Luke 4:18,  “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Jesus was in the synagogue on the Sabbath, and He was handed the scroll of Isaiah.  He found these verses that Isaiah had prophesied about Him and read them, and then told the people that “Today, as you heard it read, this passage has been fulfilled.”  Jesus was letting them know that He is the Good News ~ He came to earth to bring salvation to all who would receive it!  

Take a look around, the whole world is looking for “good news”.  So many desperate people just want to hear anything good because their lives are in such turmoil.  Jesus is the Good News!  All of our hope comes from Him.  He is the way, the truth, and the Life, and He gives us access to eternal life and God the Father!  We know that, but the world doesn’t.  No matter how crazy things are, our hope is found in living for Him!  He has a plan that is bigger than what you are facing today.  He is calling us to rise up, be strong in His might, and to focus on Him so the world will see Him and turn to Him.  Jesus made it very clear that life on earth wasn’t going to be easy, and yet too often that is the only thing some people want to hear.  There are so many people out there with “a word from God for you,” and you need to be careful who you listen to.  I have seen people get angry with God because they “heard a ‘word’” and they claimed it as being from God and then when it didn’t come to pass it made them angry and they wanted to choose to believe that it was God’s fault instead of seeing it as a tool satan was using to discourage them and make them doubt.  If what you hear does not line up with the Word of God, then you need to discard it and pray for truth.  God has promised to show us the way if we will seek Him with our whole heart, mind, and soul.  That is not as daunting a task as you may think.  Just pray for a hunger for God and His Word, and He will give it to you.  All of His answers for your life are found in Him.  You can hear from God by digging in and getting to know Him, and as I have said before, don’t ignore Him when He is convicting you.  Listen to His promptings ~ all of them.  He wants to guide you into all He created you to be, so let Him choose what needs to be added or removed from your life.

I have been accused of being a “realist” because I prefer reality and truth to just being told “fluff” or what someone may think I want to hear.  Just tell me the truth!  There’s more positivity in the truth than there is in someone just telling you what they think sounds good.  God IS Good ~ and it is His plan that will lead you into all He has promised!  Following God, getting to know Him, and allowing Him to fill you with His love, mercy, and grace will give you the power to make a difference.  Seeking more of Him and less of you is what allows Him to fill your heart and mind so you can be more like Him, and that is where you have peace and hope, regardless of what else is going on, because you know that He is still on His throne and He sees… He’s got this, just follow Him and do what He asks you to do when He asks you to do it.  You don’t have to have control; give it all to Him and let Him have the control.