Hope Without Limits

Can I just say I didn’t get it … all these years … I didn’t get it … until this morning.

Not only does Jesus take away my pain … He takes me out of the prison itself.

It’s so strange because Isaiah 61:1-4 has reverberated within me from the first time I heard it.  I knew “that’s me”,  “that is why I was made” to be an instrument, a vessel, a guide whatever metaphor you want to use to see people’s hearts; see their pain and tell them this is NOT all there is.  There is more.  There is freedom from your pain.

As I type this I guess it is not too surprising that my enemy who is constantly seeking to devour me has done his very best to distort my perspective so that I missed the truth that not only does Jesus heal my heart and take my pain, both old and new … but He actually sets me free from the prison that tells me the best I can hope for is a little relief.

I can now see, I’ve been living in verse 3 … the land of incredible exchanges … which is definitely not a shabby place to live 😉

For those who mourn
it will be a time of comfort.
 As for those who grieve over Zion,
    God has sent me to give them a beautiful crown
in exchange for ashes,
To anoint them with gladness
instead of sorrow,
    to wrap them in victory, joy, and praise
instead of depression and sadness.
People will call them magnificent, like great towering trees
    standing for what is right.
They stand to the glory of the Eternal
    who planted them

But I was missing the incredible news of verse 1

He has sent me to repair broken hearts,
And to declare to those who are held captive and bound in prison,
    “Be free from your imprisonment!”

As Holy Spirit was pouring out this revelation to me this morning I saw the picture from Shawshank Redemption when everything about the character Andy Dufresne had been set free …

And I heard this verse:

For he has rescued us
from the kingdom of darkness and
transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son.
Colossians 1:13

We are literally living in a new place, right now, this moment here on earth.  No waiting for heaven.

How do I put into words this incredible paradigm shift?  Maybe like this … the character Andy Dufresne knew he was innocent while in prison; was thankful for the times of relief from persecution; never gave up because he knew there was more.  But he was not fully alive and living from joy until he crawled and pushed through all the crap to step out into his freedom.

My friends, may I tell you joyfully “Toto … we are not in Kansas any more”.  For like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, I am filled with wonder and awe as I discover living in and from this new place.  Care to join me?