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
This is your today. Not tomorrow. Far too often we open our Bibles and began to read without realizing the words written up the pages of it are applicable for us today. There are no yesterdays; only today. This narrative found in Luke 4 is filled with truth for us today. This is the day the Lord has make – and it is your day created by Almighty God just for you!
Jesus was quoting Isaiah 61. In reality, He was saying that you don’t have to wait for a physical date on a calendar to experience the awesome power and presence of the Lord. Your Jubilee has arrived. His name is Jesus Christ. And He said, “I’m here.”
The word “anointed” is this passage of Scripture has to do with the divine favor of God. To anoint means to smear or rub with the favor of God. We have literally been touched by the mantle of God with a fragrance that attracts the free favor of God upon our life and within our heart.
I can tell you right now Jesus said He is going to literally smear the presence of God – His fragrance upon us that attracts His favor. Our confidence in God should never be shaken, because He is always faithful and we have been anointed with His fragrance, a fragrance that cannot be purchased with money nor will the works of humanity to inherit it. It is a free gift from God just as salvation is to our soul; the fragrance of the Holy Spirit is given to us within our spirit and to all who believe.
Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. I John 5:14-15
With His presence within our heart and His fragrance upon our life, the Bible says that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us. And because we have steadfast confidence and assurance that He hears us, we can expect that we will have for our present possession that for which we have requested from Him. The problem is that we often think and act as though we are constantly in confusion, and that leads to a lack of confidence about what God’s will is when we call upon His name.
The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. John 10:10
The devil is the enemy of our soul and desires to distract our mind to think about the limitations of life. That is not what Jesus was saying. He is speaking into our life. Our thoughts and spirit should live with expectation in Him and that He is boundless and beyond our wildest dreams and desires. If we are confused about the promises of God, we will walk in paths that lead to a lack of confidence about what God’s will is when we pray.
We are to pray with great hope. Hope has to do with expectation. The atmosphere of expectation when we pray is the breeding ground for miracles. Our victory is won and lost in the arena of expectation. We need to adjust our thinking by reading the promises of the word of God. We are often comfortable and satisfied to settle for the status quo rather than to press into God and pray great big prayers in expectation that He hears and will answer us.
The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 12:1-2 not to be conformed to this world but to be strengthened and to allow our mind to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. How is our mind transformed? By reading the word of God and praying the words of life over our life and the lives of others. We live far too low below what God is willing to give us.
We should have an expectation that God hears our prayers every time we pray. We either expect that we will receive what we ask or we expect that our God is too small and we will not receive. Why pray if we do not believe that He will hear and answer us?
Jesus didn’t say we would have it before we pray or even while we pray; however, He said we shall have it, giving us hope and expectation it will happen at some point in the future. Hope is the conviction and expectation that something shall happen and that it will come to pass.
When we have hope and expectation, the devil can’t do any more about our future that he can do about our past. Let us wait with hope and expectation with full confidence that Jesus Christ will do what He has spoken.
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