Luke 11:14-36
Dear RTB’ers,
A mix of topics today. Jesus casting out a demon leads to a long discourse from Jesus about demons and unclean spirits, then more teaching from Jesus, much of which is also covered in Matthew and Mark.
I don’t have much to say about demons, other than trusting what Jesus says. We believe that Satan and his demons are alive and at work in our world today. We can’t see their actions, but sadly we can see their outcomes. We read in today’s passage how Jesus was more powerful than these evil forces when He walked the earth and we know that we have the Holy Spirit to do battle for us today. But it remains a mystery area for me, personally, and I pray that I never have to deal with demonology beyond the tools of confession and repentance that we’ve been given.
Jesus’ teaching on the return of the unclean spirit (Luke 11:24-26) is interesting. I’ve always been fascinated with the truth of Jesus’ words. It’s great to see someone turn away from a past life and accept Jesus as his/her Savior. But there’s more in making Jesus as Lord in our lives. I mentioned confession and repentance yesterday, I mentioned it above today, and now it pops up here. Confession and repentance form the beginning of a new life. But that new life needs to be filled with something more. All this really points to an area where Ben is focusing these days – discipleship. He has chosen the book, Deeper as a Lenten study book. The title alone tells us where the author is headed – we need to go deeper into Jesus, to be filled with that “something more”. I hope that everyone of you has bought the book and joined a Deeper group. I see change on the horizon!!
Blessings!