Daily devotional: Luke 4:18 (ASV) the spirit of The Lord is upon me, because he anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor: he hath sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19) to proclaim the acceptable year of The Lord. This is the 1st time Jesus had been back to his home town Nazareth, after he was baptized by john & Holy Spirit fell upon him. I want to point out some specifics here in these verses. He recognized 4 types of ppl, poor ppl, ppl that are held captive ( by powers of darkness ) blind ppl ( ppl who can not see Gods truth spiritually & also the ppl who are literally blind ) & ppl who are oppressed ( oppressed ppl are just cruel, unjust, harsh, burdensome.) the 1st type of person Jesus was to preach good news to was the poor! Many ppl today have a misunderstand about rich ppl & poor ppl. Heres a good example; I was talking to a Christian brother about a TV minister, he said oh, you listen to him, isnt he one of those prosperity preachers. Well, arent we all suppose to be a prosperity preacher. I mean, Jesus said he was sent to bring good news to the poor amen! But for some reason the beliefs of some ppl are that we suppose to be poverty preachers. Thats not biblical principle. Psalms 35:27 let them shout for joy, & be glad, that favor my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Jehovah be magnified, who hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servants. Look at that it says God takes pleasure in the prosperity of his servants. He doesnt delight in poverty. Ppl think being rich is wrong! Its not being rich is wrong. The LOVE of money is the root of all evil the LOVE of money is wrong 1 Tim 6:10. Poor ppl can love money, poor ppl can convey money. How many ppl today would take a job making less money even if The Lord said he wanted them too? Not many! Most ppl would chose the higher paying job regardless of what God tells them. So thats love of money! Look at Abraham God told him to leave his family, pack up & head south. Abraham was obedient & God blessed him with abundance. Abraham even lied & did wrong, but when he left Egypt he was very rich in cattle, silver & gold. Some ppl can have money & not allow it to change who they are & others may not be able to handle such great blessings. But God knows who he can trust, because he that is faithful in the least is faithful in much. Too whom much is given is much required. Its not Gods will for his ppl to be poor, regardless of the opinions of Some preachers or teachers. The bible teaches us he takes pleasure & delights in the prosperity of his children. You think God wants us to proclaim poverty to the world? Thats not good news! Another theory of man is, well, if your rich down here you wont make it to heaven! WRONG! God knows who he can trust & if he trusts you, & blesses you, he knows you will bless others with your blessings. Most of these theorys that were suppose to be poor is because of mis interpretation of scripture. Look at luke 18. A story ab a rich young ruler, he asked Jesus how he could merit eternal life amen. He wanted to know how he could earn eternal life. Jesus perceiving his thoughts & knowing who he was, & how he was. Replied like this, you know the law, why did Jesus say this? Because the law of God was given to prove to man he can not earn or merit eternal life. The law was given to show mankind they could not live the standard of life God wants. This arrogant rich young ruler says: Ive obeyed all these since I was young . Now we know this isnt true no man can live by the law & obey it continually all their life. This man was just so arrogant, boasting about his goodness, & Jesus even began his message to the rich man by saying theres only 1 that is good, God is the only 1 good. So Jesus replied yet you lack 1 thing, go sell all you have & give to the what? The POOR! but the rich man went away sorrowful. WHY? Because he LOVED HIS MONEY! Now lets look at another rich man, & how amazing is it, that God inspired Luke to put these stories back to back. Luke 19 Jesus went to Jericho, there was a man there named Zacchaeus, this guy was nothing but a rip off, con artist, a notorious sinner. It says he was the chief tax collector in all the region, & he was VERY RICH! He wanted to see Jesus, but because he was very short & the huge crowd he could not get a look at this amazing miracle man Jesus. So Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector, very popular rich man, run before ahead & climbed up in a sycamore tree, for the path Jesus was on went right by the tree. Now, when Jesus gets to the tree, he looks up & says Zacchaeus, yes Jesus knew his name & called him by his name. Come down quickly! I must be a guest in your home today! Wow! Jesus just invited hisself to a chief tax collectors house. Zacchaeus quickly climbed down & took Jesus to his home in great excitement & joy. The people which saw all this complained & murmured, they grumbled that Jesus went to a notorious con mans home. But Jesus knew Zacchaeus, & listen to what Zacchaeus confessed; half my wealth I will give to the POOR! he said only half. Jesus told the other rich man all. Why the difference? Because Jesus knows the ending from the beginning, he knows our heart, & he told the rich young ruler that because he was exalted & arrogant & loved his money. Zacchaeus on the other hand was very rich, but humbled himself, & after he received Jesus gladly into his home is when he made the confession. Zacchaeus said if I have taken wrongly from any man I will restore him 4 times as much. Does that sound like Zacchaeus loved his money? See the difference. One rich man loved his money, & was arrogant & boastful claiming to have lived righteously since youth. But Zacchaeus wasnt boastful, but humble. I hope this has opened the eyes of some spiritually blind ppl. God loves you! Jesus loves you! Remember its not our job to judge! Jesus knows the heart of all men, let him be the one to judge. So next time you talk about a prosperity preacher, remember God takes pleasure in the prosperity of his ppl. He wants us to be blessed & prosper. Not to be in want or need. Father, I pray these words will reach all who need this revelation in their life. Bless a who reads, agrees & believes. I praise you for you are holy & righteousness & your only 1 that is good. I pray all this in the name of Jesus. Amen!
Posted on: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 16:44:26 +0000
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