We BLESS Hillsborough!

Luke 10 provides the powerful strategy Jesus used to unlock an entire region to receive the gospel of the kingdom. Rather than sending His disciples into a new territory with words of accusation and judgment, Jesus commissioned them to start by doing the one thing that was needed most: Speak, "PEACE to this house" (Luke 10:5)!

Never before has our culture revealed its need for peace. This is not just the absence of conflict mind you, but it is also the presence of the solution, Jesus Himself! What is lost in translation to us today so often was the meaning behind the word "peace" that is used here in its original Jewish context.

The word "peace" derives its fullest meaning from the original Hebrew word, "shalom". And shalom can be translated as "peace", but held a much greater meaning to the original audience. Shalom represents God intervening on behalf of those who have wrongly had their inheritance as children of God either threatened or stolen. Shalom carries the idea of restoring something that was illegally removed or taken. Shalom is the ultimate consequence of true justice from God.

So shalom not only brings peace, it also removes the thing that disturbed a person's peace in every conceivable facet of their life. If their peace was disrupted because of pain, sickness, heartache, financial misfortune, then shalom is the pronouncement of God Himself to restore such a one not only back the wholeness they once enjoyed, but also superseding that prior position in exorbitant abundance.  

So Jesus sent the 70+ disciples in Luke 10 to the regions He was about to traverse Himself. To the captives, the rejects, the sinners, the non-religious with a message from the very throne room of heaven itself: "SHALOM: May God restore everything lost to you in super abundance!"

This pronouncement of blessing opened the door for real fellowship with those who would soon hear the message from Jesus Himself. And as a precursor to His visit, the disciples prepared the way through this pronouncement and by ministering to their real physical needs by the Holy Spirit's power.

This is what we offer the town of Hillsborough. We declare "SHALOM" over the entire town, regardless of who they are, or what they've done to qualify or disqualify themselves from God's blessing. We do for them what they don't know to do for themselves: Declare and minister the healing and restorative power of God's peace that manifests in very real and personal ways.

"Lord God, we declare the shalom of God over the town of Hillsborough. The Kingdom of God has come to this place! The rule and reign of God will be fully manifested and experienced by everyone. We thank for waking people up to the day of salvation that has dawned upon us all in Jesus Christ. We thank you for healings, deliverances and salvations throughout this wonderful town of Yours! May your kingdom come, and will be done, in Hillsborough as it is in Heaven!"

Bryan Finley

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