A DAY OF REMEMBRANCE

by Tammy Phillips  (with a little week from last year)
May 30, 2021

REMEMBER the former things of old, For I [am] God, and [there is] no other; [I am] God, and [there is] none like Me. REMEMBER the days of old, consider the years of many generations. (Isaiah 46:9NKJV and Deuteronomy 32:7 NKJV)

To REMEMBER is defined as to recall, recollect, remind, rehearse, record, call to mind, make a memorial; to mark; to exercise the memory.  

Today,  we remember the brave and courageous American soldiers who gave their lives for our great country.  We remember those who died for us in every war.  We remember those who continue to serve and die for our country.  Over 600,000 died in the Civil War alone and more than a million Americans have given their life for our liberty.

Today, we remember the military who safeguarded our Nation. We say, “THANK YOU” to the courageous men and women warriors who served and made the sacrifice of their lives to protect our freedom.  Freedom that was ultimately purchased for us on the cross by Jesus.

Today and every day, we also thank God and remember His sacrifice.  He sent His only son, Jesus, to fight, die, and win the battle for our eternal freedom in every area of our lives.  Look at the freedoms the prophet prophesied about in the coming Messiah in Isaiah 61:1-2…

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me because the LORD has anointed Me…

To preach good tidings to the poor
To bring cheerful news to the meek
To announce great news to the depressed mind
To show and tell tidings to the afflicted
To message the miserable
To be freshness to the failing
To publish possible to the impossible

To heal the brokenhearted
To bind up the broken in pieces
To wrap up firmly the destroyed
To bandage the burst
To compress the crushed
To gird the wrecked

To proclaim liberty to the captives
To call out freedom to the carried away
To cry out free, abundant flow, to the prisoners
To address swift flight to the caged

To open the prison to the bound
To deliver from jail the yoked
To open wide eyes and ears of the captive
To liberate by opening, anyone who is fastened
To redouble to the taken in war and tied up

To proclaim the acceptable, favorable year of the LORD,
And the day of vengeance of our God; (Isa 61:1-2 NKJV)

Jesus anointed  by Holy Spirit, opened the scrolls in Luke 4, read Isaiah 61:1 and then said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” Jesus in essence said, “I AM is here.  Who you have been waiting for, it is me.  I am the long-awaited Messiah of Israel. This is the ‘acceptable year of the Lord.’”

Remember, this is the age of God’s grace, redemption, and deliverance.  It is now.  All are invited to come to Christ in repentance and, by faith, receive the gift of eternal life and eternal freedom.  “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:17)  

However, there is going to be time where God says enough is enough. The “day of vengeance of God” will come.   “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:18-19 NKJV)

This was the message of the Lord.
This was the message of Jesus.
This is our promise.  This is THE GOOD NEWS. 
This is our message.
Holy Spirit anoints and empowers us, His disciples, His people, to pass on the same message of Jesus.

I enCOURAGE you to REMEMBER the great things God has done.  
REMEMBER, Jesus.  REMEMBER what He gave up so you could have that life.
I enCOURAGE you to REMEMBER the life God has given and the life He has promised you. 
I enCOURAGE you to open your ears!  Hear the entire message of Jesus, our Savior.  Accept the freedom and every benefit that He paid for with His life.  Then like Jesus and our brothers and sisters in the military who so freely gave, sign up and become a freedom fighter.  It is a much easier road.   Simply, our mission, if accepted ,  stand and publish the good news of Jesus to everybody you know.  THERE IS FREEDOM IN HIM! 

Do not forget to stop and remember as you celebrate today, Jesus died for our freedom and our fellow countrymen have died to help us maintain those freedoms.  (If you do not know, each year on Memorial Day a national moment of remembrance takes place at 3:00 p.m. local time.)  Be free!  Remember what you received and heard, and hold fast, and repent (Revelation 3:3 KJV)