Jan 11 — Righteousness of Removing Oppression

Isaiah 58:6b — … To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke?

There are many oppressed people in the world.  Oppression can come governments, businesses, organizations, groups and individuals.  The Hebrew word for oppression means to crush.  People often feel crushed when they are oppressed.  They feel like they cannot come out of it.  It is like a yoke placed around your neck that you cannot get free from.  Sometimes people who have been oppressed become oppressors.  If an oppressed person comes out from under their oppression by the same means of crushing others, then they have not really come out from under it.  It is like a yoke around their neck that keeps them bound to it.

Jesus came to free and heal those who are oppressed.  Most Israelites were looking for a Messiah who would free them from the oppression of the Romans.  Jesus came to free us all from the oppression of the devil.  People are crushed under the weight of sin.  They are slaves to it—yoked to it.  Sin is an oppression that the devil brought to mankind.  Then, the devil uses the Law, which was good, to oppress us with shame over sin.  The Law could not cleans man but was to lead us to Christ so we could be freed.

That oppression was also evident in the religious leaders of the time of the Gospels.  That oppression even tried to creep into the church.  Jesus had an anointing to break the yoke of slavery to sin and the Law.  Jesus brought true freedom from oppression.  This is how Christians all over the world can walk in freedom even when the world and the devil try to oppress them.  They know they belong to the Kingdom of God, which is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

I have been set free from the power of oppression.  The anointing of God has broken my yoke of sin and of shame.  I did not overcome it by oppression but Jesus overcame it by the power of His grace, love and mercy.  I no longer live under the oppression of the law of sin and death.  As I walk in His anointing, as I walk in the Spirit, I walk in complete freedom.

Lord, help me to see that oppression, wherever it is on the earth, is unrighteous and unjust before your eyes.  Also show me how I can be daily involved in freeing the oppressed.  Show me any ways in which I walk in the oppression sin and legalism and free me.  Show me any way I bring oppression to others through sin and legalism.  Lord, may I freely be healed of oppression and freely minister healing to others so that Your Kingdom is evident in my life.

[Also meditate on: Is. 10:27; Mt. 10:7-8; 11:25-30; Luke 4:18-19; Acts 10:38, 15:10,23-29; Rom. 6:15-23, 14:17; Gal 5:1-2]