PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN ( Luke 4:27, 38-40 ): Father, I must admit when I read these verses I had some contempt in my heart towards You. Please forgive me for this, but the reason for my contempt I guess is confusion concerning these verses. As Jesus mentioned in verse 27, several were sick but only Naaman the Syrian was healed in Elisha’s time. Then during Jesus’ ministry he healed a countless number of people of which only a small portion is mentioned here in verses 38-40 amongst others. I feel like the healing Jesus did in great numbers was to make a great impact and point about Him being the Messiah, but at the same time why do You pick-and-choose who to offer healing to, Father? Why do so many in this world have to suffer, even followers of Christ? I know I may not have even close to a greater understanding of this in this life, but I pray for You to reveal to me the reasoning why You pick-and-choose who receives healing, when they receive healing, and why they were chosen to receive healing over others. I do trust Your will to be done, but at the same time I am curious as to the ”why” behind things like the ones described in these verses.
PROMISE ( Luke 4:23-24 ): I found this statement to his hometown people to be an interesting one, but I also see it as a promise. They ask Him to do some healing miracles in his hometown. Jesus quickly responds with “I assure you: no prophet is accepted in his hometown.” Wow! He is quite blatant with them in letting them know ahead of time that there’s no way he’d be accepted in His hometown, which obviously became true based on them bringing Him to the cliff. At the same time, however, He also makes sure they are very aware that He is, in fact, a Prophet…amongst other things, of course. Jesus was the greatest Prophet of all, so I thank You for this promise coming to fruition, Father.
ATTITUDE ( Luke 4:8, 12 ): When Jesus was tempted He didn’t just sit in silence and ignore the Devil. He didn’t use His own words to fight against the Devil’s temptations. Instead, He used Your words to combat the Devil. He used Your truth against the Devil’s lies. Your truth will always stand-up to the lies of the enemy, so I need to remember to keep this mindset when fighting spiritual warfare to ensure I am always leaning on Your truth in the battle, not my own words.
COMMAND ( Luke 4:12 ): When the Devil tried to tempt Jesus the third time, he used Your own words to try and deceive Jesus into falling for his dirty tricks. Jesus quickly identified it and combatted his temptation with a simple 10 words—“it is said: do not test the Lord your God.” This was all it took for the Devil to depart from Him at this time. I need to always remember to combat the enemy with Your truth, but also to remember not to test You because although You are gracious and loving towards me it is not my place, nor anyone’s place, to test You, Father.
EXAMPLE ( Luke 4:11-12 ): Jesus provides such a powerful example to live by in our spiritual warfare in this life. The Devil knows Your words even better than we do, so He often uses them out of context or in other ways to manipulate us into doing his will and not Yours. He even tried to use Your words to tempt Jesus, but Jesus saw through the Devil’s scheme and combatted him right back by simply speaking Your words back to Him with the perfect response—Do not test the Lord your God!! I need to get better as using Your words to combat the enemy’s words that are always hitting my brain. Help me to be more like Jesus and less like me, Father.
*DAILY NOTE: Every time I read about the Devil’s temptations towards Jesus and trying to get Him to fall, I am amazed and learn something new. Thank You for always being willing to teach me new lessons through Your truth and Your words, Father. Help me to continue to grow and learn in this spiritual journey so that I do not stagnate in this life in what You’d have me do and learn, Father.
EXPAND TO READ: GENERAL NOTE FOR MY QUIET TIMES
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