This morning I woke up at my usual time that God wakes me up every morning...just after 5 am. :) So I requested just to have a few minute snooze. 5:17 a.m. I am awake again. "Lord, I'd like to sleep in a little more today, it's Saturday. Could I have a couple more hours?" I prayed. I instantly fell asleep and the next time I woke up again, guess what?? Yup, you got it...7:17 a.m. :) God is so perfect, so detailed, so precise! I LOVE that about Him!! He just makes me smile! But this is NOT the first time it's happened to me...it's happened time and time again. God is so incredibly detailed...that's such a beautiful thing about Him! So because of this, I KNEW that He had something good for me to read from His Word this morning. Well, there's ALWAYS good things to read in His Word every time we open it up...but I knew there would be something VERY precise for me to read today.
I've been reading through the Gospels chronologically and today I was reading the 2nd half of Luke 8, beginning at verse 26. Verses 26-39 is the story of Jesus sailing to the "other side" of the lake, the Sea of Galilee. One of my favorite moments in Israel was being on that lake. But another interesting aspect is how Beth Moore spoke of this story in our last Bible study, Jesus the One and Only. She taught about Jesus going over to "the other side" of the lake and how uncomfortable it can be to go over to the "other side" and how we need protection. Here Jesus met up with a demon possessed man, who had many demons living in him, and he lived among the tombstones and caves here. Jesus delivered him! This man became the first missionary because the man wanted to go back with Jesus, but Jesus told him to go tell his family and the others about what Jesus had done for him. The demons knew who Jesus was, they knew His power and they were afraid of Him. There are many demonic forces in todays world too and we don't need to be afraid of their power. Jesus has MORE power and the Holy Spirit IN us, we have more power than demons who are active in todays world too. AMEN to that!!
So sitting on this hillside where Jesus sent all those demons into that herd of pigs so many years ago, it was definitely one of my favorite places in Israel, knowing that Jesus was there displaying the power of God in that place.
Another GREAT aspect of this mornings reading was verses 40-56. A week ago today, I was taking part in a Women's Journey of Faith, AWAKEN "Faith Stories Seminar". We were encouraging women to share their stories, to overcome fear and shame and the desire to hide the not so good aspects of our lives. We gave them great tools to work with in order to write and share powerful testimonies of what Jesus has done in their lives. Maureen had done a little skit about the woman from verse 43, a woman who bled for 12 years. This woman was so desperate to reach Jesus and to just touch the hem of his robe, knowing that if she did so, she totally believed with all her heart that she would be healed...and SHE WAS! Oh what great faith! Even Jesus stopped to point out who touched Him cause He wanted the people around Him to know how GREAT her faith was, and that she was an individual who needed love and care just like anyone else. I love how Jesus treated women in the Bible, showing how much they deserved love, attention, honor and respect. Even the Jewish men couldn't "look" at a bleeding woman, or be around them or speak to them...they were totally avoided. I can just imagine the pain of this woman being treated so horribly for many years.
AND JESUS TOUCHED HER, the very depths of her soul with love and attention. Oh this story always brings tears to my eyes!! He stopped to proclaim and make a point to all the people around Him that an "unclean" woman touched Him because of her great faith and He healed her! OH how she must have felt! WOW!So yes, The Good Lord had something very precise for me to read this morning. Thank you God! You are a God of the smallest and yet mightiest details! Oh how I love you so!
1 comment:
When Beth shared about Jesus going to the other side, it was the first time I realized that the other side was an awful place. I know he encountered the demon possessed over there, but never thought of the fact that before Jesus crossed over He knew He was going to a dark place. I enjoyed your devotional comments this morning. You are so right! Our God is so great and His detail is often so big and so stunning, yet He cares about what sometimes seems like the smallest thing in our own eyes and makes them into something great. I'm sure the women didn't even realize how important her story would become. She only wanted to touch His robe. But what faith!
Kim
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