Proclaiming Freedom to the Captives, Prisoners in Sin!

Good Morning Precious and Dearly Loved Child of Our Abba Father!

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to PROCLAIM freedom to the captives and (to proclaim) release for the prisoners, to PROCLAIM the year of the Lord’s favor.”  Isaiah 61:1-2.   

     To proclaim is to : announce, declare, make known, notify, advertise, publish, broadcast, pronounce, trumpet, shout something from the roof tops…    So we are to “shout something from the roof tops to whom?  To the captives and the prisoners!  What are we to proclaim, to shout from the roof tops, that the captives and prisoners ARE FREE and that they (the prisoners and captives) are in or under the Lord’s favor!!!! 

 And who are the prisoners and captives?  These are the people who are caught up and captive to sin, sins like alcoholism, drug addiction, pornography, any type of addiction…  Are we the church doing this?  Or are we condemning the addict in their sin and putting them under the law?  Are you announcing, proclaiming, declaring, shouting from the mountain tops to the addicts, “Hey, Jesus has freed you, He has released you, and you are under the favor of the Lord”? 

  The church or even the twelve step recovery programs do not have the reputation for proclaiming to the prisoners and captives, addicts of sin freedom!  Many of the recovery programs have you introduce yourself as, “Hi, my name is Joe, I AM A ALCOHOLIC”.  They have you proclaim that you are an addict or whatever other sin that may have you in prison, captive or bondage! 

 I believe it is time for the church to wake up to the “Good News of Great Joy” of what Jesus did on the Cross where He took away the nature and broke the power of sin!  He bore all sin, all punishment, all wrath and condemnation upon himself that His people would be FREE from all of their sin!  “Now the Lord is Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Freedom.” 2 Corinthians 3:17.       

   We see people’s behavior and rather than proclaiming to them that Jesus has set them free at the Cross already, and proclaiming that God’s favor rests on them, many times we put them under the law and tell them that God would never fellowship with them in their present condition and stop sinning!           “Or do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s Loving-kindness leads you to towards repentance?” Romans 2:4.    

   At the core of sinful behavior are lies that a person is believing about themselves from the enemy who is trying to steal, kill and destroy every person on the earth!  At the heart of the enemies lies is that he trying to lie to people about their worth.  He is always trying to convince people that they are worthless, they are not loved, and inflicts shame and guilt on people so they feel totally condemned with zero sense of purpose and Love! 

 So because of these deep beliefs, people get addicted to whatever they want to so as to get some sort of relief, even if the temporary relief is extremely destructive, from the pain and emptiness in the depths of their hearts!  Christians living under the law will fuel this sense of worthiness because all they can see is the person’s behavior and hound them over their sin.   It is time we wake up and view each other according to what Jesus did on the Cross!  It is time we start Proclaiming to people caught in bondage, prisoners and captives to sin that In Christ Jesus, they have already been set free! 

 People under the law, think that they are set free when they stop sinning!  WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!     WE have all been set free at the Cross when Jesus took away the sinful nature and bore and became and carried all of  our sin!  So just like the angel PROCLAIMED to the shephards, “Do not be afraid.  I bring you GOOD NEWS OF GREAT JOY that will be for ALL the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:10-11.   We are ambassadors for Christ proclaiming this Good News of Great Joy to all people; captives, prisoners, addicts, sick and diseased, the mentally ill, those in poverty…..  The Father has completely healed and seated each person in the heavenly realms who have received the gift of salvation! 

 At salvation, each and every person received their freedom; the problem is that most people don’t know and believe this in the depths of their hearts!  For many people, getting saved is just coming under more rules and regulations that they cannot keep!     “The power of sin is the law”, 1 Corinthians 15:56; and “the sinful passions are aroused by the law”, Romans 7:5.       It is time to proclaim from the roof tops that “by dying to once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the (Freedom) of the Spirit.” Romans 7:6.       Are you ready to receive and proclaim this “Good News of Great Joy”????          SHALOM!!!!!!!!

Jerry Brown         3-23-2013