I am no longer a captive are you?

 

Breaking the Chain, freeing the Captive.

This past Easter has given me the gift of remembrance, not just of what our Lord and Saviour Jesus did for us, but also why. I know it seems strange but the two are connected, it is just that sometimes we can get wrapped up with one and totally forget the other. As awkward as it is to admit, I forgot the why somewhere along the way.

When Jesus started his ministry his first sermon was all about the why and is documented by Luke:

Luke 4:17-19 King James Version (KJV)

¹⁷ And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,

¹⁸ The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

¹⁹ To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

This is the first message of hope to all of the world. Christ came to deliver us and set the captive free. The cross itself the end of Jesus' ministry in the physical world is a perfect example of how we can respond to this truth. I am sure that everyone knows about the two other criminals that were crucified with Jesus and that one mocked and scorned him while the other chose to accept Christ for the perfect innocent man/God that he was and asked him to remember him when he came into his kingdom. 

It is the perfect picture of the two options that we have, sometimes this choice is daily, but it boils down to this. We can either choose to acknowledge who we are in light of his presence or we can choose to focus on our current situation and struggle in the darkness alone, lost and afraid. As seen by the one who confessed his guilt before Christ, his faith was justified by Jesus. For he said this very day you will be with me in paradise.

So I remind myself and urge you to do the same, do not focus on where you are and your struggle to fix things yourself. Take that sin, whatever it is that has you captive and acknowledge it. Then acknowledge that Christ and he alone was sent to set the captive free. In order to be freed from darkness we must bring these things to light. The key is to remember the source of our strength, victory and power. It is in Christ and the fact that he died for US. Hallelujah! What a gift, what mercy and grace, what joy.

Philippians 4:13

King James Version (KJV)

¹³ I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Once we have brought all of our sin and failure to him then, and only then will we be free. It is good once in a while to remember ourselves as we were when we were children. I am sure each one of us remembers being caught in a lie or other petty, childish behaviour and how good it was to admit it to our parents and the relief that came with being reconciled to them. It is the same with our heavenly father. Repentance can be painful but the joy of reunion far out ways that brief discomfort.

Psalm 55:22

Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.

 If you are interested in learning more about Jesus and his life I suggest that you attend Alpha. The Alpha course includes weekly meals and an amazing weekend getaway that comes halfway through the seven-week course. Participants meet once per week on a Tuesdays for a total of seven weeks.

Visit http://www.apchurch.com/alpha/ to register today.