“Living Debt Free: Breaking the Chains of Spiritual Debt”

Explore the transformative power of living debt-free through spiritual freedom as outlined in Isaiah 61. Discover how Jesus' message of liberation invites us to a fresh start.

Transcript

Hi everybody. It's Chris Bber, the director of the National House of Prayer, coming to you today from Ottawa. I want to talk to you about living debtree and what that looks like. No, I'm not necessarily talking about yes, having great bank accounts and lots of free flowing cash. That's a awfully nice to have. But I want to talk to you about living debtree and Isaiah 61. That's one of our our favorite verses. Actually, it's Marilyn and I. It's our that's our life chapter. We've been kind of living our lives out of this for 40 years. And I just want to read the first part to you. And um and we'll take it from there. The spirit of sovereign Lord is upon me because he's the Lord has

anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. The year of the Lord's favor comes from Leviticus 25. This is where we see the instructions on the year of Jubilee. Jubilee um it is a a time of Sabbath. It is a time of rest, an entire year of rest. And it's a time that that all the debts are settled. Everything is cleared. Everything is cleared off the table. And the many ways that they they um there was a lot of indentured servitude that happened at us. If you owed somebody, you ended up paying it off with work. And some would

call it slavery, but it was more like I'm going to pay off my debt and then I'll go back to my life. Um or if you had land, you would give up land. And in the 50 years, in the year of Jubilee, all that was supposed to go back. All the debts were cancelled in this year. Land would go back to whomever. Uh indentured servitude, servants would go back to being free. These things were happening. And you know, even though it was in the law, they never ever once did it. They got to many times a seventh year rest. Every seven-year rest of land, we actually see that pro practice. Not so much now, but when my grandfather was um farming, he would have aow year. Every seven years

they would rotate crops and one crop, one field would rest and not do anything. he would usually plant clover or something like that so that it would just rest and regenerate and that was back in the day. That seldom happens today um because of big business and that's a whole other talk but anyway um but there was this this returning to a clean slate, right? And so Jesus says this, "The spirit of sovereign lord is upon me because he's anointed me to preach good news to the poor, to set captives free." This is our job. We do this all the time. Our job every day is to set captives free. That's what we're looking for. We're listening to the Lord him speak to us to go and to release

from prisoners captivity. That's who. And what does that look like? Many of people are are trapped in sin. Many are trapped in areas. And this is where the gospel comes in because whom the son said, "Free is free indeed." But I want us to go to Matthew 6 here and look at the Lord's Prayer. And you know it. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Listen to this. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts or trespasses. Listen to this. Debts and trespasses. I find it really interesting how it connects to the year of Jubilee. Trespassing and returning land to its place or to its original owner. The

interesting thing about Leviticus the that land actually didn't belong to people. It belonged to the Lord. And that's why the Lord expected you to give it back to its rightful the original holder of the land. I wouldn't even call them owners because it was the Lord who said it was his land. He owned it and everybody else on it were tenants. And uh but here it was supposed to come back. But Jesus says this, I want you to do this daily. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive those that trespass or debtful who owe us. So it is important that we stay in a place of a clean slate of holding no debts with anybody, especially those where we are offended.

We are hurt. We have been sinned against. It's important that we stay in that place of forgiveness. Listen. Listen why. And this is why. This is this is a why. I always like the wise. And this is why. And we see this out of Matthew 6 verse 14. For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly father will will forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your father will not forgive your sins. This is why this is why we stay in that place of clean slate. We live in the year of jubilee every day. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive those who trespass against us. I used both translations in in that in that verse.

So I want to leave you with this today. Stay debtree. Stay clear. James says this. You have not because you ask not. And when you ask, you ask a miss. A lot of the misses come from a place of us holding on to debts. And if we give away those debts, we give them to the Lord, we forgive people, we are able to move into that place where he hears us, he listens to us, and we have a clear connection with the King of Heaven. I'm Chris Byber, the director of the National House of Prayer, and we'll see you next time. Bye for now. [Music]