"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 " Isaiah 61:1-4 NKJV
Jesus went to the synagogue in His home town, stood up and preached this sermon. This caused mayhem with people saying, 'Is this not Joseph's son?' Luke 4:22. Jesus was fulfilling what needed to be said and the flak was beginning to spread around Him. However, He had the anointing; the name of Jesus and Messiah means The Anointed One and He was announcing this.
Jesus is the Anointed One but, He has anointed us as well and has commissioned us to go out into the world and make disciples and heal the sick. We have a task to fulfill on His behalf. (Mark 16:14-18). There are many people around us that are brokenhearted and captive to addictions, lonely, abused and in total turmoil. They need setting free and you have the power to carry out this task, because Jesus has sent you.
Sickness and death bring great sadness to the people who are mourning. They need consoling and this is a ministry in itself. For the last ten years as a social worker, I worked at a hospice with people who were dying and with their loved ones. It was the best job I have ever had but was also draining working with people whose lives were falling apart. I wasn't a chaplain there but whenever I had the opportunity, I would share the gospel with them. It brought much peace to each of them.
When people are hurting, they have no particular strength or hope to hang on to. Just getting alongside them and offering love and comfort can be such a great healer in itself. A breakdown in a relationship can be very painful and just sitting and listening to the hurt can bring great benefit. It's getting alongside of them, standing in their shoes that works. Counsellors often call this getting into someone's Internal Frame of Reference; it sounds technical but all it is, is showing the person empathy by letting them know you are listening and on their wavelength without saying the negative, 'I know how you feel', because mostly you don't.
You may not be a counsellor and you don't have to be; what you do is just carry out Jesus' guidelines - be Jesus to them without fancy Christian language. You have the ability to grow trees of righteousness v3, by helping to plant in the listener, hope. There is a lot of hurting people around you and you have the anointing within you to make a difference.
Think about it!
Copyright 2021 Grahame Howard.
Member of the National Association of Christian Ministers
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