Good Morning Gorgeous,
It’s a brand new day. A fresh NEW start. And all things are becoming new!
As we get closer to Christmas, we can choose to set our eyes and hearts on Jesus.
The Jewish people were waiting on a their Messiah. They were waiting for the birth of their Savior. The One who would redeem them and restore them.
Luke 8 is a FULL chapter of Jesus teaching and moving in POWER!
In this one chapter, we read of Jesus teaching parables, rebuking wind and waves, healing a demon possessed man, healing the woman with the issue of blood, and a miracle of raising a young girl to life!
What. A. Chapter!
It opens up with the affirmation of women in ministry. The scripture says that the 12 disciples were with Him and also Mary Magdalene (the one out whom had come seven demons), Joanna wife of Chula, Susana, and many others who provided for Him from their substance.
Women were a vital part of His ministry, and throughout the gospels we see Him elevate women, affirm women, and treat them with tender mercy.
Two important parables are taught
in Luke 8.
The parable of the sower. Jesus describes 4 types of soil that seed can fall on: wayside, rocky, thorny, and good ground.
Jesus compares the Word of God to the seed and says that whenever the Word of God goes forth, there are 4 scenarios.
1. A person hears the Word, but the devil snatches it right away before they believe it and are saved.
2. A person receives the Word with JOY but it doesn’t grow root and then temptation comes and they fall away.
3. A person hears the Word but is still too caught up in the worries, cares, and desires of the world for the Word to produce fruit. The person who knows about Jesus and receives partially, but stays caught up in stresses and
4. A person hears the Word and RECEIVES it, meditates on it, keeps it, obeys it, treasures it. Treats the Word with value and importance, applies the Word when situations arise and in their hour of need. And as they patiently endure with the Word contending for it, they BEAR FRUIT!
We learn later what fruit looks like: Peace, love, joy, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, and self control.
Another parable
Don’t hide your light!!!
Don’t cover it or put it under your bed.
Shine bright for all to see!!!
And the importance of OBEDIENCE confirmed by Jesus.
There are many believers who misuse the mercy given to us at the cross and follow all types of their own desires because “we are under grace”. This is a serious error in understanding the gospel of Jesus Christ. The blood of Christ cleanses us, takes away our sin as far as the east is from the west, and then His Holy Spirit gives us grace to live HOLY and according to the Word of God. We cannot do this on our own! But with the grace of God, we are divinely enabled by power of Holy Spirit to walk in the light! And it’s serious enough for Jesus to say obedience to the Word make us His brothers and His mother. Another scripture says, “If you love me, obey my commands.”
And obedience is so beautiful. As you fall deeper and deeper in love with the Lord, its your desire to obey and please Him. To live Holy and set apart walking in His divine destiny!
Next, the Wind and the Waves OBEY Him! Even the disciples were shocked by this miracle! And they had seen ALOT. But now they are sailing across the lake, and Jesus is fast asleep while a major storm comes. The Bible says that they were in danger. The boat was filling with water. This was not just the disciples being afraid of nothing, but REAL DANGER! They turn to Jesus. “Master! Master! We are dying!”
Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever cried out, Jesus! I am dying here. Do you see me?! And His reply then is very similar to His reply now. “Where is your faith sweet child? I’ve got you! I’m Lord of the wind and waves and they must obey.”
Today in the midst of the Christmas Season with all of the activity, pause and remember that He has got you strong and steady. He is in the boat with you, and you are NOT going under. You are getting to the other side. You have work to do there!
And that’s what happened with the disciples. JESUS commanded the wind and waves to be still and when they got to the other side, it was GO time. A demon possessed man MET them!
One often missed detail of this story is that the man fell at Jesus’s feet and WORSHIPPED Him. As the man bowed down, the demon began to shriek and speak. The demons reveal that they are not one but MANY, and if they have to go they beg to not be sent to the abyss. Jesus sends them into a herd of pigs. The man now COMPLETELY free and in his right mind is ready to join Jesus and follow Him. Jesus has a different assignment. Go OUT and TESTIFY! Evangelize! So the man goes and preaches in 10 cities! The decapolis! He becomes a traveling evangelist telling how Jesus freed him!!! Cutting, chains, and out of his mind to a sane traveling preacher!!!
This is the Lord we serve!
And as Jesus goes on from there, He gets news that a ruler of the synagogue has a very sick daughter. She was his only daughter. He falls at the feet of Jesus and begs for a miracle.
Jesus starts on the way to see her when a woman with great faith pushes through the crowd. She’s desperate. She’s desperate like the man in the tombs who was set free to the demons. She’s desperate like Jairus is for his daughter’s healing. She’s desperately trying to get to Jesus. She’s not supposed to be in public. She’s not had real human contact or community in 12 years. In that culture when a woman was bleeding, she could not be touched by others. She had to be isolated until the bleeding stopped. This means no cookng with her family. No going to the synagogue. Lonely. Isolated. Shamed. Dirty. Unclean. Unclean. Unclean.
She pushed through the crowd and didn’t even ask Jesus for a miracle. She had such faith that if she could just touch the fringe of His garment, the Holy part that was not really to be touched except by a man’s close family, if she could touch that long fringe on the edge, healing would flow. And IT DID!
Who touched me?!
She boldly steps forward and the next WORD is a word of IDENTITY, He calls her DAUGHTER. He made it legal for her to touch His fringe of His robe and then He tells her that her faith has made her well. And then He speaks to her mind and her emotions. ” Go in peace.”
The God we serve cares about our identity, our physical healing, and our emotional well being. ALL of it is on display here!
This is the Lord we serve!
Finally, this chapter ends with a WILD miracle. While Jesus is STILL ministering to the woman, a messenger comes to tell the ruler of the synagogue that his daughter has died.
Jesus does the same thing He does in the boat. He encourages the man. “Don’t be afraid. Only believe. She will be made well.” Again we see Jesus concerned about the emotions of a person.
He got to the home of the girl and the mourners were there wailing and weeping loudly! Jesus tells them the girl is only sleeping and they ridicule Him.
He puts the mourners outside. No need for them now. She will LIVE! And she does!
The Word says that He took the little girl by the hand and said, “Little girl, arise” and THEN her spirit returned!
He canceled the assignment of death against her by the enemy. Jesus is able to do that! And on the cross, He will completely cancel the curse of death on us so much so that when we die, we only transition from earth to heaven. Death has NO hold on the born again believer! And even BEFORE the cross, Jesus is demonstrating His authority over death!
This is the God we serve!
Dear Heavenly Father,
There is so much to learn from soaking in the WORD. Help us to apply these truths to our lives. Give us good soil where we can receive the Word and protect it until it produces fruit. LORD, when we need a miracle maybwe FLEE to You and not the world. Teach us. Strengthen us. Grow us! Eys on You this Christmas!
In Jesus’s Name,
Amen
