Release

By Liana Martinez

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?” - Isaiah 58:6 NIV

We are 13 days into fasting and prayer. It may be your first time fasting, or you could be a veteran faster. Regardless, it’s important to remember why we fast. Isaiah 58 tells us that God wants us to know he sees our motives, genuine or selfish. He didn’t like his people fasting out of mere duty or pretense.

To God, fasting isn’t about abstaining from something to get what you want from Him. God wants us to fast because He wants to release people from chains and yokes and to set people free!

See, release means to enable to escape from confinement, allow something to move, act, flow freely. It’s root word, lease, can mean to contract or to hire for specified time.

To be RE-leased means you were once slaves to sin (contracted to sin,) but as Romans 6:17 tells us, “But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance.”

And remember  this: Jesus bought out your contract not to re-hire you but to adopt you into his family. (Ephesians 1:5)

God wants to release us from our bondage. God does not want us putting on a show for one day or 21 days. Living released is not a one-time event, it is a lifestyle. He wants us released from all that holds us back, so we can fully partner with him. 

“Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?” - Isaiah 58:7 NIV

The point of being released from bondage is to be freed up to do God’s work alongside Him. Yes, we may see the fruit of being free, such as joy and peace in our lives, but don’t stop there! Share your joy and peace and tell others who it is who freed you!

Challenge:

To be released, we must first refocus our gaze back to Jesus. When we delight in Jesus again, our desires will be reignited. With renewed faith we will want nothing more than to be released! Pray now to ask God to reveal what is holding you back.