The Demoniac

Jesus meets a demon possessed man, sitting among the Tombs.  This man had many demons and was too strong for anyone to handle without tremendous faith and Jesus was the man for the task.  As soon as the demoniac saw Jesus, from a distance, he knew who he was, and he ran and bowed down before him.  This is amazing, this man was so full of demons he couldn’t even be chained any more, he had been bound with shackles and chains before, but he broke the shackles and ripped apart the chains.  When I think about this man of great strength, who was infested with demons I know it could have been a very different outcome.

Think about the sons of Sceva, please read Acts 19:13-17, “But some traveling Jewish exorcists also tried to invoke the name of the Lord Yeshua, saying, ‘I charge you by the Yeshua whom Paul preaches.’ Seven sons of a Jewish ruling kohen named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, ‘I know Yeshua and I know about Paul, but who are you?’ Then the man with the evil spirit sprang at them, subduing and overpowering all of them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. This became known to all who lived in Ephesus, both Jewish and Greek people. Fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Yeshua was being magnified.”

Like I said it could have been a very different outcome.  It would have been very scary for the ordinary person, but not for Jesus.  For Jesus this was like child’s play, he was the Son of God and this man knew it and so did all the demons, Jesus had amazed his followers quite often with the miracles He had performed.  

Remember the healings He performed and the times when He fed many people with very few fish and bread?  What about the time He raised Lazarus from the dead and so many other things, like walking on water and the time when he was sleeping in the boat, and his disciples were very scared then he rebuked the winds and said to the sea, “quiet, be still,” and they obeyed him?  Now please read what the men said about that in Mark 4:41, “They were struck with awe and said to one another, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the sea obey Him!’”  

Plus, he did many, many other miracles, some we may not even know about, they may not have been recorded.  What an amazing event, this was the man who was set free and was sitting there in his right mind with his clothes on but there is a very sad part of this event also.  To me it was one of the saddest things I have read in God’s word.  

Please read Mark 5:14-17, “The herdsmen ran away and told the town and countryside, and they came to see what had happened. Now they came to Yeshua and saw the madman who had had the legion. He was sitting there, dressed in clothes and in his right mind. The people were scared. Those who had seen it described in detail what had happened to the man plagued by a demon, and they also told about the pigs. And they began to beg Yeshua to leave their country.”

The sad part of the story was that they were all familiar with what went on in this man’s life and they saw the man there in his right mind, there was no doubt a miracle had taken place, but instead of rejoicing and being ecstatic over what had taken place in this man life they began to beg Jesus to leave their country.

Please read what happened to the man who was set free.  It is in Mark 5:18-20, “As He was getting into the boat, the man who had been infested with demons kept begging to remain with Him. Yeshua did not let him, but He told him, ‘Go home to your friends and tell them how much Adonai has done for you, how He showed you mercy.’ So he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Yeshua had done for him. And all were amazed.”

I think we all would have been amazed if this were to happen today!! Praise the good Lord for this deliverance and for the super testimony this man had, who had the demons in him and for all the people who were amazed by it and also this man’s willingness to share his testimony with others!!

Please don’t miss out on what the Lord is doing in our day.  Too many times we lean on our own understanding and in the process, we miss out on what the Lord is doing and what He is accomplishing in our lives and in the world around us.  I hope this has been a help and an encouragement to all who read it. God bless you and yours and may all of you have a super day!!

Be Not Conformed To This World!!

 Think of a copycat, as we would probably say today, what are they known for?  For doing whatever someone else does, but if we are believers, we are not to do that.  We need to be very careful to do the right thing and not just fall in line with the rest of the crowd.  We need to be careful also of what we believe when we hear things and not just agree with others just because what they write, or say, sounds good.  No, we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. 

God’s word tells us to study to show ourselves approved, a workman who is not ashamed, who is able to divide the word of truth!!  That is how we will renew our minds, we need to read and study and meditate and pray that the precious (Ruach ha – Kodesh) Holy Spirit will lead us and teach us all the truth that we need to know and bring all these truths back when we need them.  We also need to seek and ask the Lord for His wisdom and knowledge and understanding and discernment.  

So many seem to play follow the leader today because the people they follow seem like nice people or because they have a title or have money or are famous or very popular.  Or maybe they have impressive degrees behind their names.  We need to be careful about deception by being hoodwinked by great imposters that live one way in public and another behind closed doors.  There are many that seem nice at first because they have an agenda and that is to gain something for themselves that in the end will only bring hurt and pain to you.  This can happen to anyone, rich or poor, famous or very intellectual, regardless of their status or position in life and it is happening every day.

That is why we all need a close relationship with the One who knows each of us the best.  The One who knows our coming in and going out, our rising up and our sitting down, the One who knows our every thought and every action we will take after the thought comes to our minds, but still loves us in spite of ourselves.  And who could that be; the One and only precious true God, the creator of heaven and earth and all that came forth when He spoke the world into existence, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, He is totally, totally awesome, and I think He is the only one that word should be used for, along with His precious only begotten Son Jesus and his precious Holy Spirit period for they are truly assume!!

Do you think maybe that is one of the reasons why the word of God says in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in Adonai with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”  When we lean on our understanding it is easy to fall off the straight and narrow path that leads to God’s kingdom and go into all kinds of worldly circumstances and problems that we should avoid at all cost.  

Many of these things that we should avoid may contribute to us conforming to the world, so we must be careful!!  We need to be praying and seeking the good Lord for wisdom and discernment.  I hope your day will be very fruitful and that you and yours will be very blessed.  Don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord for He is awesome and worthy!!

Suffering for The Lord

Why does God allow believers to suffer?  Let me start out with saying this, I don’t think there is a believer alive that wants to suffer.  But I know that there are many that have and are willing to suffer, and many that are going through terrible suffering every day.  Some are being persecuted and have also suffered in other ways, like diseases and other forms of sickness.  I also think that many believers, think that God is angry with them and they feel rejected, thinking the Lord doesn’t care about them.  I have been there, and I know that I am not alone. 

Just possibly you don’t know what true love is, because of situations and circumstances that have happened to you through your lifetime.  Maybe you had a bad experience when you were young, and you never really felt loved or accepted.  Maybe you were bullied and made fun of as a kid and all through school and you bought into the lies you were told; there are many reasons, when suffering, why people respond the way that they do when it comes to the thought of love.  

Let me try to encourage you and help and bless you.  When you run into persecution, pain, trials of every kind, don’t blame God, He warned us of all these things in his Word.  Think of this, when you want to blame God for something you are going through; He said, in this world you will have tribulation but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world!!  If we trust in Him, He will help us with the trials and the things that we experience so we can overcome also and be victorious in what we are facing, praise the good Lord!!

Then there is this that we should consider, Paul said if you live a godly life you will be persecuted.  Persecution isn’t any fun, but it definitely is likely to take place as we ruffle feathers, so to speak.  Then consider this, what it says in Hebrews 12:5 “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of Adonai or lose heart when you are corrected by Him,”  and then read prayerfully all the way through the end of the chapter.  God doesn’t chastise us for nothing, but there is always a good reason, and if we turn away from the sin or plain rebelliousness, or pride or anything that isn’t pleasing to God and ask Him to forgive, sincerely repenting, outside of the unpardonable sin, I believe He will forgive.  God is in the pruning business, to help us bear more fruit, and while He is pruning it may hurt but the hurt will turn to joy when you see the fruit produced by it.  If you are proud God cares so much that He won’t leave you that way, He knows how to humble us, and you can take my word on that.  God always resists the proud and draws close to the humble, so humble yourself before the Lord and He may lift you up at the appropriate time.

Please read 1 Peter 4:17-19, “For the time has come for judgment to begin with the house of God. If judgment begins with us first, what will be the end for those who disobey the Good News of God? Now, ‘if it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what shall become of the ungodly and the sinner?’ So then, those who suffer according to God’s will—let them trust their souls to a faithful Creator while continuing to do good.”  

Now please read 1 Peter 5:7-11, “Cast all your worries on Him, for He cares for you. Stay alert! Watch out! Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, searching for someone to devour. Stand up against him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being laid upon your brothers and sisters throughout the world. After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace—who has called you into His eternal glory in Messiah—will Himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. All power to Him forever! Amen.”

God loves all His people and His purpose is to prosper us and not to harm us but to give us a hope and a future.  Just like the Israelites, we can also lift up our eyes to the heavens from where our hope comes from, for our help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.  Our God neither slumbers nor sleeps and He will watch over us, His chosen people from this day forward.  So, if you are allowed to suffer, think of it as a time of learning and a time of growing and a time of maturing and a time for thanking and praising the Lord for what He is doing in your life!!  So, don’t give up and throw in the towel, continue to trust Him and hang in there and keep on keeping on.

There is more that I could say on this subject, maybe another time, may the good Lord bless you and keep you from falling and may he bless you and yours with His perfect peace, love and joy and health and happiness!! Have a super day!!  

Holding On

 What do you think of this statement, ‘I’m not holding onto God, He’s holding onto me?’  Now think of this, ‘Unless the Lord build the house, you labor in vain that build it.’  I believe unless the Lord is in whatever people try to accomplish, it will never be as successful as it would have been with Him.  As far as I’m concerned, it takes three to make a good strong marriage or a relationship, it takes the Lord and the couple working together, along with true love for one another that the good Lord helps us with.  God ordained marriage in the beginning, and He explained what it should look like, and true love should be in the center of it.

Think about prayer, if only one is involved, or many, without the Lord everyone would be wasting their time, unless the Lord is involved, and He is answering that prayer.  Think about holding onto God and Him holding onto us, many unbelieving people may think by doing good things they have some kind of hold on God, not so.  Every nonbeliever has to realize it is not by our good works that makes us right with the good Lord.  It is only because of his unconditional grace and love that makes us right with the Lord.  How we get right with the Lord is by repentance, believing in Him by turning away from our sins and turning to the Lord, having a change of heart and mind.  Then we need to be very careful we don’t do our good works just for people to see, thinking we are making an impression on the good Lord.  I believe the good Lord is pleased when we do good works, because He calls us to do exactly that.  The thing is, we have to be very careful of what our attitude is while we are doing what we do.  Are we just trying to appease the Lord, or do we do what we do because we love our neighbors as we are called to, and also love ourselves?

Having the good Lord holding onto us is very important, plus us having a close relationship with Him, and our dependency on Him, is of the utmost importance; you might say that you are doing your best to hold onto Him.  The good Lord carries his people, those who love Him.  Please read Isaiah 63:9, “In all their affliction He was afflicted. So the angel of His presence saved them. In His love and in His mercy He redeemed them, then He lifted them and carried them all the days of old.” Now please read, Deuteronomy 1:31, “and in the wilderness, where you saw how Adonai your God carried you as a man carries his son, everywhere you went until you came to this place.’”  The good Lord truly loves His people and not in just words, but also in deeds, praise the good Lord, He is worthy!!

So, let’s be sincere, let’s try our best to hang onto the good Lord, please read Joshua 23:8-10, “But cling to Adonai your God, as you have done to this day. For Adonai has driven out from before you great and mighty nations. As for you, no one remained standing before you to this day. One of you can put a thousand to flight, for Adonai your God, He Himself is fighting for you, just as He said to you.”  

God does for one as He does for another Jews and Gentiles alike Greek and Barbarians, He gave His Son for all because of His unconditional love and grace. 

"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life, He did not send his Son into the world to condemn the word but through him but in order that the world might be saved through Him!! John 3 :16-17 and it goes on to say this in that same chapter in verses 18-21, “The one who believes in Him is not condemned; but whoever does not believe has been condemned already, because he has not put his trust in the name of the one and only Ben-Elohim. Now this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world and men loved the darkness instead of the light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed. But whoever practices the truth comes to the light, so that it may be made known that his deeds have been accomplished in God.”

 

Praise the good Lord, I hope this has been an encouragement, a help and a blessing to all who read it.  May you all have a super day and may the good Lord bless each of you with His perfect peace, love, joy, health and happiness!!