“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me (Jesus), because He hath anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor. He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Luke 4:18
Wow, what an incredible verse of scripture. Amazing, in fact.
Most of the time, I can recognize someone who’s in bondage within a matter of minutes. It’s because I used to be in so much bondage that I literally could not turn my neck from side to side. Really. Now, I can tell when someone needs Jesus to set them free. And, He came to set captives free. Isn’t that GREAT news?
I can go to Bible school, know all about the Bible, and be the member of a church for years and still resist letting the Holy Spirit work in me. It’s true. I can still say “no” to His promptings to help me become free. And, my resistance can last a lifetime and even take me away from God. I can want my bondage more than the breakthrough He has for me.
I can choose not to cooperate with the Holy Spirit’s work in my life. It’s true. And it will always be to my detriment if I choose not to cooperate with Him. I can only be set free indeed if I choose to be willing to be set free. If I resist the Spirit, I cannot be set free in any area the Holy Spirit wants to work on in my life.
give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench (stifle, restrain, extinguish) the Spirit.
1 Thessalonians 5:18-19
Does this happen to you? Through a song, sermon, Bible passage, friend, or some other means the Lord uses, you become aware and convicted of a sin in your life, you sense something you need to change in your life, only to suddenly feel something well up in you that resists, that tells you not to repent, that you’re okay just the way you are? You may feel offended when something’s convicting you and instead of coming to terms with the sin, you hang onto it out of possible embarrassment or pride? Don’t let Satan trick you into thinking you don’t need to repent. Don’t listen to him. He wants you to stay trapped and he will use whatever is at his disposal to keep you bound.
Free indeed.
Wow, those two words just hit me again this morning. It was like the Holy Spirit just made them come alive for me by showing me, again, that anything else we try in an effort to make us free cannot make us free like Jesus’ freedom can. All other things we try to gain freedom from are just idols, false, counterfeits, and have no power to set us free indeed.
If the Son (Jesus) therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
John 8:36
God bless,
Mark