{"id":11636,"date":"2024-12-22T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-22T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/?p=11636"},"modified":"2024-11-22T07:48:13","modified_gmt":"2024-11-22T12:48:13","slug":"good-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2024\/12\/22\/good-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Good News"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Five-minute read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Dec.-22nd-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11637\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Dec.-22nd-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Dec.-22nd-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Dec.-22nd-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Dec.-22nd-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Dec.-22nd-180x180.jpg 180w, https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Dec.-22nd.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><em>And he came to\u00a0Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And\u00a0as was his custom,\u00a0he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up\u00a0to read. And\u00a0the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><em>\u201cThe Spirit of the Lord&nbsp;is upon me,<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;<br><strong><em>because he has anointed me<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;<br><strong><em>to&nbsp;proclaim good news to the poor.<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;<br><strong><em>He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;<br><strong><em>and&nbsp;recovering of sight to the blind,<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;<br><strong><em>to set at liberty those who are oppressed,<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;<br><strong><em>to proclaim the year of the Lord&#8217;s favor.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><em>Luke 4:16-19<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus reads from Isaiah 61:1-2, identifying Himself as the subject of the passage. Christ carries the Holy Spirit with Him, anointed by the Father to bring good news to the poor. Proclaiming freedom to the captives, giving sight to the blind, and freeing the oppressed to praise God for His favor, Jesus did it all. The Lord\u2019s grace frees us from our sins and gives us a new life with a purpose that we live for Him.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Invited to a friend\u2019s house to meet a missionary, home from the battlefields of Africa, she exemplified living fully for Christ. The minutes slipped by unnoticed as she began her talk on prayer and spiritual warfare. In the evilest part of the country, her day-to-day life has little comparison to a day in America. Christians brutally murdered for their beliefs. Children taken captive, women raped, the atrocities faced break my heart. Scripture poured from her lips as she told her tales, murderers becoming missionaries because of their efforts.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSatan\u2019s biggest victory in America is convincing people he doesn\u2019t exist.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Her words struck a chord because I knew she spoke the truth. The darkness that blankets our nation goes unnoticed by most. Turning from God and following their fleshly desires, they don\u2019t understand why they don\u2019t experience the joy of the Lord. Deceived by the devil, they miss the light of Jesus.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>\u201cIf my people who are called by my name&nbsp;humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.\u201d <\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>2 Chronicles 7:14<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Jesus, we find freedom from oppression, liberty from our bondage, and light that dispels the darkness. But until we turn to Him, we can\u2019t find His favor or live in His peace. God doesn\u2019t want us to live in bondage; He wants us to experience the freedom found only in Christ. As we turn our faces to Him, the Lord will heal our land, remove the strongholds, and give us victory in Jesus. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Prayer:<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Lord, thank You for sending Jesus to proclaim the good news, give liberty to the captives, and recover sight to the blind. Let us live in Your favor as we commune with You, allowing Your Spirit to guide our lives.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">IJNIP. Amen\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Five-minute read. And he came to\u00a0Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And\u00a0as was his custom,\u00a0he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up\u00a0to read. And\u00a0the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,\u00a0 \u201cThe Spirit of the&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2024\/12\/22\/good-news\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Good News<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11636"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11641,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11636\/revisions\/11641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}