Facing Demons

Mark 5:18-19

As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”

The story in Mark 5:1-20 where Jesus faced a demon-possessed man and restored him seems like a story that would strike fear in the hearts of the hearers – until they heard the happy ending. Of course, the local people of the day were unhappy to have lost their pigs. I think they had to look at the bright side of the situation and remember that they were no longer plagued with fear when traveling through that area. Since Jesus let demons run the pigs off the cliff, the pigs’ owners were sad at the loss of money, but money isn’t everything. It was as true then as it is today.

When I read some of the Bible stories, I think about what it would’ve been like to experience that event as one of the disciples of Jesus. If I had been standing there with the disciples, my knees might have been knocking.

Jesus was always facing challenges to his authority. People gave him trouble wherever he went. But this man with the legion of demons ran to Jesus and fell to his knees. The demons asked Jesus not to torture them and not to send them out of the area. The demons were scared.

We need to remember who Jesus is. The demons hadn’t forgotten, and neither should we. Jesus has control over what we think are uncontrollable situations. When we face uncertainty, Jesus is certain. When our hearts are racing, Jesus is calm. If we can remember who Jesus is and that he is with us, then we’ll find that Jesus will take the scary out of our situation.

I love stories that have happy endings, even scary stories. The happy ending in this one is when the man went home to his family and told them how Jesus gave him back his life.

Who Will Believe The Truth?

Mark 16:17

“And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;”

 This month, I’m thinking about the question, “Who will believe the truth?”

Students are starting a new school year, so they’re receiving information that they assume to be true. If they don’t believe the new info to be true, the teacher must convince them. It takes a lot longer to teach a student who doesn’t believe what you say. Those who listen and believe can act on the truth and grow in that truth faster.

If you don’t believe the truth, you can’t act on it. Those who do believe the truth can show evidence that what they believe is truth.

When Jesus was turning everyone’s world upside-down simply by telling the truth, he gave evidence to back up what he was saying. His truth was spiritual. There were spiritual responses that showed up in visible form such as healings, walking on water, and divine protection.

He taught his disciples that those who didn’t believe the truth couldn’t benefit from those evidences. Jesus went to his hometown, but few there would believe him. The few who did believe were able to receive not just healings, but also a new perspective. And a changed life.

How about you? Do you believe what Jesus said?

Good, Bad, and Ugly

This weekend at Blogging Domino, I’ll post my review of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. It’s a really long movie from 1966 with memorable music and extreme close ups. When I think of the movie’s title, I think of three people in the Bible.

Matthew chapter 8 tells the story of when Jesus went to Capernaum and a centurion told Jesus his servant was suffering. When Jesus offered to go heal the servant, the centurion said to him, “But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.” Matthew 8:10 tells us, “When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, ‘I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.’” The centurion showed the kind of faith Jesus was looking for in his own followers. Can you imagine having the kind of faith that would astonish Jesus?

At the crucifixion of Jesus, two robbers hung on crosses beside him, one on his right and one on his left. In Luke 23:39 we read, “One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: ‘Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!’” The second criminal fussed at the first and reminded him that, unlike them, Jesus had done nothing wrong. The second criminal believed what he’d heard about Jesus. The first spent his last hours hanging next to the Savior who would receive all who believed in him, but the criminal insulted him and passed up his last chance to change his mind. Can you imagine seeing Jesus face to face while he’s taking on the sins of the world – and saying no to him?

Jesus met a demon-possessed man who lived in the tombs. The man had been chained, but was too strong for anyone to keep him bound. So he went among the tombs and hills crying out and cutting himself. When he saw Jesus from a distance, he knew immediately who Jesus was. The demons spoke through the man and begged Jesus not to make them leave the area. At the command of Jesus, the demons left the man and entered a herd of pigs until they drowned in the lake. The man wanted to stay with Jesus, but Jesus wouldn’t let him. Mark 5:20 tells us, “So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.”

What did these three have in common? They each saw Jesus and had the opportunity to speak to and receive from the one who was God in human form. But they all responded to him differently.

I don’t want to ask whether you are good, bad, or ugly. However, I do want to ask a more important question.

How are you responding to God?

Jesus in the Temple

Luke 19:47

Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him.

Did Jesus teach like the religious leaders of his day?

No, he did not. He did things differently and got the attention of his target audience. He also got the attention of his “competitors” and their crowd.

Did Jesus teach his disciples in such a way as to encourage them to do things they’d never dreamed of doing?

Yes. He prepared them to heal people, raise the dead, and make friends out of enemies.

From Mark 12:35, “While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he asked…”

From John 18:20, “'I have spoken openly to the world,' Jesus replied. 'I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret.'”

From Matthew 21:23, “Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him.”

From Matthew 26:55, “At that time Jesus said to the crowd, ‘Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me.’”

It seems the religious leaders of that day were not interested in learning from Jesus as he sat in the temple, teaching all who would stop and listen.

A willingness to learn and a lot of effort will take you a long way. For instance, learning a new language may be difficult, but anyone can learn a new language if the willingness to listen to good instruction and obey it is there. When you think about it, the disciples that followed Jesus were learning a new language, the language of faith and love. They already knew the language of their past jobs: fishing, tax collecting, etc. Jesus taught about being a peacemaker, having compassion for strangers, forgiving your enemy, and believing God can use you as an instrument of healing.

If anyone doesn’t grow up around love, learning about God’s love is like learning a new language. It may be daunting at first, but if there is a diligence and determination to understand, Love can be learned.

So that’s what Jesus taught. He taught to all ages, both genders, whether they were religious or not. He wanted to spread the message from his Father, the message of “peace on earth, good will toward men”. The same message the angels brought on the night of his birth.

God has been trying to get through to us that same message all this time. Even today God wants us to know His hand is stretched out to us with peace and good will. We can accept him if we will stop fighting him.

The question is: are we willing?

Jesus in the Boat

Mark 4:9

Then Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Mark 4:1-20 is where you find Jesus teaching a crowd by telling the parable of the sower. Farmers understand planting seeds, so the story about a man sowing seeds was a way to talk about spiritual things to the average guy.

When I’m being taught a concept or a principle, I like to use analogies in the conversation to make sure I’ve understood what the teacher was trying to say. I’m not a farmer, but most school children are taught about how seeds produce roots, stems, and leaves. I think the average guy could understand what Jesus was trying to say.

Verse one explains the setting. Jesus was in a boat, and the people gathered at the edge of the shore. I’ve been in a setting like that, and it’s really amazing how well I could hear the person in the boat. When Jesus said “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” in verse 9, I understand (from parenting) that not everyone who has ears is listening. Some people have ears to hear, and some just have ears.

Something else that affects our ability to hear is our openness to believe what we hear. There are those who hold on to wrong beliefs and miss out on a life-blessing encounter with Jesus.

Of course, the disciples later asked Jesus to explain the parables he’d been teaching the crowd with. I don’t think they were unbelievably dense, just curious to see if there was something deeper. There was.

I’m not sure they understood the deeper things because they had a hard time believing everything Jesus taught. They were average guys too. But Jesus expected a lot from them because they were going to Jesus School everyday. They should’ve understood a lot more than they did.

It makes me wonder if I would’ve been as teachable as the disciples. How about you?

Feeding the Five Thousand

Mark 6:41

Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all.

Before Jesus fed the 5,000 people who followed him to a remote area, he and his disciples were already hungry. They were trying to get away from the crowds and get some rest. But the crowds wouldn’t leave them alone. Jesus challenged the disciples to think of the followers rather than themselves. The disciples couldn’t figure out how two fish and five loaves would go very far in feeding the enormous crowd.

People have always underestimated God’s love. Because of the stories of Noah’s flood and Sodom and Gomorrah’s fires, we think big when we remember how God clears out evil. Have we become oblivious to the signs of God’s love? Far too often we forget about how God has met our needs and the needs of others with simple multiplication miracles.

God didn’t stop multiplying food for people with that one 5,000-mouth feast. I’ve been a witness to a multiplication miracle. I was working in the kitchen of a women’s retreat when we came very close to running out of green beans. Seeing that many women hadn’t been fed and the bean count was quite low, we prayed for God to make beans remain in the pot all the way to the last plate. We pulled many more beans out of that pot. If I remember correctly, there were a few beans left over when all had been fed. Today, there are many overlooked clues that would lead us to God if we’d only notice them.

We thanked God for that miracle, but we didn’t put an article in the newspaper about it. It was just one of the many times we’d seen God come through for us. We see God showing His love and generosity in so many ways that we forget to tell others about how He surprises us with unexpected provision and protection. You don’t hear about God’s miracles on the news broadcast very much these days, but that doesn’t mean miracles are in short supply.

God still does big things. When we seek His presence, we can be sure He’ll bring the miracles too.

Two Mistakes, part two

Mark 10:35-45

Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”

“What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.

They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”

"You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”

“We can,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”

When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John.

Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

What was their mistake? James and John asked without a servant's heart. Their attitude got them into trouble.

The best leaders are the ones who know what the work is like. They roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty. They lead by example. They have followers because they serve their followers.

Jesus came down from Heaven to work among us. He led his followers by his example. They could see his servant attitude all day and all night.

Americans have become spoiled. Everything is too easy. That has slipped into our churches too. When our prayers are about making our life easier, we run the risk of getting on God’s nerves. He is patient and will forgive, but there comes a time when God expects us to snap out of it and change our attitude.

We need a servant's heart when we speak to God and to others.

Two Mistakes, part one

Mark 10:17-22

As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good – except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”

“Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”

Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One think you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

He heard, but went away sad because he didn’t want to obey. Why did he not want to obey? Why did it not bother him to miss out on seeing joy in the faces of the people who received his stuff?

The man didn’t know what would happen following his obedience. God takes things from you for your benefit and replaces what you’ve given up with things you need. Instead of worrying about maintaining his bank account, he should have worked on maintaining his relationship with Jesus.

I think he didn’t know Jesus; he just knew about him. If he’d taken the time to get to know Jesus on a personal level, he would’ve seen what happens to people who obey Jesus without hesitation.

Two common mistakes we make in our relationship with God are: not taking the time to get to know God and not having a servant’s attitude. Next week I’ll bring a scripture about attitude.

Prayer Attitudes

Mark 6:45-46
Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat
and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd.
After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.

Many times we pray, complaining and whining about our hardships or our needs. Or we tell God about our situation and issue direct orders about how we want Him to fix it. Other times we just beg. When we catch ourselves being distracted by our problems or by the gossip of the day, we should rethink our prayer attitude.

Jesus dismissed the crowd and prayed alone. He was intentionally listening with a desire to obey.

People wanted to kill him, but he didn’t let that distract him. He kept a great prayer attitude throughout his life on the earth.

When you get rid of distractions, you can focus on God. That’s why many people close their eyes during prayer. If we’re distracted by what’s around us while we’re praying, maybe we need to change locations.

Intentionally listening to God with a desire to obey means not allowing interruptions to steal your time with God. I know of a man who bought a house with one more bedroom than he needed. He called that room his prayer room. Occasionally, he locked himself in there, read his Bible, took notes, prayed, worshipped, and listened for God’s guidance. The prayer room was a place to block out all distractions. This was where he, like Jesus, went up on a mountainside to pray.

If we went to God alone everyday to listen for HIS plan for our day, how would that change what we do? Would we act on his plan or ours?