"The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the
demons submit to us in your name." He replied, "I saw Satan
fall like lightning from heaven . I have given you authority to trample
on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing
will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to
you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." Luke
10:17-20
In the first part of this blog I highlighted three area’s I felt
like Jesus was addressing in this scripture; A reminder that Satan has FALLEN (i.e.
no longer in power or in charge), becoming more aware of where our FOCUS is, on
Satan, miracles or on God, and becoming more aware of where PRIDE sneaks in.
Today I would like to hone in on the “where is our focus” part.
Idols of the heart
In the above Luke scripture I feel like, even though Jesus sent
out the 72 to do miracles in His name, that certainly wasn’t what He wanted us
to focus on. I really do believe that He has given us the power through the
Holy Spirit to do amazing miracles but I am beginning to understand just how
LOW on the priority list this is for God and that it should be at least that low
for us too. And as I mentioned in the first part of this blog, he can even call
us “evil doers” after doing miracles in his name!
I have come to believe, if we are not very careful, working for
God, going to church, Bible studies, good works, becoming a missionary and even
doing miracles can become IDOLS of the heart that take the place of God and our
relationship with Him! It seems that we would rather do ANYTHING but BE with
HIM and develop an intimate relationship with Him! And I am just as guilty as
the next person… I spent most of my Christian walk doing that very thing!! I
certainly “meant” well, thinking that all my “works” were doing SOMETHING for
the Kingdom… But was it?? It certainly didn’t help my relationship with the
Lord!
After I got the revelation about the Luke scripture I started to
hear other scriptures that were along the same lines including this Matthew
scripture I cited in the first part:
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord,
Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my
Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we
not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many
miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you
evildoers!' Matthew 7:21-23 (An interesting thing to me is that, apparently we can do
miraculous signs and wonders, in the name of Jesus, and NOT know him!!?? Hmmmm…)
A Wicked and
adulterous generation…
Here is one of those scriptures:
"Then
some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, "Teacher, we
want to see a miraculous sign from you. He answered, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks
for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the
prophet Jonah." Matthew 12:38-39
When I heard that I was like,
“What!?” A wicked and adulterous generation… ASKS for a miraculous sign!? Isn’t
that what WE do?? DOH!! And this isn’t a “one off” statement. He says it a few
times.
Here are the other ones I found:
"The
Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them
a sign from heaven. He replied, "When evening comes, you say, 'It
will be fair weather, for the sky is red,' and in the morning, 'Today it
will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.' You know how to interpret the
appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation looks
for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah."
Jesus then left them and went away." Matthew
16:1-4
"As Jesus was saying these things, a
woman in the crowd called out, "Blessed is the mother who gave you birth
and nursed you." He replied, "Blessed rather are those who hear the
word of God and obey it." As the crowds increased, Jesus said, "This is a wicked generation. It asks for
a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah."
Luke 11:27-29
"The Pharisees came and
began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven. He
sighed deeply and said, "Why
does this generation ask for a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, no sign
will be given to it." Mar 8:11-12
Temporal or Eternal?
I think this is another example for me that confirms that
we REALLY don’t have a CLUE what Jesus means when He says things! Mostly
because we are thinking “temporal” and He is always thinking “eternal”. What is
valuable us is “detestable to God”! (“He said to them, "You are the ones
who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is
detestable in God's sight.” Luke 16:15)
He knows our hearts better than
WE do and He knows that, doing more than miracles, is required to turn the
hearts of men towards him (“Even
after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still
would not believe in him.” John 12:37)
And again, when we are so focused on Satan, casting him
out, rebuking him and renouncing him, our focus is wrong because he is already
defeated! Satan has NO power that God does not give to him… (“Jesus answered, "You would have no power over me if it
were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over
to you is guilty of a greater sin." John 19:11)
“Now
is the time for judgment on this world; now
the prince of this world will be driven out.” John 12:31
“But
I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go
away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and
righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me;
in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see
me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because
the prince of this world now stands condemned.” John 16:7-11
Big vs. Small
It is SO tempting to want to do miracles, big and small,
because it is exciting and, if you are like me, the attention is pretty cool
too! But if we look at Jesus’ example, He was all about doing things quietly,
simply, and he did just the things that were in front of Him that day… He was
interested in the people and ministering to their hearts in the ways that the
Father told Him to and not to get attention. In fact he told several people NOT
to tell anyone what He did for them (Matthew 8:4, Matthew 17:9). Our greatest
ministry to others, and for Him, is in doing the small, simple things that make
a difference to the unnoticed people around us… The janitor, the clerk, the checkout
person, the server, the cleaning crew, the homeless person… Our love and
kindness poured out on those people are the REAL miracles
and what really counts in the “eternal” perspective because they came from the
heart of LOVE! And it isn’t something that we consciously do but it is done from
the outpouring of God’s love, the overflow, that naturally spills out when our
focus is on HIM and our relationship with Him.
“Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give
you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or
needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to
visit you?' The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you
did for me.' Matthew 25:37-39
In this scripture the “righteous” were “unaware” of the
ministry they were doing for others because they had a “right relationship”
with God and it was “as natural as breathing” for them (another Oswaldism).
Speaking of Oswald, here is an excerpt that goes along
these lines:
September 6th Oswald: "...A river reaches places which its
source never knows. And Jesus said that, if we have received His fullness,
"rivers of living water" will flow out of us, reaching in blessing
even "to the end of the earth" (Act_1:8) regardless of how small the visible effects of our lives may appear to
be. We have nothing to do with the outflow --- "This is the work of
God, that you believe . . ." (Joh_6:29). God rarely allows a person
to see how great a blessing he is to others."
I truly believe that when we DO know what a blessing we are to
others, our PRIDE steps in and makes it all about “me”. Jesus knows our
struggle with pride so keeping things easy and simple, focusing on HIM and
trusting Him with the rest, is the BEST thing for us. I love this next story
because it is a good example how we try to do things we really don’t
understand:
"Some Jews who went around driving
out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were
demon- possessed. They would say, "In the name of Jesus, whom Paul
preaches, I command you to come out." Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief
priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I
know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" Then the man who had the
evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a
beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.'" Acts
19:13-16
To heal or not to heal?
Many people feel
like the Bible teaches that we should not be ill or sick and that God wants
everyone to be healthy. I can certainly see why they would think that with some
scriptures, but my personal belief and sticking to the “eternal” perspective,
is that we ARE healed in the only way that truly counts which is “eternally”!
We have
been healed by the sacrifice of Jesus which re-established the
connection to God and secured our eternity with Him… NOTHING else really
matters after that. We are all dying from the moment we are born into this temporal
world but we have our TRUE home and healing in eternity and that is
really all that matters. Everyone that Jesus and the disciples healed, died…
Even the disciples, being given the
power to heal so many, couldn’t heal everyone:
"As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached
the gospel to you. Even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not
treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an
angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself." Galatians 4:13
"Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your
stomach and your frequent illnesses." 1 Titus 5:23
"Erastus stayed in Corinth, and I left Trophimus sick in Miletus." 2
Timothy 4:20
"But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my
brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you
sent to take care of my needs. For he longs for all of you and is distressed
because you heard he was ill. Indeed he was ill, and almost died. But God
had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon
sorrow." Philippians 2:25-27
Here is another great excerpt from Oswald on this subject:
December 2 Oswald: "...It is a trap to presume that God
wants to make us perfect specimens of what He can do --- God's
purpose is to make us one with Himself. The emphasis of holiness
movements tends to be that God is producing specimens of holiness to put in His
museum. If you accept this concept of personal holiness, your life's
determined purpose will not be for God, but for what you call the evidence of God
in your life. How can
we say, "It could never be God's will for me to be sick"? If it was
God's will to bruise His own Son (Isa_53:10), why shouldn't He bruise
you? What shines forth
and reveals God in your life is not your relative consistency to an idea of
what a saint should be, but your genuine, living relationship with Jesus
Christ, and your unrestrained devotion to Him whether you are well
or sick."
Summary
So to wrap this up,
I have come to understand that ALL things are designed and orchestrated BY GOD
for my GOOD and HIS Glory (sickness, difficulties, struggles and trials) and
ALL my attention needs to be on HIM and not on the enemy of our souls whom HE
has already defeated. Or on miracles, signs and wonders as they can become my
focus and ignite my pride. When I seek HIM FIRST He will take care of everything
else! (Matthew 6:33)
What am I looking at or focused on!? Again with the Luke
scripture I am hearing Jesus saying “Are
you more impressed with the authority I gave you, or are you focused on ME and
what God has accomplished through me?” (Am I looking for the blessings of God or am I looking for GOD who has the blessings? Oswald).
We have such a huge tendency to get derailed from our goal of
building intimacy with Jesus. We can so easily get distracted by “shiny things”
at every turn, thinking we are doing the “right” thing or doing something
“good” for God… Serving, feeding the homeless, healing, casting out demons… When
all He really wants is for us to be with HIM. Love the Lord your God with ALL your
heart… I believe that signs and
wonders, miracles and healings can be one of the very things that distract us
from doing what is “best” (The
enemy of our faith is not sin, but the good that is not the best”
Oswald). Yes, we do have the authority to cast out demons and to heal but I
believe that is also a trap to derail us from what our real
focus should be! (“…do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you…).
Where
is my focus today? Is it on my Lord, or on things I can do for Him?
Thank you Lord for showing this to me and for helping me to keep
my focus on YOU and You alone. I pray that we all get a greater revelation of
this truth so we can truly marvel in Your amazing love for us and learn to keep
our eyes on You and You alone!
