Embracing Freedom Unlocks Your IdentitySample

Day 3: “Joy-Filled Freedom”

At Destiny Rescue, we have rescue agents in many countries where kids are being exploited and trafficked, who offer them freedom. When talking about the work they do, one rescue agent said, “No matter how daunting the work can be, we press forward. We must be focused and stay on objective. Our intent: I’m here for you. You just don’t know it yet.”

Jesus had a similar resolve. As you read Jesus’ mission statement in Luke 4, notice that He was there for people; they just didn’t know it yet.

As we explore Jesus’ mission, the “year of the Lord’s favor” is one aspect we need to lean into. Jesus refers to what is known in Jewish history as the Year of Jubilee. One way to understand Jubilee is “joy-filled freedom”. This concept Jesus mentions was actually a Jewish law (Leviticus 25:10-13). God told the people to release people from their debts, release all slaves, and return any property to those who owned it every 50 years.

One would think that joy-filled freedom would be widely practiced in the Old Testament, but we do not have a specific record of it ever being practiced. Some scholars think it was never practiced at all.

If Jesus came to bring joy-filled freedom, we must ask what keeps us from experiencing it. Maybe it's fear—fear of the unknown, being so used to what has been that we are scared to take a step and trust God. Maybe we think it's too good to be true because of our past experiences; we believe the lie that things will stay the same regardless of our actions.

In Acts 3, we see the picture of a person who was so used to the challenges he faced and the vulnerabilities that came because of those challenges that he was not aware he could ask for a miracle. But, those who had been with Jesus and who had experienced joy-filled freedom gave this man what they had, and this was his response: “He jumped up, stood on his feet, and began to walk! Then, walking, leaping, and praising God, he went into the Temple with them (Peter and John).” That is a response to joy-filled freedom.

This is not the only place in scripture where people experience joy-filled freedom and respond. Others include: the woman at the well (John 4), Zacchaeus (Luke 19), the man healed from leprosy (Luke 17), and Nicodemus (John 19:39). Each person encountered Jesus in a real way, was rescued, experienced joy-filled freedom, and then responded publicly as a result.

To live out joy-filled freedom, we respond publicly to what the Lord has done in our lives. We tell someone, we help someone, we encourage someone. Freedom is so much more than an experience meant to lighten our hearts or improve our moods—it's meant to propel us forward to impact the world around us.

Are you courageously living in joy-filled freedom today? Who around you needs to know it? Who can you encourage, pray for, or share your story with?

Prayer:

Father,

Thank You for Jubilee! Thank You for bringing freedom to the world and inviting me to live out joy-filled freedom. Give me the courage to trust You and accept it. Do a work in my heart where I, like the man in Acts 3, go running, leaping, and praising God to those around me, sharing that they, too, can experience Jubilee because of Jesus!

In Jesus' name, Amen.