Always Healing and Preaching

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

ALWAYS HEALING AND  PREACHING

 

Luke 4:40-44

40 When the sun was setting, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. 41 Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, "You are the Son of God!" But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Christ.   42 At daybreak Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. 43 But he said, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent."  44 And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

NIV

Once again, we see the absolute authority of Jesus over all sickness, all infirmities, and all evil spirits. This is the Lord who has the authority over life itself, for he was there in the beginning, and all things that were made we made by Him. He is the one who gave us life in the beginning, and He is the one who redeemed us so that we might have life everlasting. Jesus is also the one who gave us the way to live. We understand that when He said that He is the way, the truth, and the life, he meant the way to eternal life, but because he is also the truth and the life, we could see that Jesus is the true way to live. We know that is stretching it a bit, but what we also know from all the other scriptures is that Jesus does show us how to live. What did he mean when he said, “Follow me”, other than for others to follow after the way he lived. What did he mean when he said that we would do even greater things than he did if he didn’t mean we would be able to have the authority over sickness, infirmities, and evil spirits. He gave his disciples that authority when he sent them out two by two. Of course, as sheep amount the wolves. But He also said that they and we should not rejoice because we have power or authority over all the power of the enemy, that the evil spirits submit to us, but to rejoice because our names are written down in heaven. However, Jesus told us that if we ask him anything in his name he would do it, and we know it is God’s will to heal, and that means all sickness and infirmities, and so we are meant to both rebuke those sicknesses, and infirmities in the name of Jesus, and rebuke all the dark powers of this world and all evil spirits in the spiritual realm. At the same time, we should be preaching the good news of the kingdom of God to other people, because that is why he was sent, and that is what he has sent us to do, to go and make disciples of all people and baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as well as teaching them to obey everything Jesus commanded, and he would be with us even onto the end. We live in the kingdom of God, and we should live as the people of God, with all the authority that has been given to us. This way we will not live as crippled Christians, living a weak and tired life, with no power, no energy, no life, but just an existence in this world, trying to make our way in our own power, our own abilities, and strength, which makes us weak with useless lives. Let us live up to the fullest potential Jesus meant for us, with the power and authority he has given us in His name, always rejoicing, always exerting the power over evil, sicknesses, and infirmities, always living for Jesus, and always preaching the good news of the kingdom of God.