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DAILY DEVOTIONAL – Tuesday, February 7, 2017
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May you find comfort, encouragement, guidance, hope, inspiration, love, and peace – https://helpfulinspirationalblog.wordpress.com/. May you also find answers to your question(s) through the Scriptures that address every situation you face, and help with your problems. Deb ♥
Today’s scripture reading:
Isaiah pictures the deliverance of Israel from exile in Babylon as a Year of Jubilee when all debts are cancelled, all slaves are freed, and all property is returned to original owners. But the release from Babylonian exile had not brought the fulfillment the people had expected; they were still a conquered and oppressed people. So Isaiah must have been referring to a future messianic age. Jesus boldly announced, “This Scripture has come true today before your very eyes!” Jesus was proclaiming himself as the one who would bring this Good News to pass but in a way that the people would not yet be able to grasp. (NLT)
Luke 4:16-21 – When he [Jesus] came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. The scroll containing the messages of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him, and he unrolled the scroll to the place where it says: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”
He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. Everyone in the synagogue stared at him intently. Then he said, “This Scripture has come true today before your very eyes!”
[Jesus] began by saying to [those in the synagogue], “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” –Luke 4:21 (NIV)
Cristian Istrate (Romania) titled his story “SET FREE;” here is a portion of Cristian’s story:
“. . . ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’ In other words, Today is the day of your liberation. Jesus’ words are still true today; his task as Messiah is to set free all those who are captive.
“In 2008 on a mission trip to Egypt, I met a young man who had recently attempted to commit suicide by jumping into the Nile River. A woman who saw his intent had cried out to him, ‘Young man, you can jump and end this life, but what about the other one?’ That woman’s question stopped him from carrying out his plan. He decided to try to find God.
“After hearing his story, I shared the gospel with him. With tears in his eyes, he accepted Christ. I hugged him, and he told me that no one had given him a hug in seven years. He experienced first-hand what it means to be set free. This could not have happened without his hearing the good news of the liberator, Jesus, who still sets us free today!”
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY – Jesus can set me free.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, you have the power to set us free. Help us to find rest in your arms. Amen.
Prayer Focus: THOSE CONTEMPLATING SUICIDE
To read the rest of the story in The Upper Room, click on the following link: http://devotional.upperroom.org/
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