"18 The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor, He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD." Luke 4:18-19 NKJV
Jesus stood in the synagogue and read this out, loud and clear. He was reinforcing Isaiah's statement in Isaiah 61:1-2 and declaring that this was being fulfilled in their presence; He was the promised Messiah.
Later, in Chapter 9:1-2, we read that He passed this ministry to His disciples, 'Then He called His disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases. 2 He sent them to preach the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick.' And then the entire church Acts 1&2.
As disciples of Jesus ourselves, we have this same mission. Jesus has commissioned us (Matthew 28:16-20 and Mark 16:14-18), to carry on this work wherever we are and whenever we can. We have been anointed by Jesus Himself to preach the gospel to the people who haven't heard it or don't fully understand the meaning of it. Without this, they are hell-bound, it is serious business. There are many people who are brokenhearted in our world today, who desperately need Jesus. He is the answer to their problems and their longing and they need us to explain this to them. Then there are those who are chained and held captive to drugs, porn, abuse of all kinds and poverty. They are in need of Jesus, they need to be set free and we, have the power within us, to do that. Depression, oppression, sickness, loneliness, just to name a few, are being suffered by people all over the world. I heard the other day about a person who was executed in a distant country for owning a bible. People need Jesus and now!
And we have the capability, we have the anointing of Jesus and there are many ways that we can help. We can send money to Christian charities; we can help children be schooled, fed and clothed by a small amount of cash each month. But also, there are the people in our neighbourhood, the people we live near to, who we work with, our family or friends. Everyone needs Jesus. This is why Jesus anointed you and I. We can make a difference.
Their is vast pain in this world. People have lost loved ones through Covid 19. People have lost someone through a car crash or a stabbing. People have been raped. Pain, pain and more pain. We can't take the pain away but we can help a little.
Do you realise that there is someone living near to you who has awful, pain-filled problems? They don't know Jesus either. They really have no one to help them. Can you help?
Copyriight 2021 Grahame Howard
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