2018

We all have them. Things we have prayed about for years and have not seen them come to pass. In many ways we begin to believe the lie, this will be my life forever. We learn to cope. We live full lives despite it.

There was a woman in the Bible who had been coping for 18 years. We don’t know her name. We only know she was a daughter of Abraham. For 18 years she had been bent over. For 18 years she had been oppressed. For 18 years she had coped. Perhaps after 18 years of pain, 18 years of discomfort, 18 years of infliction, acceptance of her condition had finally come.

This day, she was at the synagogue. Was she there out of tradition? Was she there to reverence God? Was she there expecting a miracle? The Bible doesn’t say. All we know is that she was there. It was there Jesus saw her. Jesus pursued her. Jesus invaded the darkness she had lived in for 18 years. He destroyed the lie that the Sabbath was more important than a daughter. He went after her. In one moment he destroyed the works of the devil in her life.

I believe in 2018 God is coming after those areas in our lives we have learned to cope with. He is coming after the lies we have believed, the pain we have accepted as normal, the injustice we have learned to ignore. I believe, 2018 will be a year when chains are broken in areas of our lives where we have stopped believing and have accepted pain, discomfort and heartache as normal.

Brothers and sisters, what has you bent over? A child gone astray, a difficult marriage, finances, loneliness, infertility, an addiction? What have you accepted as normal? God is singing songs of deliverance over you right now. I stand in agreement with you and declare spirits of infirmity, depression, isolation, rebellion, lack, must go now. Brothers and sisters be set free! 2018 is your year to be set free!

“On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭13:10-13‬ ‭NIV

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