Luke 11
There is so much we haven’t covered in this past week. Just today both the Queen of Sheba and Beelzebul get mentioned in the span of a few verses. And we never even touched on Numbers or Deuteronomy. But today I want to touch on two things in chapter 11 that I hope will encourage you through the end of lent up to Resurrection Sunday.
The first is the hope in the good gifts from our Good Good Father. Jesus teaches that reluctant friends are willing to help to persistent demands. I’m a dad; I understand the power of persistent asking! But if my precious (and slightly precocious) daughter asks me for a unicorn, I’m not going to give her a spider. If she wants a PB&J, I won’t give her rotten ham and toe jam. I know what she wants and I WANT to give her gifts, because it brings her joy.
God wants to see that joy on your face. He is willing to give you his Spirit. God’s Spirit is a powerful, active, guiding, teaching, comforting, and encouraging reality for the church. Called the comforter, the advocate, the Spirit of truth, the Spirit, though mysterious, is how God wants to interact with and empower you for his ministry and for your living. All you have to do is ask, and God is ready to give you this great gift.
At the other end of the chapter, after Jesus thoroughly ticks off the scribes and pharisees for a majority of the chapter, we read that the Pharisees “began to get hostile” and were “plotting to catch him” in his words. But I want you to remember 9:52. Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem. He is walking there on purpose. While we could try and analyze God’s sovereign control versus human free will in a passage like this, I think there is something more life changing than that. God’s smart enough to work out all things for the good of his people. Jesus knows where his story leads; God is going to use human pride and sin to erase sin and pride. He is going to use the taking of life to bring about eternal life. He is going to transform the pain of this world into joy of the next. Think about that. These leaders think they are taking out a revolutionary “rabbi of the people” who has wounded their egos. Satan is stoking the flames of pride and stubbornness because he wants to take out the Messiah. But God is using all of this in his plan to save humanity.
Today, when life feels out of control, or overwhelming…
When you are stressed, depressed or obsessed…
When you don’t know where to go, what to do, or how you’ll get through…
Ask God for the Spirit. To empower you. Embolden you. Comfort you. Teach you. Guide you. Speak through you.
And he will pour it out.
Ask God to work all his for your good. Ask your dad to help. Your wise father to work things out in ways you don’t or can’t see. And believe he is already working. Not every pain will end. Sometimes victory is shaped like a cross. But, the end will be a world made better by you, a world blessed by you, and you blessed by the God over all things. Eternal life and eternal peace, in the presence of God, through the death of Jesus, by the power of the Spirit.
God be with you during these final days of Lent and Easter.
-Jake Ballard
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Jake Ballard is pastor at Timberland Bible Church. If you’d like to hear more from him, find Timberland on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/TimberlandBibleChurch/ ) and on Instagram (https://instagram.com/timberlandbiblechurch?igshid=t52xoq9esc7e). The church streams the Worship Gathering every Sunday at 10:30 and Sunday School at 9:30. Besides studying and teaching God’s word, he is raising three beautiful children with the love of his life, plays board games and roleplaying games with amazing friends weekly and tries and fails to be less nerdy every day. If you’d like to reach out to talk Bible, talk faith, or talk about Star Trek, look Jacob Ballard up on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/jacob.ballard.336 )or email him at jakea.ballard@yahoo.com.
God bless you all!
Read or listen to today’s Bible reading passages at BibleGateway – Deuteronomy 5-6 and Luke 11
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