Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Luke 9:37-40

Luke 9:37-40
And it became on the next day, after He came down from the mountain, a great crowd met Him.  And behold!  A man from the crowd cried out, saying, “Teacher, I beg you to look upon my son because he is my only-begotten.  And behold!  A spirit takes him and it cries out suddenly and it convulses him with foam at the mouth.  And it goes away from him with great difficulty while breaking him.  And I begged your disciples in order that they should cast it out, and they were not powerful enough.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Here is a bold father.  He is driven by compassion.  His only-begotten son is affected by a horrible spirit.  He is willing to rise above the crowd for the sake of his son.  He is willing to risk the rejection of Jesus for the possibility of receiving the healing of Jesus.  There is much to be commended in this man.

Where are you willing to risk?  Where are you willing to stand out against the crowd and call attention to your needs and shortcomings?

Second Thought:

Look at how the demon interacts with the boy.  The demon attempts to gain control.  Once it has control, it attempts to bring harm to the boy.  Once it has control, it is hard to get control back.  This is just what demons try to do.  This is what anything that influences us into sin tries to do.  It takes us where we do not want to go while making it seem like we do.  Once we get there, it makes it feel like we don’t have what it takes to get back to a place of health.

Where do you wrestle for control against sin in your life?  How do you get control back when sin has taken it from you?

Third Thought:

The disciples are not powerful enough to cast out this demon.  This is an interesting point.  I don’t want to make too much of it, however.  I think we can learn a lesson here, but we shouldn’t be critical of the disciples in doing so.  The disciples aren’t powerful enough.  Who among us is powerful enough?  Can any of us cast out a demon on our own power?  Of course not.  We can only do great and amazing things when we turn to and rely upon a great and amazing God.

How much do you rely upon God?  How powerful are you?  How powerful are you when you are resting in God’s hands?


Passage for Tomorrow: Luke 9:41-43

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