THIS IS THE ACCEPTABLE YEAR

Isaiah 61:1-2 NKJV The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,…

If you’ve ever watched a slapstick comedy like Laurel and Hardy, you’ll know timing is all important! One second too late and the joke won’t work. In the same way we love it when we’re at the right place at the right time, whether it’s for a bargain in the shops or you ‘happen’ to bump into someone you haven’t seen for ages.😊

God’s timing is all important too. He has things planned and worked out on His wall planner, and our verse today reminds us that when Jesus came He fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy that the year of God’s favour had arrived. Jesus said it of Himself in Luke 4:18-19. We are in that time span! We are in the time when Jesus brings freedom from anything that has us bound, release from poverty in all areas of life, to heal and restore broken lives and hearts. In a nutshell, the favour of God in every sphere of our lives.

This is the year, this is the time! We haven’t missed it because Jesus is the ‘I AM’, the One who never changes, the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, ever present in our personal world and the world at large.

So whatever opportunity you thought was gone, whatever health you’ve lost, whatever state your finances or relationships are in, Jesus is here today proclaiming and declaring that this is the year of the Lord’s favour - in our here and now. He’s asking us to believe it and accept it by faith, to not be moved by what we see or feel but only by what He has said.

Jesus’s words are for us all today  - good news, recovery, healing, freedom from oppression, freedom for those who are bound by anything, God’s loving kindness and favour - this year! In Jesus’s name. Amen.

Isaiah 61:2 NLT He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord’s favor has come,…

Have a blessed weekend.x😊

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GOD’S PART - OUR PART

Luke 9:56 NKJV “For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.”

When bad things happen we may be tempted to wonder if God is trying to teach us something, but if that was true we’d all have a degree by now! Actually it’s one of the lies Satan whispers in our ears to try to make us doubt God loves us. 

We may well learn something from the hard things that happen along the way, and when they do God is so gracious He says He will turn them round for our good, but it’s not God’s best way. He gave us an easier way to learn! 

2 Timothy 3:16 NLT All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 

In the New Covenant, God says He has given us His Holy Spirit to be our Teacher, and His inspired Word to teach, rebuke, instruct and guide us. It doesn’t say He gives us sickness and disease or any other sad thing to teach us, which is reassuring.

Jesus made it very clear that if anything in our lives is being destroyed, whether it’s our health, finances, relationships, or whatever, it’s not God who is doing it but the devil. Jesus tells us that He came to give us life more abundantly, that God wants us to be in health and to prosper in all areas of life, but the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy. (John 10:10). 

Jesus then tells us He’s overcome the world and given us His peace, His victory, His name, His grace, His Holy Spirit to enable us to overcome by the blood of the Lamb. So often though, we just pray and ask God to do something and wonder why He doesn’t, when He has already done His part, and given it all to us to use, through Jesus.😊

Our part is to speak to the mountain and tell it to be removed, to declare the end result of victory in our situations, to resist the enemy, to take our authority over him and bind his activities. We need to draw the line in the sand and say, “No more, no further!” God says His grace is enough, by the power of His Holy Spirit, to do it.

So be encouraged today to take a stand and find someone who will stand with you in agreement and tell the enemy to take his hands off your life, or the lives of your loved ones, and know God will back His word when we believe it and stand in faith. In Jesus name. Amen.

Photo by Jessica Fadel on Unsplash