Open the Book and Look

Luke 4: 16-22

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. 

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,

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, 

 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 

 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. 

 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. 

 And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son?

Have you ever went back to the place where you were brought up after you had left and started a new life? 

It’s not always easy to confront or face our past or what it represented. The past has passed, whether good or bad it is over. Whatever remains from our yesterdays is only what we’ve cultivated and/or nursed in our today. Whatever you feed will breed and multiply into a greater supply than you and I can sometimes handle.  

Breed defined:

·        To produce (offspring) by hatching or gestation.  

The offspring’s from our past can either promote failure or success. They can be the root of  either positive or negative thinking. They can be the reason for a strong vibrant happy marriage or a failing marriage. Influences from your up-bringing whether directly from the house and people you lived with or from the influences in your neighborhood, school and/or extended family, they all play a strategic part in the attitudes, mindsets and behaviors we exhibit today. Things produce after their own kind, this is a law that we read in the book of Genesis that God established from the beginning of time. Apples produce apples, fish produce fish, flowers produce flowers, evil produces evil and good produces good. In Matthew 7:18, Jesus spoke and said, “A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.” 

The truth of the matter is whatever was planted in us in the place where we were brought up has  had a major impact and influence in our lives. 

In the account written in Luke chapter 4, we see Jesus going back to the place where he was brought up. There Jesus had to face possibly some of His worst critics, seen and unseen. These were the people who felt like they knew Him better than anybody else because of their association with His past. 

The place where we were brought up is the place where we took our first steps, the place where we attended our first school, the place where we experience our first crush and/or friendship (relationships), the place where we worked our first job, the place where we were most known by others. The place where we learned to manipulate, steal, lie and betray. The place where we learned to say please and thank you, I’m sorry and God bless you.  For these reasons along with many others this is why the place where you were brought up can be your greatest roadblock on the highway to your Divine Destiny or your greatest tool for future success. It can produce and/or breed many detours and distractions that are designed to shipwreck your course and cause divorce and separation from God’s perfect will for your life or produce tremendous favor and promotion to come your way. 

Jesus knew when He went to the place where He was brought up that he would be confronted with rejection and persecution from those who claimed to know Him most however this did not stop Him. Jesus faced the tradition, culture and influences of His past and overcame the temptation to just settle and cave in to things familiar. He chose not to conform to this world but rather to stay in-line with the Father’s Kingdom principles and live victoriously. He knew that the poisonous arrow of rejection was being directed towards His heart to try to initiate spiritual palpitations. Naturally speaking a palpitation is an abnormal condition of the heart, in which the heart begins to beat extremely fast. This sudden onset of rapid beating of the heart can generally cause a great deal of anxiety and panic from the person experiencing the attack. However, Jesus resisted the attack and stood victorious in the presence of His enemies. If you are facing a situation in life that causes you to panic or be extremely anxious know that it was not sent to you by God Almighty. You can resist the attack of the enemy and stand strong just like Jesus did. God tells us in His Word, “Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God. And God’s peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7 AMP) 

Rejections painful sting was sent to bring Jesus to a place of compromise and defeat. However the scripture records that when Jesus faced this stressful situation He did something that always brought Him victory when confronted with opposition – “And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written…” 

This is God’s answer to us when we are facing seemingly impossible situations and/or crises in our lives. We need to open the Book (the Bible) and find out what God has written. When those familiar patterns of negative thinking and destructive behavior from your past life-style prior to knowing Christ resurface in your mind you need to… Open the Book and find where it is written, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

When those seemingly harmless old habits and vices that produced death and defeat in your past come and try to get you to yield, you need to … open the Book and find out where it is written, “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” (Romans 8:37) 

Don’t let the familiarity of where you were brought up cause you to stumble and miss where you are going in God. God’s written Word is one of the strongest defenses against our enemy, it has been proven time and time again to be undefeatable. 

Continue to study and meditate on God’s Word on a regular bases, find out what He has written about you and use His Word to stand victorious in every battle! 

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