YOUR CAPTIVITY BY POVERTY HAS ENDED

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” (Luke 4:18-19)

Do you know that in Christ you are always in the place of the year of the Lord’s favour?  There is never a time that you are outside of the blessing of God.  You are blessed wherever you go and in whatever you do.  Deuteronomy 28 says, “You are blessed in the city and in the country.”  In fact, read the entire chapter because if what it says gets into your spirit, you will never worry about a thing again.

David said, “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.”

This is the good news that there is in Christ.  The blessing of the Lord shines upon you and you are a blessing in the earth.

Jesus came into the earth and announced that He was sent to bring the good news to the poor and that He was setting the captives free and proclaiming favour over their lives (Luke 4:18-19).  My God, did you hear that?  Your captivity by poverty has ended in Christ and as long as you obey the voice of God, you will walk in prosperity.

There is oppression in the earth, but this oppression cannot come near my tent.  Even in drought and famine my family will be fine, because I am in Christ.  And when He speaks and I listen, my prosperity is secure.

I don’t care if a hundred Christians are not living in prosperity. It does not change His word for my life.  As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord and be a sign and a wonder for the nations to see.  Just watch my life.  Just watch the blessing arise on my family.  I tell you that you have seen nothing yet.  There is greater blessing coming to us yet.  Not because I am anything, but because my God is King and His word is truth and He cannot lie.

I don’t worry when my bank account looks bad.  I get excited because I know a miracle is on the way.  I know that He has to provide all my needs according to His riches in Glory and trust me, I have seen that glory.

I remember before I was married, I saw the treasure house of heaven in a dream.  Just before I got there, I was walking in heaven when this vibrant old man walked up to me and said, “Go to the treasury and get enough for your journey.”   This was none other than Father God.

When I got into the treasury, it was filled with gold.  I was inside of a huge room the size of a gymnasium and there was gold piled to the ceiling.  Out of the middle of it arose a spirit of mammon that came toward me as a giant hand.  It was going to destroy me and consume me, but I raised my hand to it and spoke to it and said, “The Father said that I can have enough for my journey.”

The hand broke off and fell beside me and formed a giant golden tiger that looked more alive than any creature I had ever seen before.  It then changed into a giant angel and started walking with me.

I have understood from that time to this that I have no financial problems at all.  I know that God will take care of every math problem that I have.  He will also meet me in the place of faith and provide for all my dreams in Him.  I dream of reaching the world for Christ and He will empower me to do it.  I also dream of providing for those that do not have such faith, but still want to reach the world for Christ.  I will provide for the ones God guides me to as well.  This I have done and will do in Christ.

You also can be empowered to accomplish great things in Christ.  Just believe…all things are possible if you only believe.

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:10-11)

Saint Paul was addicted to Christ.  He had no other desire but to obtain to the fullness of the resurrection that was promised to him because of the work of Christ on the cross.  He was willing to lay down everything that was important to him in this life.

There must have been something that God revealed to him that was so deep that he was willing to do this.  He was a lover of heaven.

Heaven has that way about it.  When you begin to have dreams and visions about the bounty that exists for us in resurrection, then death has very little effect on your mind.  I don’t want to die.  I want to live and lead as many people into the goodness of God that I can, but to die has very little sting to it, given the rewards that there are in store for us.

There have been times that I have talked about dying to an audience and I see them cringe at the thought of death.  I honestly forget that people are afraid to die so when I experience this cringe I am somewhat amused, especially when these are Christians that are afraid.  I pray for them of course that the fear of death would leave them.

My life is full on this side of eternity, but I still know that there is much more in store for me in heaven.  I don’t pretend that this side has more for me that the other side.  The other side is free from fear and sadness.  On the other side I will not have to walk by faith, but I shall always be full of his glory forevermore.  I shall be emotionally free forever.

Here I see the hope that I have in part, but there I shall see it face to face.  Here I am a stranger, but there I am a part of the culture of that place.  Here I am condemned for my faith, but there I am celebrated.

Here I am berated and mocked, but there I am a hero of the faith.

God is so good that He allows us to have encounters with His glory to keep us going.  He fills us with His presence and glory.  He gives us a dream and we feel His kingdom alive in our hearts.  We have a vision of His joy and His peace.  These little glimpses are enough to enliven us and quicken us so that we have hope and peace to live the day.

Troubles come to our lives and we rejoice because we know the hope of glory that lives in our hearts.  We know the fullness of assurance in Christ.  We know that the devil has no real power against us and that every attack is an illusion with little substance.  We know that God has plans for us and will fulfill them.  This we know in our hearts because of the revelation that has come to us by the Holy Spirit.

As we walk the narrow path, it doesn’t feel so narrow.  We look upon the horizon of eternity and see a fullness to come that is matchless on the side of time. But even here our spirits are enlivened because God continues to awaken us to His reality and goodness.  It is this goodness that we understand about God, which keeps us walking the path that we are on as we progress toward our destiny.

For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:9-12)

As long as we are on this side of eternity, we shall know in part.  My own thoughts I have not digested completely.  I inspect the contents of my mind in order to become self-aware, but without a saviour, this inspection can be troublesome at best.

When I come to a place within my memory that causes emotional turmoil, unless I have a saviour that can touch that part of me and cleanse it, then self-inspection becomes nothing more than self-justification or worse still, blame-shifting.

If I do not understand the need for forgiveness and repentance in my life, then looking deep into pain is not a relieving exercise.  We want to look deep into self in order to become freer, but when I look deep into myself and see my eternal guilt, freedom is like a mirage on the desert that seems to offer satisfaction to the thirsty but is not real.

Introspection must have release and release doesn’t come from justification or shifting the blame.  Freedom comes from forgiveness and repentance.  I must recognize my need for a saviour.

You see this programming within the human mind is flawed.  It is not capable of doing what it was designed to do because of original sin.  The program understands good, but is not able to carry it out.  This causes the program to break down and eventually die because he who knows the good that he should do but does not do it lives in sin…and sin kills.

It isn’t that we don’t want to do good or that we don’t try.  We do try!  Every single day we try to work out our good for the world to see and understand.  Inside of our hearts we want people to think that we are good people, because we know that good is good.  The evil that lurks within our hearts is like a disease that we want removed, but the more we try, the worse it seems to get.

We either blame God for this or we come to realize our need to be saved.

When Jesus died on the cross, He created a way for freedom to enter the hearts of men.  He opened a door into a new humanity.  It was like the program was repaired.  When we kneel and accept Christ into our hearts, then the navel-gazing has more meaning.  Each pain is released.  Each sin is healed.  We come to a new freedom and a new peace for our lives.

Each day in Christ, my mind is renewed.  I look into my life and see the things that I did that were sin.  I admit to God that it was sin and He heals my heart.  All the pain is healed.  We begin to understand the power of the great salvation that came in Christ.

As I repent more, then more freedom comes into my heart.  The world opens up to me and the good that I do comes to have real meaning, because it is led and directed by God.

Now I am free to advance into my destiny without being held back by guilt or shame or pain.

Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?  (Matthew 25:34-39)

I love this passage in Matthew 25:31-46 in which the King is congratulating and rewarding his servants on the good work that they have done in feeding the poor and helping the sick.  He says, “When I was sick you took care of me and when I was thirsty you gave me a drink.”

The servant is distressed because he cannot recollect ever doing anything for the King and tells him so, and so the King continues and enlightens his servant by saying, “What you have done for the least of these you did for me.”

The servant did not consciously realize that he was serving the King.  His faith was internalized and lived out on a day-to-day basis among the people he encountered.

Often when I prophesy over people, the Lord shows me their spiritual gifts.  I will see that they have a hospitality gift and like to feed people or they have an encouragement gift and like to speak into the lives of those that they come into contact with.  Many of these people do not realize that this is important work for the Lord.  They are looking for something much grander, but it is in the living of our daily lives and serving those that we come in contact with that which pleases God the most.

I usually tell them that if they continue to be hospitable or encouraging. then they will be fulfilling God’s will for their lives.  Such relief enters into them when I say this because many of them don’t know that they are fulfilling God’s will and live in fear of not pleasing Him.

I read somewhere once that “God likes to hide the righteousness of His friends from them.”

Real humility doesn’t even care if it is seen or heard.  Humility only cares that it connects with the one whom its soul loves.  We must work out our salvations with fear and trembling and as we do it is God works inside of us to will and work for His for His good pleasure.

Much of what is accomplished in the life of a believer is a mystery to the believer.  So much of the good we do is forgotten anyhow and that which we do remember is best forgotten.  We need to keep our eyes on the goal of our faith which is to inherit eternal salvation in Christ Jesus.

As we advance toward our destiny, let’s focus on getting closer to Jesus, for in so doing we will become like Him.  When His love permeates our hearts, we will live fulfilling God’s dreams.  He will empower us to do more and more and when we finally do appear before the throne of God, we will be amazed at the things we did while not even knowing we did them.

Does not wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice? On the heights, beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand; beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries out: (Proverbs 8:1-3)

Many Christians talk about seasons.  There are long seasons and there are short seasons.  At the end of every season there is a CROSSROADS that opens the way into our next season.

When we live a life of the Spirit, these crossroads should not take us by surprise.  The Spirit guides us through our lives and before every major turn there are signs that help point the way into the next season.

I have travelled by car into many major cities.  Some of these cities are intimidating because they are so large.  I have gotten lost trying to navigate the signs that I see.  I have to be in tune with my GPS or a map in order to adequately guide myself through the maze of streets that I encounter along the way to my destination.  In fact if it were not for my guides, I would surely get lost.

In the same way we need to ask the Lord for a spiritual map in order to guide us to our spiritual destinations.  We don’t want to miss one destination that God has in store for our life.  We want to arrive at every place that He has in store.  Sometimes He will guide us through dreams and visions, sometimes it will be a witness in our heart, or a prophetic word.

In order to hear His voice, I must be humble.  Pride will stop me from understanding the voice of the Lord when He speaks.  It will further stop me from taking some turns because they don’t seem like what I might have in store for my own life.

I remember when Lydia and I bought our current house.  My real estate agent put the house on the itinerary for that day, but I wasn’t excited about it.  When we drove up to the house, I looked at it and decided I didn’t even want to go inside.  It was not in the right location in my mind and it looked small.

I told my agent I wasn’t interested in looking and to go to the house to tell the owner we would not be looking.  This he did, but then he ran back to the car.  He said, “You have to come and look at this house!”

My agent knew what we wanted more than we did.  He knew the kind of house that we were looking for and he felt that this was the house.  I was still not certain, but I trusted my agent enough to at least go and have a look.

Well, the house was exactly what my wife and I wanted.  We fell in love with it immediately, as did our boys.

We must submit to the leading of the Lord.  When He guides us we must respond.  We can miss many great opportunities because our own prejudices stop us from seeing things from His perspective.  He has blessings that cannot be counted for your life, but you must respond to each one.

When you come to the CROSSROADS, the key is to wait until you hear His voice and then respond.  Don’t fear missing it.  He speaks until you hear, but be obedient when He does speak, because He has so much that He wants to give.  Humble yourself in His sight and He will bring you to the greatest heights in Christ.