Luke 17:20-21

²⁰ Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, ²¹nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.*”

* The foot note reads “Or is within you”

Observation

A lot packed into a single chapter, Luke 17 covers: the importance of not causing others to stumble, forgiveness against others who may sin against us, the power of faith, remaining humble and the healing of 10 men with leprosy, only one of which returns to give thanks.

Understanding

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

-1 Corinthians 4:20 (NIV) 

A while back, we read “When Heaven Invades Earth” by Bill Johnson as part of one of our DSU courses.  It turned my idea of heaven on its head…talking about how we are the conduits to bring heaven down.  But in order to do so, we must live in power – the power of the living God and His kingdom living INSIDE of us. 

And how do we do that?  We’ve got to fill ourselves up from the source.

But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness…

– Matthew 6:33

Life Application

As we go into the “holiday season,” it’s easy to get caught up in the hustle, bustle, shuffle of getting everything done – only X days til Christmas, the need/desire to close out 2018 with a laundry list of things you’d hoped to accomplish, or already preparing for the new year.  There are tons of things that can steal our attention away from our source, and not necessarily even bad things…but may we orient our days, orient this season to the one from whom all good things come.  Also, may we look for opportunities to be the conduit through which Heaven invades Earth…with the destruction our state has faced over these last few weeks, there’s likely many hearts searching and needing healing – which only God can truly provide. 

God, fill me to overflowing.  May I seek you first daily, not allowing the distractions to steal away what belongs to you and what you deserve.  Keep my eyes open to share your love with others; and may I operate in boldness as I do. 

In your name, I pray.  Amen.

-Rei

PS If anyone wants to read/reread “Heaven Invades Earth” with me, I’m setting out to complete it before we head to India at the end of December.  Hit me up, would love to have opportunity to discuss it with someone…or multiple someones. 🙂

 To check out the discussion or to join in click here.

In light of tragedies where family, friends, children, colleagues are taken without explanation, there can be a lot of reactions.  I am angry at the unexplained motives behind the actions at the Borderline that took a co-worker of mine.  But ultimately I must lay down my will and respond to the will of my heavenly Father.

Scripture

Scripture

Luke 13:10-17 NIV

“On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God. Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.” The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?” When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.”

Observation-What does it say?

Jesus healed on the Sabbath and made the religious leaders extremely angry (indignant) as He was to only work 6 days and rest on the Sabbath. Jesus rebuked them, called them hypocrites and used the example of them untying the ox to allow it to drink water. What more should we untie a person from their bondage to Satan in order to be free to receive the Living Water on the Sabbath?

Understanding-What does it mean?

Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. (Matthew 12:8, Luke 6:5)

In Scripture, Jesus healed and allowed His disciples to pick grain for food on the Sabbath. Why? Because He was Lord over that day. Basically, they were already with the One who we are to honor on the Sabbath. The One who gave them their true soul and spirit rest was physically with them. 

Another example was with fasting. Jesus’ disciples didn’t fast and John’s disciples questioned that. Jesus basically replied that they didn’t need to fast when the bridegroom was with them. The purpose of fasting was not to observe the law, but to draw closer to the Lord and they were already with Him! He did say that the time will come when they will fast though.

“Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.” Matthew 9:14-15 NIV

Life Application 

We must observe the Sabbath, just like we must fast; however, legalism has no place in these practices. It is about drawing near to and finding spirit and soul rest with Jesus.

My Sabbath day is on Wednesday. I do my best to protect it, but there have been situations where it has had to be cut short and I’ve had to modify or switch my day. For example, a couple of my Sabbath days, my kids were sick with fevers and have had to stay home from school. I didn’t say, “too bad, I’m not working today so you need to go to school.” I take care of them and help nurse them back to health. 

There have also been a couple of times where the plumber has had to come to our home on my Sabbath day due to backed up pipes in our kitchen sink that could have caused sewage water flooding in our home. That’s an emergency and of course I made sure the work got done! I didn’t say, “too bad, it’s Sabbath. I’ll just let my home flood.”

Also, if a family member or church member was hospitalized and possibly on their death bed, I wouldn’t hesitate to head over to the hospital to pray over them. I wouldn’t say, “sorry, it’s my Sabbath. Ask someone else to do it.”

There are many situations that can wait until the next day to attend to, after our Sabbath; however, there are some situations that cannot wait and are exceptions to rule. We MUST protect our Sabbath day, just like we must pray and fast and just like we don’t commit murder or adultery or covet or lie because it’s part of God’s commandments. However, when God came to earth as Jesus, the heart behind all these commands and the standards changed (i.e. looking lustfully is adultery and being angry/unforgiving with a brother or sister is murder),  where its no longer about legalism, but Jesus. Remember what Paul said in Philippians 3?

“For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:3-14 NIV

Amen Apostle Paul!

-Michelle Gaddi

Joshua 9:14

¹⁴ The Israelites sampled their provisions but did not inquire of the Lord. 

Observation

The “fame of the Lord” [love that, by the way] had reached far and wide.  It was well known that Joshua and Israel were blessed in many ways to include battle.  Many came together to fight (and lose) against the Israelites, but the people of Gibeon took a different approach.  In fear of their lives, they made it look as though they came from a long way off – not neighbors from the land that God had given the Israelites through Moses – seeking a peace treaty with them.  They played it up well with cracking and repairing their wine skins, patching up their sandals, using dry and moldy bread.  While they looked the part, they were still questioned “But perhaps you live near us, so how can we make a treaty with you?” (verse 7).  [Perhaps this was the process with anyone who came before them…or maybe it was the Holy Spirit nudge or that “gut feeling” that something wasn’t quite right.].

Of course, when questioned, they lied – calling out the “fame of the Lord” as the reason they’ve come – pointing out all the props and how their condition was due to the “very long journey” they had made to get there…bringing us to verse 14.

Understanding

It’s ever so slight; in fact, I missed it the first time I read through it. 

¹⁴ The Israelites sampled their provisions but did not inquire of the Lord.

They checked the physical evidence, but didn’t go to God.  They relied on their own senses, their own findings, their own determination…but did not seek counsel.  And, it’s easy to see why – the sight test seemed obvious.  Perhaps we’d make the same decision in those circumstances.  But…things aren’t always as they appear.

Life Application

Seek the counsel of God and His people. 

Good news is, God is 24/7/365.  There’s not a moment that we can’t “reach” him.  In our day to day and, ESPECIALLY when we are carrying out His calling, we should seek His guidance, His direction…even in the small, mundane or obvious.  He will guide each step. 

Thank you for your availability, your overwhelming love and your willingness to provide us DAILY guidance.  Help me to seek it out, to listen to the Holy Spirit nudge and ACT in accordance.

In your name, I pray.  Amen.

-Rei

To check out the discussion or to join in click here.

Scripture  

Luke 11:5-8 

“Then He said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.”

Observation-What does it say?  

At this point in the book of Luke, Jesus is starting to develop some of the finer points of what it means to be a disciple with those closest to him.  He has already chosen the twelve apostles, and sent out the seventy disciples on a healing ministry.  Here, one of the disciples asked Jesus to teach him how to pray.  Jesus leads in with the Lord’s prayer.  He then dives deeper into the matter by discussing some of heart issues we deal with when we pray.  He shows us, through examples of bread and fish, of where our faith is to be when we bring our requests to Him.

Understanding-What does it mean?  

Matthias, my youngest, loves to eat snacks.  We can’t get him to eat a full meal without strapping him down to his seat (I’m not even kidding, he’s almost four and still gets buckled to his booster).  We struggle to get him to eat more than a few bites of breakfast, lunch and dinner.  He will claim that he is full and that he doesn’t want to eat anymore, but as soon as the buckles come off he will run into the pantry and grab a snack.  He then shoves it in Jen’s or my face and begins to pester us with the requests, “Can I have this?”  All the while there is still soggy cereal in the bowl on the table, which he refuses to eat.  “Can I have this?”  He isn’t dressed yet, hasn’t brushed his teeth.  “Can I have this?”  Now we are running late to get the other boys to school.  “Can I have this?”  And as we are frantically finding backpacks, water bottles, homework folders, and sweatshirts, “Can I have this?”  All of the sudden I snatch the granola bar from his little hand, violently rip the plastic wrapper open, hand it to him as I scoop him up and throw him (also a little violently) into the stroller, and scream, “YES! Just get in the stroller, we have to go.”  The little guy wins almost every time.

Thankfully, God never loses his cool like I do.  Since God is all knowing (omniscient) and out side of time (omnipresent), he never has a need to worry or get impatient.  He has the time to listen to our desires and the wisdom to know the right time to give them to us.  I think in this passage Jesus is trying to teach us a few things about our motives and about our stress.   

When I worry about something, God tells me to bring it to him, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”  (Philippians 4:6)  The more I learn to bring my desires and cares to him the less I will worry about them.  Also the more I come to Jesus with my desires and worries, it seems that my worries go away and my desires start to line up more with His will.  In the book of James, we are taught that God is jealous for us, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”?” (James 4:3-5)

Life Application  

Jesus, teach me to pray as you would.  I want to see my life through your lens.  I want my time to be spent where you want it spent and my money spent where you want it spent.  And when I have a desire, help me to bring it to you until I know that the answer lines up with your will.

-Tyler Galloway

Scripture

Luke 10:2-3

2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.

Observation – What does it say?

Jesus was getting ready to go into different towns and villages to minister to people. In preparation, Jesus gathered a larger group of his disciples, not just the 12, but 72 others.  And he told them that the harvest was plentiful but the workers were few. In other words, there are many who are ripe and ready to receive the good news of salvation and accept Jesus. But the problem was a shortage of laborers who would go to them and share the good news. 

Jesus tells them 2 ways they can be a part of the solution: 1. Pray for God to send laborers into the harvest field. 2. Go themselves into the harvest field.

Understanding – What does it mean?

Pray and Go!

Often when I have heard this verse quoted, it’s only verse 2. There is a need for laborers so pray for God to raise some up and send them out. What stood out to me this time reading it is that is only half of Jesus’s command to his disciples. Don’t just pray, but go yourself! 

Often times I become aware of a need and think, “God, someone should do something about this.” There is nothing wrong with asking God to raise someone up to deal with it. Jesus actually commands us to ask him. But what I’m realizing more and more is that any need or problem I become aware of, God is usually allowing me to see it because he wants me to be part of the solution! 

Life Application

Don’t just pray for the solution, allow God to use me to be the solution.

God, forgive me for praying for someone else to fix things that you’ve called me to fix. Forgive me for the times I ask for a harvest and fail to go, fail to share with the people in my life. Help us to see ourselves as part of the solution and to make ourselves available not just to pray but to go. Amen. 

– Levi Thompson

Scripture

Luke 8:28 NIV

“When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!””

Observation-What does it say?

This section of the chapter describes Christ’s healing of the demon possessed man and His authority over the evil spirits. 

Understanding-What does it mean?

Our God is greater than any darkness or evil around us.

Focus on the light of Christ instead of the darkness of the enemy. As we stay close to Jesus in faith, there will be no need to fear the enemy, because that same power that was used to drive out the demons lives in us! 

It’s important to know our enemy and who we are doing spiritual battle against. However, it’s more important to KNOW the One who is for us and focus on His goodness and light. It’s more important to put our focus on the One who conquered sin and death in order to be on guard and protect ourselves from the counterfeit.

Put in a real life example, I’ve heard it stated by a couple of pastors that people who have a career of spotting counterfeit bills do not study counterfeit bills. Instead, they study every detail of the real, authentic bill so that when presented with a counterfeit one, they are able to spot it right away. 

We need not fear our enemy when we put our hope and trust in Jesus. We need not fear when we put on His armor daily and are fed by His Word daily. We need not fear when we pursue a life like that of the Good Soil through hearing the word, retaining it and persevering to produce a crop. “But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.” Luke 8:15 NIV

Dear Lord, we pray for protection against the evil one, but more importantly, increased faith to pursue You intimately, the God who is greater than our adversary. Help us to pursue Your truth above the counterfeit and lies. Amen. 

-Michelle Gaddi