Month: October 2024

Luke 9:12-17 MSG. “As the day declined, the Twelve said, “Dismiss the crowd so they can go to the farms or villages around here and get a room for the night and a bite to eat. We’re out in the middle of nowhere.” “You feed them,” Jesus said. They said, “We couldn’t scrape up more than five loaves of bread and a couple of fish—unless, of course, you want us to go to town ourselves and buy food for everybody.” (There were more than five thousand people in the crowd.) But he went ahead and directed his disciples, “Sit them down in groups of about fifty.” They did what he said, and soon had everyone seated. He took the five loaves and two fish, lifted his face to heaven in prayer, blessed, broke, and gave the bread and fish to the disciples to hand out to the crowd. After the people had all eaten their fill, twelve baskets of leftovers were gathered up.” 

Observation

Earlier in this chapter, Jesus commissioned and sent the 12 disciples out on their own to preach the Gospel and heal the sick.  He sent them out with nothing and said to them, “Don’t load yourselves up with equipment. Keep it simple; you are the equipment.” (MSG) (ESV Luke 9:3 And he said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics.”).  They had personal encounters with the power of God through miracles of healing and provision for them along the way – without Jesus present.   Now comes the test to see what they learned. “’You feed them,’ Jesus said.” 

Had they learned from their previous journey to think in the supernatural when faced with the humanly impossible?  Would they understand that the supernatural power to heal and provide for one or a few was just as easily able to translate to provide for the 5000?  Would they be defeated or discouraged by the overwhelming task because the crowd was so large and their thinking was stuck in the natural and humanly possible rather than the miraculous?  Were there 12 baskets of leftovers as a sign – one for each of the 12 disciples – to engrave a mental picture reminding them to think outside the possible box?

Impact on Me

I find that I need to be reminded to think outside the possible box when events or circumstances seem overwhelming or impossible or out of my control.  Honestly, I don’t need a group of 5000 to go there.  In ministry settings, I see and hear of things daily that are humanly impossible to manage or change and require a miracle to fix – both visible and invisible – sickness and disease, broken hearts and spirits, emotional wounds that will not heal, those who are desperate and hopeless or will not be consoled, those running away from God, mental illness, incurable diseases, financial crises and so on.  There have been many times in my life when I have experienced the miraculous provision and witnessed the unmistakable exercise of the power of God to save, heal, deliver and redeem – all humanly impossible, but very natural for our God. 

Like the disciples, I know that the power exists and can do all I have seen it do before; BUT will I fail the test if Jesus asks me to believe the impossible that I have not yet seen?  Am I able to keep my thinking outside the possible box and respond according to God’s possibilities rather than my own?  Can I learn to live outside the possible box in His supernatural possibilities?  If I can make this leap of faith, can He use me in ways He never has before?  I am grateful for my own big baskets of leftovers to remind me to have the mind of Christ and think supernaturally no matter what I face.

Devotion

Lord God, All Powerful, Jehovah Jireh, my Provider, full of grace and mercy, You are our firm foundation, ever faithful.  I was raised to be an overachieving perfectionist, so it is so easy to rely on my own strength, abilities and everything I’ve done before rather than consult You regarding Your plan for this moment and whether You have something different in mind this time. In this instance, I would have been working and stressing in the possible – running off to town to try to find food – when You had a different plan and purpose for providing the need and demonstrating to me how to operate in the supernatural where all things are possible.  Help me to stop to consult You first and put my trust absolutely in Your way so that I can be simply Your hand to accomplish Your will and purposes. Make it so in Jesus’ name.

Matthew 26:36-39, 41 (Phillips). Then Jesus came with the disciples to a place called Gethsemane and said to them, “Sit down here while I go over there and pray.” Then he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be in terrible distress and misery. “My heart is nearly breaking,” he told them, “stay here and keep watch with me.” Then he walked on a little way and fell on his face and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible let this cup pass from me—yet it must not be what I want, but what you want…Watch and pray, all of you, that you may not have to face temptation. Your spirit is willing, but human nature is weak.”

Observation

This passage always reminds me that Jesus was fully Man (body and soul) and fully God (perfect and sinless). It was not the God nature in Him that asked, “My Father, if it is possible let this cup pass from me,” and it was not the Man of Flesh nature that insisted, “yet it must not be what I want, but what you want.”  He experienced first-hand the life-long struggle of our souls – choosing between the insistent selfish demands of the Flesh (self-fulfillment, recognition, pleasure, survival, significance before Men) and the selfless urgings of the Spirit (to choose total submission to God, willing self-sacrifice, obedience in faith, joy over happiness, true peace over compromise, significance before God at the cost of being shamed before Men). 

It may seem impossible for us to overcome our human nature to be more like Him.  He never sinned, so He always made the right choices when temptation arose. Because He was fully human, He knew we would not.  So, from before He created humans, He had a plan to redeem us.  This was Plan A and there is no Plan B.  The cost was so very high that none of us could ever pay it and, so He offered up Himself to pay the price that provided redemption.  And, wonder of wonders, He offers this salvation as a free, gracious, glorious gift to us. How much He loves us!

Impact on Me

“Watch and pray, all of you, that you may not have to face temptation. Your spirit is willing, but human nature is weak.”  I am so grateful for both the path of repentance and the forgiveness, grace and mercy Jesus provided through the Cross!  I am also grateful that these do not expire, pass away or have a lifetime limit on number of times I can return to offer the one and receive the other.  Jesus knows me because He experienced life being tempted as I am tempted, choosing between right and wrong, selflessness and selfishness, passing pleasure or productive sacrifice, serving my pride or serving God’s eternal will and purpose, remaining faithful or proving faithless. He knew that there would be times when my human nature won the argument, when I would rationalize that I have rights or that the Spirit’s request was unreasonable, unsafe or impossible for me to do. 

So, He chose to drink a cup of sacrifice, suffering, sorrow and love for me (and you) so I would be able to recognize and confess my failings, my weaknesses, my doubts and fears.  He encourages and strengthens me to be able to choose to leave the shame and power of my sins behind to sincerely return and repent, and then choose more wisely. This journey of repentance and grace teaches my soul (where I make my decisions) the wisdom of letting the Holy Spirit in me win the argument rather than my human nature. Hopefully, I will live long enough to be wise enough to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Devotion

Oh, Lord God, Redeemer, Lamb of God, You alone are worthy of worship and praise.  What kind of God would leave the glory of Heaven to become like me, experience human life, and, then, even sacrifice Himself that I might live with Him through eternity and even be adopted as Your own child?  I do not want the human nature in me to be the source of my choices.  I pray that You will work in me to allow the Jesus nature in me to make me understand what choices You would have me make in all things.  Change my perspective so I see with the eyes of Jesus and am moved by the heart of Jesus to be that better witness of the wonder of the life-changing power of Jesus in me. Make it so, in Jesus’ name.

Acts 15:10-11 NIV “So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear?  We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of Jesus.”

Acts 15:10-11 MSG “So why are you now trying to out-god God, loading these new believers down with rules that crushed our ancestors and crushed us, too? Don’t we believe that we are saved because the Master Jesus amazingly and out of sheer generosity moved to save us just as he did those from beyond our nation? So what are we arguing about?”

Observation

Paul was presenting his case to the Christian leaders in Jerusalem.  Today, he would have been appealing to the Board.  He was not asking to throw out every tradition and teaching of the past.  The new Gentile converts had no experience with Jewish rituals as they were coming from idolatrous religions with their own heavy load of rituals and traditions.  He was asking for a determination of what was eternal and important, and asking new Gentile believers to hold only to that.  He wanted the new converts to experience the freedom, release, adoption and grace that Master Jesus provided.

Empty tradition does not bring joy; it brings legalism and bondage.  Rituals and tradition can be beautiful and uplifting, but should not be treasured just because they have been around for a long time.  The teachings of Jesus often flew in the face of established ritual and traditions and religious laws because they delivered the wrong message, defamed the generosity and love of God, and created a soul-breaking burden for the people.  He went back to the basics, showing God as merciful, loving, kind, a healer, a provider, and full of grace for the hopeless, sick and sin-ridden.   He asked that we simply worship and honor God in spirit and in truth, trusting in His love and grace.

Impact on Me

I grew up in a church environment heavy with ritual and tradition.  I learned to respect spiritual authority, be faithful in attendance, to serve others, to care for the sick and abandoned, and so much more.  There are lots of traditions and rituals that have value in helping us to be reverent, worshipful and focused on the God we serve.  However, I also found many church laws, traditions and rituals became anchors to keep me fixed, crushing weights impossible to bear, interfering with a soul that should be dancing with the joy of salvation.  I had a picture of a distant God Who was mostly displeased with me and wanted me to try to earn His favor by following the rituals and rules. 

When I discovered that salvation was free, God loved me just as I am AND wanted to be an active part of helping me to become more like Him despite my human tendency to fail, I started to dance to the symphony of His salvation, the harmony of Jesus in me, the melody of the Holy Spirit’s work song as He began to change me into a living sacrifice, a loving and obedient child of God.  I woke up to the freedom there is in Christ and willingly became that living sacrifice, trusting in a loving Father to equip, protect and assign me for His purposes.

Devotion

Lord God, Heavenly Father, Jesus Messiah, Holy Spirit, my Helper, how beautiful, holy and blessed You are.  Search me, find any old weights and chains, and break me free to be all You desire for me to be.  Speak to my heart in a way I cannot deny is You with Your assignment for me.  Let me never walk by someone who will hear Your voice speak through me to bring the knowledge of Christ.  Help me always to be an encouragement to others, allowing You to be to them what they need You to be, expressed in the way they need to have You “appear” to them.  Make it so, in Jesus’ name.

Isaiah 11:1-5 MSG  A green Shoot will sprout from Jesse’s stump, from his roots a budding Branch.  The life-giving Spirit of God will hover over him, the Spirit that brings wisdom and understanding, The Spirit that gives direction and builds strength, the Spirit that instills knowledge and Fear-of-God.  Fear-of-God will be all his joy and delight.  He won’t judge by appearances, won’t decide on the basis of hearsay.  He’ll judge the needy by what is right, render decisions on earth’s poor with justice.  His words will bring everyone to awed attention.  A mere breath from his lips will topple the wicked.  Each morning he’ll pull on sturdy work clothes and boots, and build righteousness and faithfulness in the land.

Colossians 1:26-27 Phillips …that I might fully declare God’s word—that sacred mystery which up to now has been hidden in every age and every generation, but which is now as clear as daylight to those who love God. They are those to whom God has planned to give a vision of the full wonder and splendour of his secret plan for the sons of men. And the secret is simply this: Christ in you! Yes, Christ in you bringing with him the hope of all glorious things to come.

Observation

This green Shoot is Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, the Son of David, the Anointed One.  By and through the Holy Spirit, Isaiah tells us that He will come from the line of David (Jessie’s stump), be wise and understanding, have direction and strength, have knowledge and find joy and delight in the fear of God.  He will see past outward appearances and hearsay to judge and render true justice without preference for status or earthly worth.  He will speak with power and do the hard work of building righteousness and faithfulness.  This is the same Jesus Who makes His home in us.  This same Spirit will do this same work in and through us – if we submit to His kingship and allow Him to do so.

God’s plan is to reveal the mystery of the ages to us, the “the full wonder and splendour of his secret plan for the sons of men,” which is Christ in us, the hope of all the glory He has promised to deliver.  We have free access to the very Word that was spoken to create all things.  We have free access to the Holy Spirit Who will lead, teach and make us into what God dreams for us to be.  We have the Light of the World Who will live in and shine through us if we keep the glass of the lantern of our lives clean.  If we will embrace His life in us and submit to His Word and Ways, He will equip us with spiritual “sturdy work clothes and boots” and use us to help “build righteousness and faithfulness in the land.” 

Impact on Me

How easy it is for me to doubt the living presence of Christ in me.  My humanness wants me to judge what is real by what I see with my eyes, hear with my ears and touch with my hands.  My human spirit wants to judge what is possible by my past experiences, my abilities and my failures.  The Enemy wants to constantly grind down His dreams in me and stunt my spiritual growth by reminding me of past sins and present weaknesses that I have not yet overcome.   The Enemy constantly challenges my performance by saying that I can never do enough to be worthy of Christ living in me.  He is right in this – I can never do enough to earn it but I can receive it freely.

When I surrendered to the Lord, throwing myself at the foot of the Cross, coming for the mercy and grace that the Cross provided, I had only my own experience and what the world promised as my guide.  As I read His word, embraced His presence and allowed the Holy Spirit permission and access to remake me, I began to realize His presence in me was working in and through me so I could become a co-worker with Jesus in building righteousness and faithfulness by allowing them to begin building in me.  This would not happen because I was worthy but rather because Father God’s plan had always been to make His home in me and I made my home His.  This is a lifelong process which will complete only when I leave this life to go and be with Him.

Devotion

Father God, Creator, All-Knowing, the Lovliest of All, all glory and honor belongs to You.  How generous a heart to invite us to be freely given the salvation we could never earn, to co-habit with You in this body, to be co-workers with You in bringing the knowledge of redemption to the world, to be called Your child.  The wonder and splendor of Your plan is beyond my understanding.  I welcome Your Holy Spirit to do the work in me to help me put on those spiritual “sturdy work clothes and boots” so I can labor alongside You in fulfilling Your will and purpose in my life and the life of those I meet.  Make it so, in Jesus’ name.