I love this chapter from the book of Isaiah....Chapter 61. It is like a breath of fresh air on a hot summers day ( I think you might be able to relate to that symbol since our weather has been, how would you say.....HOT!).
It's like getting the best news when you've been battered and beaten around by life. There's a knock at your door and you open it to be met by a Western Union man who is delivering a telegram. Good news! Good news that reaffirms your belief's and sets you in a stable place emotionally and spiritually.
When I read Isaiah 61, it's as though God has layed out the plans for His Son, Jesus, and the Kingdom that is coming. Don't you know that the Devil hates such verses that fill the Scripture. Don't you know it just makes him work even harder to destroy God's creation. After all, the Devil knows that he can't defeat God, so the next best thing is to destroy as many people as he can. Keep them from receiving this "good news."
It's weird in that this so call "Good News" is coming to us even as I type this. That is, the promise of Power to change that God gives to us when we surrender will and life over to His care (Step # 3). Yet there is more to this promise. We will, at some point, be gathered together to be with Jesus and there in His presence our lives will change to an even greater degree. According to Scripture, there will be no more pain or sorrow, death or tears. Such things will fade away like a mist. It's kind of hard for me to wrap my head around this part of God's word, but I believe by faith that God will indeed do what He has promised to do.
So what is this good news?
ISAIAH 61
V.1 - The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is upon me because the LORD has appointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to announce that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed.
Notice how the verse begins....
God has deemed this action to take place. He isn't listed as just "LORD"....He is the Sovereign Lord. He has released His Spirit to be the agent of change and life to this fallen world.
The word SPIRIT is defined in Strongs Concordance as wind; by resemblance breath, that is, a sensible (or even violent) exhalation. In other words, God has released into a world of sin, the third part of the God-head, His Holy Spirit. The giver of life and the one who is capable of seeing this task to completion. The Holy Spirit has been delivered upon Jesus to carry out the mandate of God's Kingdom (See Luke 4:18-19). This same Holy Spirit is given to each believer at the time of their salvation to enable and empower them to break free from sin/addiction.
What better "Good News" could someone in bondage to addiction receive than to hear..."You don't have to live like this any more. There is a way out." What better news could someone who is emotionally spent and without hope receive than...."I have been sent to comfort and bind up your broken heart. To give you hope and set you on a path to life." Only this Holy Spirit, given by God to us, can fling wide the doors of addiction that have locked us away from a future. What greater bondage could someone be in than to be able to see "real life" going on all around them, yet never be able to be a part of it because of sin/addiction. It took a power greater than ourselves to unlock the door of our prison and proclaim our freedom. Like the Big Book says....God did for me what I could not do for myself.
If read on down in Isaiah 61, you'll come to verse 4 which speaks to me of the process of recovery.
"The will rebuild the ancient ruins, repairing cities long ago destroyed. They will revive them, though they have been empty for many generations.
The process of the Twelve Steps is to rebuild our lives. Under the power and guidance of God's Holy Spirit, we move through the steps repairing and rebuilding the broken down places in our lives. Making amends and having a change of character are all part of the process that takes us out of the sin/addiction prison and puts us squarely in the will of God.
Now I'm telling you if that isn't GOOD NEWS, then nothing is.
Think on these things....
God on you....
mb
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