I’ve witnessed this phenomena of nature for years now and oftentimes, when driving by certain locations where I have taken photos in the past, I will remind myself that lying there beneath the dried out ground that has baked underneath a hot August sun here in Texas...lie seeds of our beautiful state flower and in due season...they will rise again.
I find a similar mystery with God’s word. Scriptures and passages that lie there between the covers of my bible...have always been there and I’ve read them countless times over and over...as have you no doubt. Then without warning...one day...they just ‘come alive’ and take on a whole new beauty of understanding and revelation. It’s hard to describe honestly....but it just happens...and has been happening more and more of late. Perhaps you have witnessed or experienced this yourself reading through some of these postings where I share plenty of those ‘seeds’ from God’s word.
We’ve been talking about abiding in Jesus and sin and ‘unclean spiritual influences’ (demons) and such. We know that the whole world is under the influence or sway of the ‘wicked one’ according to 1 John 5:19. We also know that this ‘thief comes but to steal, kill, and destroy’ ( John 10:10) much like a ‘lion seeking to devour’. (1 Pet. 5:8). We are admonished by Paul to ‘give no place to the devil’ (Eph. 4:27) and both James and Peter command us to ‘resist the devil’ (4:7; 5:9) as opposed to ‘ignoring’ him as if he really doesn’t exist nor can he influence us because we have church membership somewhere.
And yes, Paul writes extensively about these ‘weapons and armor’ we have to stand against the ‘schemes of this spiritual foe of ours’ (Eph 6:10-18). He reminds us that we are not ‘ignorant of his devices’ (2 Cor. 2:11) and that we’d do well to ‘bring into captivity every thought’ (2 Cor. 10:5) given we are living in a world surrounded by spiritual darkness and conflict. Yet, for all this talk of demons and spiritual darkness and such, can I just encourage you that if/when we are truly abiding in Jesus...you really are not consumed or preoccupied with a spiritual enemy. Are we aware of them? Of course. But they are not the focus of our walk...or our fears. God alone is the one we are to fear and abide in as we continue in His love and peace and joy.
Yesterday, I cited a few examples of people who were suffering greatly and were healed and delivered by the great ‘Physician’, Jesus. In several of the examples, we saw clearly what the root source of their physical suffering was...it was indeed a demon spirit, or a ‘spirit of infirmity’. (Luke 13:11) Perhaps you might read yesterday’s post if you missed it. It also makes me smile to think we have a ‘physician’ (Dr. Luke) who is the one identifying these ailments as being ‘spiritual’ in nature producing physical symptoms of suffering. Now granted, Luke did not go to Harvard Medical School so he was not as well educated as modern doctors today, right? (smile)
Oh, one other example Dr. Luke brings to our attention that is not cited in the other gospel accounts. It has to do with Peter’s mother-in-law who was sick with high fever. Now we’d expect a doctor like Luke to be more meticulous in his note taking so it is not lost on me in his account that when Jesus stood over her lying there on bed that he ‘rebuked the fever, and it left her’. (Luke 4:39)
It's one thing to ‘starve a cold and feed a fever’ (as the old saying goes) but to ‘rebuke it’? Interesting.
Now...am I implying that scripture teaches that all physical suffering, sickness, and disease is ‘demon-related’? I don’t think we can make that case. Paul wrote to Timothy and addressed his ‘frequent stomach issues’ and advised him to drink some wine with water and says nothing about going to a deliverance service. But to ignore or rule out the possibility would be foolish as well. Just sayin....
Yesterday, I brought up this woman in Luke 13 who had this ‘spirit of infirmity’ for eighteen years that had bound her up where she was hunched over. Why even Jesus emphasized this “think about it- for eighteen years!” (16). I posed a simple question of ‘how did it even get in her?’ I think that would be a good question to find answers for, would it not? One other note of interest in this story...Jesus referred to her as a ‘daughter of Abraham whom Satan has bound’ (16)
We read in Galatians 3 that our faith in Christ makes us ‘Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise’. (29). Not wanting to delve off into all that, other than to mention in passing that if you belong to Christ, you too are a ‘son/daughter of Abraham’ as well. And one other note of interest...After all three gospel accounts where the ‘fever was rebuked’ out of Peter’s MIL by Jesus, we read where many brought those who were sick and afflicted and demon possessed to Jesus and many were healed and delivered and set free and made whole. (Matt. 8:16; Mk.1:32-34)
Now I don’t want to lose you here, but this is worth some further study. There is an account recorded in a couple of the gospels where a gentile woman (not a Jew-daughter of Abraham) heard about the things Jesus was doing. We are told she had a young daughter that was afflicted with an ‘unclean spirit’ and she came to Jesus asking for Him to cast the demon out of her child. Jesus eventually does but not before making it clear that the removing of demon spirits is not really for ‘those on the outside’ of the covenant promises, but belongs to those who are ‘Abraham’s seed’. This healing and deliverance stuff is the ‘children’s bread. (Mark 7:27). Now this is probably starting to make some of your heads swim...so pause, take a breath and let me proceed on...
I mentioned at the beginning here about a particular passage that has just ‘sprung up’ and offered so much insight and truth of late even though it has been lying dormant in my bible for so long. It can be found in Matt. 12:43-45. Also- We are just laying out some ‘more pieces of truth’ from God’s word to examine, study, and pray over. It will for sure be the Holy Spirit that ‘reveals’ further truths to you and ‘connects more dots’, but remember, we need not be troubled or afraid of scripture. If these passages make you nervous, you might want to pause and ask yourself why that is.
Jesus explains to us that ‘when an unclean spirit goes out of a person, he goes through dry places seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he (demon spirit) goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.” Is this simply ‘poetic language’? Or not?
Yesterday, I hinted that when it comes to praying for people who are sick and in need of being set free...that we more often than not, end up asking the ‘wrong question’. The obvious question all of us have asked at one time or another is ‘why did our prayer not get answered...why were they not healed or set free?’. And the question we for one reason or another don’t ask as much: “Why or how did they become afflicted like this to begin with?”. PLEASE...do not get ahead of me here and rush to all kinds of conclusions.
I want to pose a probable answer to the more common question as to ‘why they were not healed’. And before I do, let me make it clear...the fact that a person who did not receive a healing does not mean they were ‘lost’ or ‘unsaved’. Ok...are you with me here? But there is strong reason to believe that Jesus is enlightening us here that the reason many of those prayers have gone seemingly ‘unanswered’ were more of an act of mercy on His part. The reason being...if we have been in the dark as to how these spirits are getting in and working destruction...and He removes them while we remain ignorant of the fact, then in all likelihood, what will happen to that person who receives an ‘apparent healing/deliverance’ over time...based on what Jesus taught us here in this passage?
Lots to ponder. But remember...this is Good News He is wanting us to hear. See you tomorrow.
Comments
Post a Comment