“So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham,

whom Satan has bound —think of it—for eighteen years,

be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?”

Luke 13:16

Religion prevents people from receiving what God has intentionally purposed for them since the beginning. It deprives the power of God to work in a person’s life. Religion asks people what they can’t do and judges them when they can’t do it. God did not create you to live by a bunch of rules. He created you beautifully with His love to be free.

One day, Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. There was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. I love the next part of what happened to her. “But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, ‘Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.’ And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God.” (Luke 13:12-13) The moment Jesus saw her, He did not hesitate to heal her. He did not ponder what type of sickness this was. He did not judge why she came to be in such a sickly state. He did not care about what other people thought if He decided to heal her. He simply declared, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.” The other religious people immediately judged Jesus’s action to perform the miracle because of their traditions. They believed that God should only work for six days a week, not the seventh. They wanted God to rest and not do anything on the seventh day because it was supposed to be the day of rest for God, based on the law given on Mount Sinai to Moses. When the truth is that God has sent Jesus on earth to finish the work that has not been finished from the beginning.

Since the fall of Adam and Eve, God has not rested until He restored His relationship with all mankind through the finished work of Jesus at the cross. He could not rest when He saw mankind destroying one another and being destroyed by sin and death as a result of their disobedience. God wanted to make right what went wrong since the beginning. That is why the Lord of Glory descended from heaven to become a man and the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Through His crucified flesh, Jesus nailed and put to death all the requirements of the law that God demanded of us through His obedience to fulfill all the laws. When you received Jesus as your personal Savior, you were reborn to be free in Him, and in a divine, miraculous exchange, He gave you His righteousness. The righteousness of Jesus in your life is a gift that grants you access to the throne of grace in your time of need.

Today, you are free to receive healing, blessing, restoration, and salvation. You are free to speak to your heavenly Father anywhere and at any time of the day regarding any concerns you might have. You are free to unload all your burdens upon Him because He cares for you and wants to help you resolve all your problems and get you out of all your troubles. So stand up and receive by faith the freedom you have in Christ Jesus and glorify Him!

Scripture Reading: Romans 5:19

This Devotional is from:

“Live The New You – 365 Days Devotional in Living the Real You”