Opening the door to Freedom
Scripture Reading: Mark 1: 23 - 27 (NIV)
Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit cried out, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
“Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.
The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him.”
Message: Opening the Door to Freedom - Healing (Part 3 of series)
Authority over impure/evil spirits
When we hear stories like this about impure or evil spirits and Jesus rebuking them and spirits leaving people shaking violently, we can easily get stuck in questions about the details of the story…
Can spirits speak through people?
What is the shaking and shrieking all about?
How should we understand the world of spirits?
When it comes to the world of spirits and what is happening in this story, we would do well by acknowledging that such a world exists, but that we don’t have to understand the details and inner workings of it
Ephesians 6: 12 comes to mind: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
Perhaps it’s better that we don’t know a lot of this stuff and that God keeps us safe from it
What we can know, and that is what this story is about, is that Jesus rules over this world
And that for the people who witnessed this, it was a revelation to come to understand that Jesus rules over this world
For them being possessed by an evil spirit was the worst possible thing that could happen to someone
Someone that was possessed was seen as lost… totally lost
And here comes a Rabbi that heals the possessed - wow!
The message is: There is nothing is incurable for Him… and that sickness and healing might look different than what we are used to, but He has the authority over it
The need for healing
We are all in need of being healed, aren’t we?
If you deny this, perhaps the first thing you need healing from is your denial?
And the nature of our sickness is not always physical, is it?
Because physical stuff gets diagnosed… it’s the spiritual sickness does not get to be diagnosed… and that causes it to linger…
Jesus said: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2: 17)
Jesus came for all sickness - the diagnosed and the undiagnosed, the physical and the spiritual…
We need to understand how much we need his healing - today and every day!
Freedom from Jesus’ healing
I read the following quote this week from a drug addict that recovered from his addiction: “Brokenness puts you in a place where you are able to receive”
Freedom comes when we get ourselves to the point of receiving… when we stop resisting what Jesus is giving… when we let go of our pride and accept the love and grace He is giving to us freely
He paid the full price for our sin on the cross… but more than that - He is healing us from our sickness… even today
His healing brings freedom
Now, I don’t know what’s going on in your life…
What I do now, is that you need healing - we all do
We need to be healed by the Great Healer that is powerful to heal all sickness - physical and spiritual
So, may you be healed today when you sit down at the table
May your eating of the bread and your drinking of the wine be a symbol of you accepting the healing of the Great Healer
May the door to freedom be opened to you today!
Amen
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