9 September 2015

Scriptures:

• Luke 7:1-35
• Daniel 10:1-11:1
• 1 Samuel 29-30
• Psalm 38

Observations:

• Luke 7:22

In Luke, we see Christ's encounter with a centurion, his encounter with a widow and her late son, and to some disciples of John the Baptist. What stands out to me, really is Jesus' response to the disciples, asking if he is the one prophesied to be coming after what he has just done. 

"Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them."

 I got chills reading that statement. Christ is basically saying (to my mind) "Miracles are happening. The impossible is occurring. Why are you even still wondering?"

In Daniel, we see Daniel waiting on word from God. When the word is delivered, we see the messenger apologising for the delay, as he was engaged in battle with a demon ruling over Persia. 

In 1 Samuel, we see the Philistines whom David was serving in exile dismiss him from the upcoming battle against the Israelites, so, upon returning to his temporary home and finding it sacked, he had and took the opportunity, at the Lord's assurance, to track down and destroy the Amalekite band who laid waste to the city of Ziklag (and stole David's two wives).

Lastly, in the psalm, we see the psalmist prostrating himself before God for his own sins, waiting on God for forgiveness.

Application:

We are living in the midst of spiritual warfare. If there were ever any doubt, the Daniel passage dispels that. Moreover, God is and has been doing amazing works on this earth; it is apparent where the true power is. This is the God we serve - the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead walk. How can we be anything other than radical, anything other than bold with this kind of realisation. Jesus himself stated it, and rather matter-of-factly, too. There is no other power. There is no-one else.

As for me, I'm relying on God. I'm standing on His side, when the battle lines are drawn.

Prayer:

God, you are powerful, amazingly so. Thank you so much for the reminder of what you can and do in the world around us. I ask that you would find me a fitting tool to use, that you might be shown to those around me. The sins and death that I still walk in, Lord, remove from me. Renew me with your righteous power, that I may be fully equipped to fight against the spiritual powers that seek to oppress this world you have created. Make me bold, confident in your power.

I pray for this same realisation in my wife, in my school, and in my church, that we would be unashamedly working towards your goals, standing for you amidst the society that tells us to assimilate and shut up.

Lord, let this display of power that you showed two thousand years ago be present and visible today, in our society of skeptics, that they may have no other option but to acknowledge you.

Amen