By PASTOR MARK MOLINA
Living Waters Church
Pastor Mark Molina
I believe most Christians would agree that Christian freedom equals spiritual freedom. If this statement is true, then why are we not free?
“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.” Isaiah 61:1 NKJV.
These words are a portion of the prophetic statement of Isaiah from the Old Testament regarding Christ’s purpose on the earth. Remember that “Christ” means “Anointed One.”
In this first verse, we see part of the reason why Jesus was coming to the earth. The Spirit of God declared and established that He was coming to bring spiritual freedom for those in bondage.
Jesus confirmed this calling in the book of Luke when He first entered the temple after being baptized by John and tested in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights. We see that He stated the full commissioning of Isaiah 61 as the reason for His arrival to the nation of Israel at that time.
“So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: ‘The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.’ Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, ‘Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’” Luke 4:16-21 NKJV.
It is very clear that Jesus came to bring spiritual freedom to people who were in bondage in many different forms. This was His first public declaration of His divine purpose on the earth. So as Christians we have every hope and every reason to believe that spiritual freedom is real and obtainable.
If it’s real and obtainable, why are we still not free? Could it be that we are not being honest with ourselves about our true spiritual condition? Could it be that we have come to a place of rationalization of our spiritual captivity?
There was a season in my life as a young man in the U.S. Army where I had to have an honest conversation with myself regarding my personal bondage. I kept denying there was any real problem. I kept rationalizing it all in my own mind and trying to reason it out. Then the fateful day came when I could no longer avoid this painful conversation. I had a positive result on a urinalysis for THC. There was no more hiding my bondage then. Truth had come to shed light on the lie. There was no more denial that could overcome the moment. It also became a moment of liberty for me. The aftermath indeed gave me an opportunity for real spiritual freedom.
This is why Jesus came: to give us spiritual freedom. He came to bring truth. He came to bring liberty to the captives. He came to heal our spiritual blindness. The Anointed One, the Christ, came to heal our broken hearts.
I want to encourage all who read this to have that honest conversation with yourself regarding your true spiritual condition. Are you really free? Have you fully submitted yourself to the only One who can make you free? Do not wait for an honest conversation to be forced upon you. Choose, while there is still time, to turn to Jesus to make the crooked paths straight. He will do so. “Whom the Son sets free is free indeed.”
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