“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach 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… . “
(Isaiah 61:1 NIV)
In part 1 of this dose we looked at the importance of proclaiming the good news. Today I’d like to look at the other essential component within this verse. The verse states that the Lord had anointed Isaiah to preach, to go, to proclaim and to release. But what was the driving force behind carrying out those actions? The Spirit of the Lord! If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior you have been sealed with the Holy Spirit and have Him living in you to carry out the commission of the Lord upon your life (Eph 1:13; 2 Cor 1:22). All of us have unique callings upon our lives, but we all have the same commission to proclaim the good news. In Matthew 28, Jesus commands His disciples to go and make disciples, promising to be with them always. Too many Christians believe this to be a great suggestion and not a great command (don’t worry, if you are sitting in the seat of conviction right now I am there beside you!). So I would encourage you today to take a few moments to take stock of your relationships. Do you have any unbelieving friends that you are sharing Christ with? If not, do you need to be intentional about seeking some out? Broken hearts will not be bound up and captives will not experience freedom until they experience Jesus. And through the power of the Holy Spirit in you, you have the boldness to preach that good news. So go preach it, friend! And the Lord is with you as you do.
Be blessed,
Noree
Photo Credit: https://www.freeimages.com/photo/olil-1568642
Notice the order of things Isaiah was called to do: 1) preach the good news, 2) bind up the brokenhearted, and 3) proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for prisoners. What was the first thing Isaiah was called to do? Preach the good news. Broken hearts will not experience true restoration without first accepting the good news. Captives will not experience true freedom without first accepting the good news. Prisoners will not experience the light of life without first accepting the good news. Preaching the good news is the key for the fulfillment of the subsequent promises spoken through Isaiah. So let me ask you, how many people have you preached the good news to lately? More importantly, how many relationships do you have with people who do not know Jesus? The majority of people who become believers do so due to a relationship with a genuine believer. Too often we encapsulate ourselves within a bubble of going to church, going to our Bible study small group, meeting our Christian friends for lunch, and participating in the church softball league. None of those things are wrong, but if our schedule is only filled with spending time with Christians, we have left no room for time with unbelievers. In Romans 10 Paul asks the recipients of his letter how the lost can believe in the one of whom they have not heard? We must be intentional to seek out the lost and proclaim the good news. Our loving actions will win over their hearts which should open their minds to hear the message we are proclaiming. And it is only through the acceptance of the Good News that they will be able to experience true freedom and restoration in life.
When I picture God’s word being a lamp for my feet, my twenty-first century mind imagines a lamp shining a bright path at least ten feet in front of me. However, scripture was not written by a person with a twenty-first century mindset. This passage was written by a person with a first century mindset. Their lamps were very different from ours.