“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me, to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Luke 4:18-19
When we were at Training Camp each team was challenged to come up with a theme verse for the year. So, we all sat down with our Bibles and individually prayed about what verse God wanted us to live by this year. We just sought him, let him speak, then came together and talked about what it is God showed us in scripture! Well one of my teammates Cole said “I don’t know, I’m really not sure if this will work but I just came upon it so hear it is.” What he didn’t know in that moment is that God gave him EXACTLY what our teams heart is. We heard this verse and all of our jaws dropped.
So this morning I sat down with my parents and told them our team verse. My Dad, being the wise, freaking great man he is, sat me down and gave me the whole backstory on the scripture and what Jesus was trying to tell his people when he spoke this. Jesus was teaching them this… He is the Messiah!! It was a big deal for him to reveal to his home town people of Nazareth who he really was…so, when He pulled out the scroll to read from the book of Isaiah…he was finally able to say to them… “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
As He sat back down with the people around Him, they all started mumbling. They were furious. Can you imagine what Jesus felt in this moment?! It was the moment He had been waiting for to tell them who He was, that He is the King, the Savior, the Messiah! But..you won’t believe what they did to him..they took him to a cliff to throw him off, cuz they were like, “Excuse me, who are you to say YOU are any more special than us?? There’s no way you’re the Messiah.” He was rejected at this moment, and when they took Him to the top of the cliff to throw Him off, Jesus just turned around and walked away. WHAT!?!? They couldn’t do anything to Him.
When I was little my Dad used to always say to us, “you have no permission to be afraid!” I know this sounds pretty harsh, but honestly it’s something that has shaped me my whole life. I’ve used it in so many circumstances and I truly think that as we’re trying to be like Jesus this year, as we’re trying to live out this scripture and be the hands and feet of Jesus, it’s gonna take a lot of courage and strength.
“He is before all things and in him all things hold together.”
Colossians 1:17
He is before me! He is before my team and my squad! So I will go with courage, with no permission of fear, ready to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind!! 9 days people!!! Can you believe it!!!!
