Christian Living
Jesus Heals the Oppressed
When we think of oppression what comes to mind? Government abuse, civil abuse, unfair treatment by anyone or maybe we don’t know how to pin-point it!?! We will continue to speak about “Jesus’ Mission Statement” and the outline that He made known to us from (Isaiah 61:1-2/Luke 4:16-19).
The Mission is for Today
Another area of Ministry that Jesus was Anointed for is; To set at Liberty those who are oppressed (Isaiah 61:1-2). I would like to point out that this list in Isaiah 61:1-2; is Jesus’ personal call to Minister when He was on the earth that was predicted by the Prophet Isaiah 700 years before Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary supernaturally. Theologians will remain stuck there and fail to see the practicality of this Mission Statement as an ongoing list of DO’S for TODAY’S Christian to practically apply and be used to minister in the same capacity.
So to make it a lot clearer for those who are questioning this teaching let me show you guys what the Holy Spirit revealed to me thru scripture about us ministering in this capacity.
Jesus told me that the Mission Statement is still ongoing thru the Church TODAY! We can see this by how Peter Preached his Evangelical Message to Cornelius and his household. Then Peter opened his mouth and said:…How God Anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem (Acts 10:34-39).
I purposely skipped a few verses to get straight to the point, but we see that Peter presented Jesus in his sermon in the same manner Jesus presented Himself to the congregation at Nazareth in Luke chapter 4.
This example tells us this is how we should preach about Jesus and present Him to those who don’t know Him as The One who has been Anointed to set at liberty those who are oppressed by the devil. So this also tells us that the Mission Statement is still ongoing. Let me be clear about something only God can give us this revelation to go out and minister in this capacity. I just enlightened you guys to it-- ask God in prayer to illuminate the eyes of your understanding to receive this teaching and be prepared to minister in this capacity in the future, amen.
Oppression Defined
I love to make things very clear so we won’t fall into error about, “what does it really mean?”
Vine’s Dictionary says, (KATADUNASTEUO)-oppress- means to exercise power over.
The Topical Concordance defines oppression as a cruel exercise of authority.
American Heritage Dictionary says oppress means; 1.To keep down by unjust use of force or authority. 2. To weigh heavily on the mind or spirit of.
I used the American Heritage Dictionary because what the author defined is what the Bible defines by many Biblical examples. I wish theologians who wrote these Dictionaries would be that thorough. Nevertheless, we see that by 3 definitions oppression can be;
1. Government Abuse- like Pharoah abusing the children of Israel (Exodus 6:5-14).
2. Spiritual- as the story with the man at the tombs who was possessed with a legion of demons (Luke 8:26-39)
3. Mental-as Paul had taught the Church of Corinth that the god of this age (satan) has blinded the minds of people so they won’t be able to receive the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:1-4).
4. Physical- Jesus healed the woman who was bent-over and said it was satan who had her bound in that condition for 18 years (Luke 13:10-17).
Who was Oppressed that Jesus Healed?
Everyone in the Gospels who suffered from any sickness or disease is classified as being oppressed and then they experienced being set at liberty from that oppression. Also, everyone who experienced healing from oppression in the Book of Acts by the hands of the Apostles and disciples ministry is known to be set at liberty from their oppression.
We need to understand how scripture labels or classifies things. Then carefully present it with no confusion. The point of Jesus being Anointed to minister freedom or liberty from oppression should be highly regarded by everyone so we may;
1. Pray about it.
2. Seek God’s face thru prayer and fasting to see if He will use us to minister to those who are oppressed.
3. Study carefully about every healing account in scripture so we won’t settle for only one method of ministry.
4. Be sensitive to anyone who may need to be delivered from being oppressed. Then minister to them accordingly.
Oppression an Evil Thing
There is nothing good about oppression. It’s evil and it’s from the devil (Acts 10:38). Jesus came to deliver us from oppression (Acts 10:38/ Luke 4:16-19). I will teach about oppression in the future in greater detail, but for now I must limit it to ministering to people from an Evangelist point of view to help those we will be sent to minister to. (Bible Teachers should know how much info they should dish out as not to lose focus on the topic in question.)
I said before that God will lead you to experience things on your own as a part of your training before He actually sends you out to minister to others. You see, God trained Moses to do miracles turning the rod into a serpent by simply throwing it on the floor and then picking it up again to turn back into a rod (Exodus 4:1-9).
We all experience oppression and I’m going to share how God trained me to overcome it by faith in Christ Jesus. I shared how I was tormented by demons from 1993-1998 and how God used different teaching from various authors to help exercise my authority over demon powers. Well, one testimony I would like to share is about how I came to understand the difference between praying for divine healing for myself vs. exercising my authority to cast a demon off of me that was oppressing me with a headache --by commanding the demon to release me in the name of Jesus.
Now, before you say I’m crazy let me explain. Demons will attack us every day of our lives. Peter said they are like roaring lions seeking who they may devourer. We are told to resist them by faith (1 Peter 5:8-9). The problem is if we are not biblically trained to know how to do it then we will accept the doctor’s opinion of the diagnosis than what scripture defined the oppression.
A headache in scripture is a spirit of heaviness (Isaiah 61:3 KJV)
A spirit of fainting (Isaiah 61:3 AMP/ NAS)
A spirit of despair (Isaiah 61:3 NIV)
Now that we know it’s a spirit God promised that He will give us the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness (KJV). So, by praising God thru a severe headache is what will bring us liberty from oppression of a headache. This is one method of healing.
The second method of healing from an oppressive spirit that’s causing us to have a headache is by casting the spirit off of your head. By simply saying in the authority of Jesus Christ get off me you spirit of headache or migraine. Stop oppressing me in Jesus’ name. The scriptural reference for that is found in Mark 16:15-18. If we come to believe in this as Jesus had stated then we can cast out demons—period!
The problem is not God’s power to do it is our ability to;
1. Receive this powerful Christian principle.
2. Begin by our measure of faith to act on it by saying it.
3. Then by actually proclaiming it and believe that by the authority we have in Christ the demon has to let go.
4. Then thanking God for the deliverance.
We must deeply consider this concept in God’s Word and be bold enough to stand up to the demons that will attack us because if we allow doctor’s opinions to be more valet than the Word of God we will not experience the deliverance that God offered. It may be simple enough to take Advil or Tylenol before we actually try to pray or exercise our authority in Christ. We need to increase our faith by reading the Word of God over and over until it sinks in to our human Born-again spirit so we may catch a revelation of this and go on to exercise the authority we have in Christ Jesus to be set at liberty from the demon of oppression. Then after we experience it ourselves God will use us to minister liberty to those who are oppressed. Amen.
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