catechism in a Year podcast the other day and he was talking about this famous person who is an atheist. He does not believe in God. This man was doing a show and he went out into the lobby afterwards to shake hands with the fans and take photos. One man waited for others to leave and then went up to him and said, “I know you don’t believe in God, but I wanted you to have this,” and gave him a little form of the Bible, maybe just the Gospels and the Psalms or something. The man took the Bible and was so moved he talked about it later in a live stream or an interview. He said some people might get really upset that this man gave me this Bible when he knows I don’t believe in God. However, I am not upset and I don’t think it is rude. I don’t believe in God. However, if I did, if I truly believed that there was a heaven and hell wouldn’t I do anything to make sure others knew about it? Wouldn’t it make sense that I would want to save all those I could from an eternal life in Hell? What can we do to make sure others know of God’s love, His peace, His joy, and His hope? Are we spreading His message around? Are we living our lives as a living testament to Jesus? When people see us, do they see Jesus?
I have told you that God is telling us each and every week to be His face to the world. Here is just one of the many directives we received from Him. “I have promised, and I have given you my Spirit. I do not renege on my promises or hold back my Spirit from you. Let your light shine for me. There is enough darkness in the world. Let the light that is within you from me shine on others. Be not afraid to speak words of hope, love, and peace. Be my witnesses to the love that I have to give to them.” God is not asking a lot from us. He is not asking us to go out and travel the world spreading His love. He is asking us to be his Love, Light, Hope, Peace & Joy to those around us. He is asking us to live our lives in a way that others will see us and want what we have. The peace, love, hope and joy of the Lord is contagious. If we have it and live in it, others will want it. When they do, when they come and ask about it, give the glory to the Father. Point them to the Father. Show them that they can have what you have if the turn to the Father.
We can do this. We can do it together. We can be there to support each other as we tell those around us that Jesus is awesome. Also, I feel I need to say, if your immediate loved ones don’t want to hear how amazing Jesus is, that is ok. Live in His light and it will shine on them too. It might not be your job to bring them to Jesus. Maybe God has another plan for them. All we can do is pray for them and keep shining God’s light on them by letting it shine brightly through us. Rest assured that God has a plan for them. Also, believe that if you are out sharing God’s love with those around you, then someone around them, someone they will be able to hear it from, will share God’s love with them too. I know it may be scary and yet it doesn’t have to be. All we have to do is say yes to God and He will give us all we need to do anything He is asking us to do.
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we ask that you show us where in our lives we can help spread your light, your love, your peace, your hope and your joy. Show us who in our lives is open to hearing about you. Show us how we can set the captives free. Show us how we can bring your light into their darkness. Show us how we can bring the good news to the poor. We feel inadequate Lord, please help us. Please fill us with your strength. Please remind us that we have the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of us, the same Holy Spirit Jesus had inside him. Remind us we are not alone, we are not doing this alone. Remind us you are with us and the Holy Spirit can tell us what to do if we just ask and listen. We love you Lord, you are amazing. We thank you for giving us the Holy Spirit. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. My book is on sale on my website right now. If you buy from my website I will write a personal message and sign it before sending it to you. If you are following me on Facebook, Catherine Duggan, I did a live video yesterday with the link in the comments. Click Here for the book and Click Here for my website in the show notes. Thank you for all your support, I really appreciate it! I look forward to meeting you hear again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!