When Jesus taught in the synagogue in His home town of Nazareth he quoted from Isaiah 61:1-2 (Luke 4:18-19): "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." (NKJV)

He announced that He had been sent to preach the good news of the Gospel; God’s free gift of forgiveness and salvation through Christ Jesus. He proclaimed or heralded (preached) that His ministry on this earth initiated the season or age of grace, when salvation was freely available to all men and women. We still live in that age!

In the quotation from Isaiah, Jesus also said that God sent Him to heal the bruised and crushed, to free those who had been harassed and held captive by satan and to open the eyes of the blind (physically and spiritually).

Jesus did all of this in the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit who dwelt in Him (Luke 4:18; John 1:32-33; Acts 10:38). Do you realize that you have the same Holy Spirit anointing on the inside of you to empower you to continue the ministry of Jesus (Mk 16:15-18)? Jesus did say go (Matt 28:18-20).

We hear much about the importance of the words, faith, prayer, praise, the fear of God, obedience, humility, repentance and the need for change in our Christian walk and so we should! But God’s cardinal commands are to Love Him with all our heart, soul and mind and our neighbor as ourselves (Matt 22:37-39)!

Jesus gave us a new command that we love each other as He loves us; by this He said the world would know that we are Christians (John 13:34). In the great love chapter of the Bible (1Cor 13:1-13) Paul tells us that without love we are nothing!! Of faith hope and love the greatest is love, Paul says (1Cor 13:13)!!

The Greek word for love that is used dominantly in the New Testament is agapao; God’s unconditional love and the love that we are called to love with. First Corinthians chapter 13 defines this love for us, take time to meditate on it! The bible says Gods love is in us, poured in by the Holy Spirit (Rom 5:5) God demonstrated the extent of this love by allowing Christ to die for us (Rom 5:8)!

We are called to love with our words (Eph 4:15); words that come from our hearts and are spoken in love. But love has to go beyond our words, to actions and our deeds (1John 3:18); love must be demonstrated, just as faith is not faith without corresponding actions (James 2:17). Think how you can share Gods love today; a gentle encouraging word, a kind spontaneous action.

When we were born again our spirits were made new (John 3:3-7) but not our bodies or souls. We need to bring our bodies under (1 Cor 9:27) and renew our minds (Rom 12:2). Our minds have had years under the influence of satan and his worldly system that we all live in and we need to change our thinking over to Gods influence and ways.

In Philippians 4:8 we are told the things God says we should meditate on to clean up our minds.  Checking out the complete meaning of some of the words from the Greek in that verse of scripture is interesting. In Philippians 4:8 the word true means true and you can’t get closer to the truth than God’s word. Noble has the sense of something that demands respect. Something that is just, is innocent or even Holy! To be pure is to be morally faultless or without blemish. To be lovely is to be lovely! Words of good report are words that lack any negativity or ill report. Virtue, speaks of moral excellence and goodness. God is praiseworthy, so that sets a standard right there! Paul says meditate on these things!!!

Obviously God’s word is where our thoughts need to be and we need to train our minds to think along God’s pattern in all our daily interactions and thought processes. The results will be peace (Phil 4:7). Try it, you will see results, guaranteed!

In the New Testament, in John 6:29, we are told that our work is to believe in Jesus. To believe is to have faith or trust in God. The apostle Paul described faith for us in Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”.

In Mark 11:22-24 Jesus said: "Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore, I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them”.

I have often heard it said that faith is knowing that you know, that you know, that you know. In other words, being completely convinced. Faith is believing in our heart, not just head knowledge. In the passage in Marks gospel above, Jesus exhorted us that from the very moment we pray or ask, we should believe that we have what we ask for!

 In Hebrews above, the apostle Paul said that our faith gives substance to our hopes and evidence to things no yet seen in the physical realm. In other words, when we pray in faith, we have what we ask for, we see it in the spiritual realm, in our heart. If we stand in faith and patience, not doubting, no matter how the devil tries to convince us otherwise, we will see the manifestation of our faith in the physical realm.

A Sunday school Teacher told a group of youngsters that something they had all prayed for some time ago had come to pass. She expected jubilation in the class but the kids just carried on with their lessons; little or no reaction! She asked why they were not as excited, as she was, and they replied: “well teacher, God answered our prayer when we first asked Him and we have been thanking Him since then, so we knew we would see the manifestation in the natural in due season”! Have faith as a little child (Luke 18:17) eh?

How do you get this kind of faith? In the Bible we are told: “faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God” (Rom 10:17) and we are exhorted: “building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost” (Jude 20). God’s ways are so easy; we just need to be in his word and pressing in to Him!

When life gets hard, difficulties arise and there seems no way out, isn’t it wonderful to know that we can draw close to God (Ps 91). He protects us under His shadow, His wings and He is our refuge and fortress (Ps 91).

In the New Testament Jesus reaffirmed His desire to gather, protect and care for His people as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings (Luke 13:34). God charges His angels to watch over us (Ps 91:11). Nothing is too hard for our God (Jer 32:17).

First Corinthians 10:13 is one of my favorite scriptures: “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (NKJV). Temptation can be translated more widely to mean any kind of trial or tribulation. This verse shows us that we are not unique in the trials we go through; never think it is only you that has the problem you are facing!

Gods way out is by faith in his word (Mark 11:22-24). Cast every care on Him (1Pet 5:7) and speak to the mountains (problems) in your life, command them to leave (Mark 11:23). You are victorious and have authority over all the works of satan in Christ Jesus (Matt 28:18). Greater is He (Jesus) that is in you as a Christian, than he (satan) that is in the world (1 John 4:4).

Wow, I get happy just thinking about that!