When Jesus declared to the 70 that they should not rejoice in their authority over evil spirits, he pointed out an important spiritual truth. We tend to equate our self-worth and value with what we can do or accomplish. The 70 had done great things with the authority that Jesus had given to them, even so Jesus warned them not to rejoice in that, but rather to rejoice in their connection with heaven. When we rejoice in the things that we can accomplish, we actually enslave ourselves to our abilities, which with time can diminish and we can feel that we have nothing to offer. When Jesus instructs us to rejoice in our relationship with heaven, he is once again setting us free, because no matter what abilities we have in any particular season of life, we will always have reason to rejoice because we will remain connected to heaven. Jesus’ words also sets us free from the enslavement of others’ evaluation of our accomplishments. When others praise us for a job well-done, we should not put too much stock in their words, even though they are very nice to hear. On the other hand, we should not take it to heart when others criticize what we have done, even though those words might be hard to hear. Why is that? Opinions and evaluations of us and our accomplishments come and go, but they are not the basis of who we are or the value that we offer. If we stay focused and value what Jesus says about us, then we will live freely indeed.
Jesus said that he had come to set the captives free, while we may not think of Jesus’ words to the 70 in that light, when we take them to heart, we experience a new level of freedom from our own and others expectations of us.
One of the disciples came to Jesus and issued a command, “teach us to pray.” One thing that we learn from Jesus’ model prayer is that he commanded them to pray in a bold manner. Such a prayer indicates the intimacy a believer has with Father, because one does not typically speak in such a direct manner unless there exists a very close relationship. (Outrageous Prayer, page 4) https://www.amazon.com/Outrageous-Prayer-Praying-Jesus-Prayed- ebook/dp/B09RW88FZC
David Freitag 