Luke 4:18 (b) The Spirit of the Lord is upon me . . . to set at liberty them that have been bruised.

 This scripture, on the surface, is somewhat unclear.

Let’s say someone has a bad bruise and they ask you to pray for them. Wouldn’t they would ask you to pray that God would heal them from that bruise?  If you had a bad bruise on your leg and your pants kept it covered up, no one would know it was there except you. However, if a young child came running up to you to give you a hug and started to grab your leg you would naturally reach out and catch them before they did it because it would hurt.

Jesus had already said he was sent to “heal the broken hearted”.  Often, it’s not the broken heart that is the worst thing we suffer from a tragic loss.  It’s the feelings of guilt, rejection, loneliness, depression, despair and other types of severe emotional pain.  So here, it is not talking about healing physical bruises.  These are emotional bruises.   Jesus came to set at liberty those that are emotionally bruised or in pain.

I am a beneficiary of this part of the work of Christ.  It is a marvelous thing for Christ, through the Holy Spirit, to reach inside a person and remove the emotional pain of a tragic loss.  You can remember the event, ever so well, but the pain and despair of it are gone and have been replaced with thankfulness for them having been part of your life.  Now you can truly rejoice in the greatness of our God and in the victory over your loss.  Truly you can know, “whom the Son sets free is free indeed.”

Your liberty is coming.

 

*Please begin with “Devotion 1”.  They are progressive.

Author Profile

Lee Gilliam
Lee Gilliam
Lee is the co-founding designer of Overcoming Grief and author of 2 books and numerous articles. He has been in the ministry for over 40 years. He has traveled to over 80 countries and every state in the USA. His ministerial work involves both teaching and business. He is a mentor to pastors and business leaders alike. He is currently working on his upcoming international conference schedule and we will post it when it's ready. We hope you can attend one that will be close to you!! Please contact me at: leeg@overcominggrief.org