Jesus created quite a stir among His friends & neighbors in His
adopted hometown of Nazareth one week at church when He read the
following passage from the prophet Isaiah
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed
Me to proclaim Good News to the poor (the afflicted.) He has sent Me to
proclaim liberty to the captives, & recovery of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the
LORD's favor." Luke 4:18,19 English Standard Version
He then declared: “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your
midst.” In essence, He said, “I am the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed
One, & I’m launching into the mission & purpose God sent Me
here to fulfill – to bring the LORD God’s RESTORATION
to a people that have been impoverished & downtrodden. To bring
freedom from the captivity of sin, people stuck in old ways of thinking
about themselves & about God. To bring physical healing &
restoration of sight to those who can’t see - & also to bring
spiritual sight so people would be able to have spiritual insights. To
declare freedom for those who have been burned, battered, &
ripped-off. To shout from the rooftops, '“It’s the time for God’s favor
in, through, & around your lives.”'
Over & over for the last 6 weeks or so, I have been greatly
impressed in my spirit that God is speaking this to us – individually,
& for Hillside. That He is reminding us of that one of the main
things He does is make things new. He undoes the work of the enemy. He
brings RESTORATION. I don’t know if I’ve ever declared a
‘theme’ or special word for the year, but I am going to continually
come back to remind us to be proclaiming His RESTORATION in,
over, & through our lives, in the lives of those that intersect
ours, & in the greater Reno/Sparks area. I am expectant - & am
looking to see the great things our LORD is doing & will do. And I’m
thankful to be a part of it - & am anticipating this RESTORATION in many, many areas of my life.
Grace, peace, & God’s blessings to you today -
Louie
P.S. By the way, If you’re interested, you can find out more about The SOAP Bible Reading plan – acronym for Scripture Observation Application Prayer HERE:
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