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Freedom for the Captives
“Ramila and her husband, along with their children live in Nepal, at the bottom of Mt. Everest and have a travel agency that takes people on tours, but they also are Christians and the leaders of more than 300 church planters throughout the country. They are modern-day heroes of the faith. Be encouraged by the message she shares with us here.” 
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor (Isaiah 61:1-3).
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me…..to proclaim freedom for the captives..
I was pondering on these verses of Isaiah. It gives us an identity of who we are in Christ. We are made in God’s image but for what? There are 7 purposes clearly mentioned here. We are to proclaim good news to the poor (I call it Spiritual poor: Matt 5:3), bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim freedom for the captives, release from darkness for the prisoners, proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour and day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve in Zion…..
Today let’s focus on ‘to proclaim freedom for the captives’. Who are the captives in today’s world? What kind of captivity is still present in today’s world when we are talking and practicing human rights? In today’s fast moving world we are caught in different forms of captivity. As I look around, people are captives by their own thoughts, not realizing who they are in Christ. People have been captive by the god of this world. They are worshipping different forms of idols. Some worship stone and metal gods as idols, but some worship materialism as their idol.
People have been made captive by the prince of this world, standards of this world, being a prototype of this world. I see people being captive on their leadership style by saying; I belong to this personality group or that group. But don’t you realize that our God can release you from those bondages? I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13) and in Christ, we are a new creation (2 Cor 5:17).
People are in satanic bondage. Friends who are in the West may not experience as much as we do in this part of the world. We have seen demonic attacks. Many medical doctors and witch doctors try to help, but eventually what works in these situation is when Christians pray to God and seek freedom from HIM gets the eternal freedom from this bondage. People may give the name ‘Psychological issue’ or ‘Mental issue’ but whatever name you give the freedom is only in Christ!
I work at a school now so I see students with learning difficulties. Some are even diagonosed with ADD or ADHD. Again whatever name you give, I believe God is beyond these bondages which do not allow people to function as God desires. True repentance in God will lead us towards freedom. As we allow God to work in our mind He opens the door of our heart and allows us to see things which we never discovered. Knowing God and allowing HIM to work in us is renewing our mind. As our mind sees things the way God intended us to see then we can feel that we are no more captives of anything, I say anything but we are instruments of God, made for His purpose and pleasure.
Friends, if you are in captive of your behavior or any form of addiction or thought. Come near to God and HE will come near to you (James 4:8). He will help you cleanse and will make you an ‘oak of righteousness’ (Isaiah 61:3). Psalm 1:3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and when his master comes He’ll say ‘Well done, you good and faithful servant! (Matt 25:23)
Now, we should think as a new person, totally transformed. By God’s grace, we have been transformed so now we cannot keep ourselves in the box and think as the world make us think. We are created anew, but only to fulfill God’s plan. We are indeed free from any form of captivity.
Copyright © 2008-2015 Ramila Karmacharya
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