A Call to Release

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor, He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" Luke 4:18-19.

I love these verses. They have always been some of those verses that struck a deeper chord with me. God reminded me of them while I was in Nicaragua. You know, it's easy to think about ideas, such as releasing the oppressed and proclaiming freedom, when you are on the mission field in a foreign country. The concepts, however, become as foreign as Nicaragua when are feet are on American soil.

You do NOT have to be in a foreign country to proclaim freedom. You do NOT have to travel oversees to find those oppressed. We claim to be a free country, but we are in bondage. Our people are oppressed.

This oppression takes many forms. The deliverance techniques varies by form of oppression.

Today I was praying at the pregnancy center and reading a little from God's Word before things became busy. I found myself reading Isaiah 58:9-11.

"If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you; He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame...." Isaiah 58:9-11.

I don't know how you feel about it. But to me that sounds like a good trade off. My life would be better just by doing away with oppression, pointing fingers, malicious talk and helping the hungry and oppressed. However, God then says He will guide, satisfy, and strengthen.

This sounds good to me.

In His Name,

Jennifer