Today’s Scripture: Colossians 1:3-8; James 1:17 (SOAP: Colossians 1:3-4)
We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, Since we heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints.
Colossians 1:3-4
Today’s post is shared from p 40 of the Love God Greatly Journal, Christ is All I Need
Through the report of others, Paul heard about the faith and love of the Colossian believers. They trusted in Jesus, and they loved other Christians. Interestingly, he doesn’t praise them for it. Instead, he gives thanks to God for these virtues. Why? He knows that they didn’t produce their own faith or love, but these were gifts of grace from God.
Can the same be said of us? Are we marked by love for God and others? Let’s never forget to thank God for anything good we see in us, since He is the One who has produced it, and let’s acknowledge that every “perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17).
There is no room for pride or jealousy. How do we feel when we see other Christians displaying Christ-like characteristics? Do we honestly rejoice with them, giving thanks to God for the good He has worked in them, or do we maybe feel a little jealous? The attitude God wants us to have is one of gratitude. Just like Paul, we should thank God for everything positive we see in our fellow Christians.
Let’s remember that everything good, whether material or spiritual, is given to us by God. May we be made into women who overflow with thankfulness for the good we ourselves have received and that has been given to others.
Just imagine what an encouraging place the church would be if we not only saw God’s good work in others, but, like Paul, we were truly thankful for it rather than jealous. Imagine how much joy could be spread if we genuinely rejoiced with others for what God has done in their lives.
Lord, I confess that so often I become proud of what I have, or I am jealous of what others have. Please forgive me and make me into a thankful person. Amen.
Today’s Reflection and Application:
Can you think of spiritual fruit in your own life which you are thankful for? How about any spiritual fruit in one of your Christian friends? How could you encourage them about it?
We are writing to God’s holy people in the city of Colosse, who are faithful brothers and sisters in Christ.
Colossians 1:2
Friends, check out the words that Paul uses to describe the people who belonged to the Colossian Church: “…the saints1 and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ.” Or as the author of Deuteronomy describes God’s people in his day, “… a holy people, who belong to the Lord your God. Of all the people on earth, the Lord your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure.” Or as the LGG journal entry encourages us, “We are His holy people, chosen and set apart for Him. We have been called out of the world to live for the world to come.”2 You see, while Paul is speaking specifically about the Colossian believers in his letter, and Deuteronomy’s writer is referring to the people of Israel, the terms saints and holy people apply to us who are believers as well.
The Christian life is lived by trusting in God’s grace, given to us in Jesus. We are God’s beloved children, and it is His grace, not our performance, that will provide us with all we need to live for Him.
LGG Journal, Christ Is All I Need, p36
It is important to understand that Paul’s description isn’t meant to elevate us or reflect how wonderful we are but rather how wonderful God is. After all, it was Paul who wrote that all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory (Rom 3:23) and that the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. choosing us and setting us ~ imperfect as we are ~ apart for Him. This calling and gift is ours only through the grace of God when we place our faith in Christ who came to die so that we might live. It is as simple and yet profound as that.
“If we could truly understand grace and receive what Christ has accomplished for us, our hearts and lives would be filled with peace. The Colossians needed to hear this truth, and so do we today.”
LGG Journal, Christ Is All I Need, p36
It is my prayer that as we journey through the book of Colossians together, we will learn not only to know Jesus better but to more fully understand His grace and truth and be filled with His peace.
This is not a reference to ‘ultra holy people’ but refers to believers (those who followed Christ). ↩︎
Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Matthew 6:28-29
As a child, to my remembrance, I didn’t want for anything. We had food and clothing, a comfortable and safe home. My dad worked as an inspector at a local plant, and my mother was home with us before we started school. At some point after that, she began working as a receptionist in the local doctor’s office. She had various other jobs after Doc Sadler retired. Most of my growing-up years, there was only one car; if my dad drove to work, we did without the car during the day, but our small town was equipped with a grocery store, a bank, a pool, our schools, and friends and family all within walking distance. Our clothes were from thrift stores, rummage sales, the local Sears department store, and occasionally from one of the nicer/bigger downtown stores, particularly on dollar day. I didn’t know it at the time, but they scrimped and saved and took advantage of layaway plans, and life was always good. I truly do not recall ever having thought that the grass was greener on either side of the fence. However, I’m sure after growing up and hearing the stories of how they scrimped and saved, life wasn’t as easy or rosy for my mom and dad as it was for me.
Today’s snapshot of God’s character is still zoomed in on Him being a God of peace. Just as my mom and dad provided in ways that never left me wondering if we would have food, a place to live, or clothes on our backs, our God does the same. He’s never left me wondering, even when money’s been tight, or I didn’t know how repairs would get done, or I would manage on my own when my husband left – God always provided, always sent help, always made a way. He is a good and loving provider and a loving Father who has also taught me not to put too much emphasis and/or focus on having to have all the latest and greatest clothes, shoes, and purses. The lessons haven’t always been easy or comfortable, but they have been valuable and even life-altering.
Friend, let me close with this encouraging quote from The God Shot:
God is your provider. He knows all your needs. He is attentive to them. That means you have enough for this moment. And the next. And the next.
God Shots, p 17
Reflection and Application
Are there times/places where you’ve forgotten that He is a trustworthy provider? Thank Him for meeting your needs in the past. Ask Him to meet your needs in the present. Trust Him to meet your needs in the future. Rest in the peace of His provision. He’s where the joy is! (p 17, God Shots)
Ask yourself, do you see God as your provider, as an all-sufficient provider? Or do you feel like He leaves you wanting and needing to strive harder to have more or keep up with others around you? ~ Let’s face it, in this world of excess and pleasure, it is difficult not to get caught up in the desires of the culture and ‘keeping up with the Joneses’; my prayer is that I/we will remember to not focus on what we have or don’t have or what the people beside us have, or being the trendiest. Instead, may our focus be on God, our provider, and what’s important to Him, which is to reflect Jesus to the world around us.
In today’s blog, we will zoom in on Matthew 6:25 where Jesus says:
Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Those of you who have followed my posts for very long have likely heard my story and know that I used to battle anxiety. It was a noose around my neck and choked the life out of me more times than I can count. BUT GOD, in His goodness, set me free from the grip anxiety had on me. This is not to say that anxiety doesn’t still seek to grab hold of me, but today’s verse and others like it (Philip. 4:6-8, 1 Peter 5:7, Isa. 26:3…) are ready weapons that silence the anxious thoughts and give me victory over the enemy who, as Paul wrote, “…seeks to steal, kill, and destroy”(John 10:10).
You see, what I had to learn years ago is to retrain my focus. If I focused on my circumstances (the things of this life), the enemy, with his fiery darts of anxiety, was sure to win the battle; BUT GOD showed me that when I set my mind on Him and His Word, where we find that His character is one of truth … goodness … faithfulness … ever-present …. abounding in love (and so much more)… then the battle and the victory belonged to Him and the anxious thoughts no longer had any power over me!
As the author points out in today’s ‘snapshot’1, “Jesus says we should aim to focus on our true home, which is in the next life–in God’s kingdom. The things that cause us anxiety are often things that are ‘passing away’ (1 John 2:17), but Jesus wants us to focus on the things that will last.”
Reflection and application
Today’s reflection and application are from “The God Shot”, p 13
Are you anxious over temporary things?
What is disrupting your peace today?
Where do you feel like God has forgotten you?
Talk to Him about it.
Remember He can be trusted, and
His trustworthiness is the only thing that can truly set your heart at peace.
The More We Know
THE GOD SHOT, 100 SHAPSHOTS OF GOD’S CHARACTER IN SCRIPTURE, pages12-13 ↩︎
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. ~ James 1:17
God is good! His love and blessings surround us, fill us, delight us, intrigue us, and astound us. He loves us with an unfathomable love. A love undeserved but so deep that He gave His only Son to save a world of sinners. Actually, His word describes us as his enemies. Yet still He loved us and gave us the gift of all gifts, the perfect gift that came down from above. He didn’t stop with the gift of Jesus; but to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God, and to all who received Him by faith, He gave the gift of everlasting life. He continued to pour out His blessings on us and continues to this day ~ mercies that are new every morning, all-sufficient grace, the privilege of prayer and the promise that He will hear and answer them. He gifts us with provisions of daily bread and other needs, renewed strength, forgiveness of sins, daily mercies (holding back what we do deserve), and unbelievable grace (giving gifts we don’t deserve). Then there’s also the gift of His active presence in our lives, His promise to never leave or forsake us, forgiveness for unimaginable sins, hope for tomorrow, and as Peter wrote, “everything we need for life and godliness”(2 Peter 1:3-4).
Friends, may we never become oblivious or unresponsive to His good and perfect gifts. May our gratitude flow continually for every gift and every act of love and kindness. May we stay alert to the enemy’s schemes and never allow our emotions and sinful thinking to trick us into turning away from God.
In the previous verse, James urged his readers not to be deceived. Emotions and sinful thinking can trick us into turning away from God. It’s important to cling to the truth, which is that every good thing in our lives is a gift from God. In the midst of our trials, we are tempted to change our opinion of the trustworthiness of our God. We start to make lists of all the things we think we are missing in our lives, of all of the things we have lost. If God were good, wouldn’t we have those things?
This attitude leads to even more temptation. We begin to look elsewhere for the good things we think we’re missing. “If God won’t provide them,” we think, “we’ll have to go and get them for ourselves.” We attempt to take control. We struggle to find our own satisfaction.
Now, however, James urges us to flip the typical human script. He calls us to make a new list: all the good things we do have. Where did all those good things come from? James is encouraging believers in Christ to tell themselves the truth: God gave you every single good thing in your life. He is the source of all the good you have and all the good you crave. Who God is does not change when our circumstances change. He doesn’t go from being a good God to a bad God when our trials begin. He is still the source of all the good in our lives; He never changes.
Bibleref.com/James 1:17
Reflection and Application
What does it mean to remain faithful in hard times?
Bibleref.com explains: It means continuing to acknowledge that God is the source of what is good in our lives and what will be good in the future.
What else do you think it could mean?
A Challenge
End each day by thinking about, listing out, or simply thanking God for the gifts of grace you saw throughout the day. I write mine in my prayer journal almost every evening. I call them Daily Graces. Let me know if and how you do them.
Don’t be anxious about anything. Instead pray about everything… (Phil. 4:6-8)
You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, all who put their hope in You. (Isa. 26:3)
Do not be discouraged for I am your God. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will strengthen you and help you; I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)
Give thanks to the Lord for He is good … (Ps 13)
Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path. (Prov 3:5-6)
He has given you everything you need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises so that you may participate in His divine nature, having escaped the corruption in this world caused by evil desires. (2 Peter 1:3-4)
I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me. (Phil 4:13)
Today’s ‘verse of the day’ from my reading plan is another of those verses. When the thing you have been called to do, or life itself, seems futile, filled with anxiety, difficult, disappointing, or brings suffering; when you can’t see how things are going to turn out, when it looks like there’s no hope, or your head is barely above the water, Paul’s declaration and encouragement is to walk by faith and not by sight. Elsewhere, he tells his readers to set their minds on things above, not on earthly things (Col. 3:2), and to others he wrote, think about things that are true and noble and pure and right and lovely and admirable. He tells them, if there is anything excellent or praiseworthy, to think about those things. (Phil 4:8)
For we walk by faith, not by sight.
2 Corinthians 5:7
The devotion I read about this verse explains that Paul wrote these words while his body was literally breaking down. He was wrestling with an unnamed affliction- failing eyesight; he had been beaten and shipwrecked. He was dealing with churches that were splitting, the betrayal, abandonment, and desertion of close friends and fellow missionaries, and prison walls. Yet, through it all, he held on to his faith.
That’s the thing about sight ~ it’s a terrible judge of reality. Sight says your prodigal isn’t coming home. Sight says the diagnosis is final. Sight says you’re too old, too young, too broken, too ordinary to matter. Sight counts the bank balance and panics. Sight watches the news and despairs. ~ourdailyverse.com
Friends, I don’t know about you, but I’m thankful for the reminder that faith isn’t pretending everything is fine – it’s trusting God even when everything is not fine … when the way is too dark to see – or the the storm blows so hard we can’t stand – or we don’t know where the money will come from – or how the “story” will end… As I read in my devotional, “Faith is knowing that what we see is temporary, but what we can’t see is eternal.”
Today, your sight might be showing you impossibility. Good. That’s exactly where faith does its best work. ~ourdailyverse.com
I am so thankful for all the ways God has shown me that I can trust Him … for all the times I couldn’t see how things would work out, but I could tell He was near … and for all of the fears that were squelched by His peace that truly passes all understanding. I’m thankful that He has taught me to surrender my desperate need to know how things will work out … and to wait for His perfect timing when answers or outcomes don’t come quickly. The sweetness of being able to place all of the unknowns and concerns of this life in His trustworthy and capable hands is an unexplainable blessing for this previously impatient and anxiety-ridden creature. The other reminder that grabbed my heart and mind today was the comfort of knowing that even when I cannot see His hand, it is still there holding mine. ~ Friends, rest assured we can trust His heart of love and His never-ending faithfulness.
Reflection and Application
Let’s consider these words from Bibleref.com regarding Paul’s words, “We walk by faith, not by sight”, and ask ourselves if we are making a habit of walking by faith and not by sight. Do we so thoroughy believe the gospel and find that the struggles we face are not the most important concern in our lives? Can we truly say that we count the unseen things waiting for us with Christ as more real than the suffering of the moment? ~ If we aren’t there yet – what are some things we can do to foster this mindset?
Preaching the truth of Christ to the world has brought Paul and his co-workers much suffering. Yet they continue to strive and contend for the faith. They refuse to quit—they live with courage—because they are convinced that after they die, they will be resurrected as Christ was. They will receive glorified, eternal bodies where they will finally be free of all burdens and the groaning experienced by every living thing on earth.
As Paul sums it up in this verse, they walk—here meaning to live or make a habit—by faith and not by sight. In other words, they so thoroughly believe the gospel, including their own resurrection and eternal satisfaction, that the struggles facing them are not the most important concern. What they “see” includes death, pain, suffering, opposition and challenge. They feel the burden of those things deeply (1 Corinthians 1:8), but they count the unseen things waiting for them with Christ as more real than the suffering of the moment (2 Corinthians 4:18).
Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.
Colossians 4:2
Yesterday’s Scripture Reading from ourdailyverse.com was Colossians 4:2. “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.” What a gracious gift God has given us through these words of Paul. We have been invited into a life of prayer. He doesn’t demand it but graciously offers us the privilege to not only come boldly before His throne but to come often – actually to stay in an attitude of prayer, making it the “heartbeat of our existence.”
“It is an opportunity to experience the profound intimacy of continual communion with our Creator, to align our hearts with His in every waking moment.” ourdailyverse.com
Through the years of knowing/quoting this verse, God has trained my heart to hear His voice, to be alert not only to the guiding hand and voice of His Spirit, but to watch with expectation for His answer and to discern His purposes unfolding in and around me. It has been in the watching and the staying alert, as Paul instructed his readers to do, that my prayers have morphed into not just requests but offerings of thanksgiving and praise. This way of praying becomes a way of living and has the power to change us from the inside out. It changes not only the way we think but the way we live and how we respond to life, to others, and to God.
We recognize that every blessing, every trial, every moment is an opportunity to experience God’s grace and faithfulness. Gratitude becomes the lens through which we view life, transforming even the darkest days into opportunities for praise.
12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Philippians 3:12-14
Using the analogy of a runner, Paul teaches us to press on … to continue on by keeping our focus on the goal, which he identifies as “the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” He encourages his readers to “forget the past” and keep moving forward by focusing on what we can do today and in the days ahead to live for Christ until we meet with Him ~ whether through death or His return.1
He wrote a similar message to Timothy (2 Timothy 3:14) – telling him to remain faithful, despite the evil that was around him, to continue on in the things he knew to be true, the things of faith which he had learned and been assured of and professed to others.
To the Colossians, he wrote that they were to continue in prayer, to be devoted to it. He wanted those he was writing to understand that prayer was an essential part of their faith and should be a constant in their lives, not just something scheduled for certain times or places. As one commentary explains, “It is meant to be an ongoing dialogue with the Lord.” Paul reiterates this in his letter to the Thessalonians when he tells them to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
Paul mentions two important aspects of prayer. First, believers are to be “watchful” in prayer. This carries the idea of standing guard, or staying awake at night to make sure a location is safe. Prayer demands ongoing attention, just like the guard at a city gate. In practical terms, this means prayer is not supposed to be a careless, casual, or frivolous act. We should pray with specific purpose and with deliberate intent. Bibleref.com
John also writes to believers about continuing on in their faith… specifically to keep (continue, remain…) abiding in His love (John 15:9-11) and to abide (continue, remain…) in Him (John 15:4-7). Only when we choose to remain (continue on) in Him will we know the fullness of His joy and bear spiritual fruit for His glory.
Friends, continuing on isn’t always easy. It wasn’t in the days of Paul and John, and it isn’t in the days and times we live in now. Yet it is the calling of Jesus on our lives and the example He (and His disciples) set before us – even to the cross that Christ hung on and the unimaginable deaths that many of His followers faced. – May our God of grace and mercy help us to press on to the “mark of His high calling in Christ Jesus”. May we remember that He has given us everything that we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3-4) and that through Him nothing is impossible.
Reflection and Application
What is the key to pressing (or continuing) on in our faith, even in this sin-infested world?
What is the key to remaining in Christ?
How can we encourage others to continue on in the faith?
Today’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 25 and Ephesians 3:20
From being barren for twenty long years to a complicated pregnancy to delivering twins, the road to having children was not an easy one for Rebekah and Isaac.1 Unlike today, barrenness in the days of Isaac and Rebekah came not only with the disappointment women experience today but with the added stigma of social shame and disgrace. This was in large part due to the cultural beliefs that childbearing was equated with a blessing from God and/or a woman’s worth. So, like Hannah and others2 we have studied in our journey through the women of the Bible, barrenness could frustrate marriages or have crushing mental effects on a woman who struggled to conceive.
Rebekah also serves as an example that when we feel barren God can intervene. She, volume 4/p58
I particularly appreciate one of the commentaries by Biblehub.com, which points out (and I paraphrase) that the stigma not only affected the barren woman but also her husband and extended family. However, as the commentator points out, God often used these situations “as a backdrop for miraculous divine intervention.” I know the reality of this statement from my own years of barrenness, and I am forever grateful for God’s sovereign timing (divine intervention) in opening not only my womb but my mind and heart to His saving grace and mercy. These gifts (mercy and grace) led me out of the physical barrenness, but also out of the hopelessness and spiritual wilderness I had been wandering in for far too long.
Her husband prayed to the Lord on his wife’s behalf.
While our focus is on Rebekah in this part of our journey through God’s Word, it should also be noted, as the my study journal points out that Isaac prayed for his wife because she was barren and the Lord heard Isaac’s plea and God gave them even more than they asked for, or, as He so often does ~ He gave them exceedingly abundantly more than he asked or even imagined (Eph 3:20). When it came time for her to deliver she delivered twin boys. In Genesis 25:23 the Lord had described them to her as “two nations…two manner of people would come from her…one would be stronger and the other would serve the younger. Of course, if you know the story of Jacob and Esau, you know that every word God spoke to Rebekah about her babies was proven true, they could not have been more different.
“Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.”
Ephesians 3:20 KJV
Reflection and Application
How did Rebekah go from barren to doubly blessed? (list out all the ways/things that you can think of that played into it.)
Think of ways God has blessed or doubly blessed you and/or someone else you know and why it happened.
The More We Know
Rebekah did not have an easy pregnancy and Scripture tells us that she talked to the Lord about the difficulty (Genesis 25:22) ↩︎
Notable matriarchs who wrestled with the stigma of barrenness include: Sarah (Sarai): She endured years of childlessness before God miraculously enabled her to conceive Isaac in her old age (Genesis 11:30, Genesis 21:1-2). Rachel: She famously cried to her husband Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!” (Genesis 30:1). Hannah: Mocked by her husband’s other wife due to her infertility, she poured out her anguish in prayer to God, eventually giving birth to the prophet Samuel (1 Samuel 1:6-8, 1 Samuel 1:20). Elizabeth: In the New Testament, she was publicly disgraced for being childless, but gave birth to John the Baptist in her old age (Luke 1:7, Luke 1:24-25). ↩︎
adapted from the study, She, delighting in the examples of women of the Bible, volume 4/pp95-96
Today’s Scripture Reading: Luke 13:10-17 and Romans 5:20
The women with a spirit of infimity serves as an example of what Christ has brought us from.
She, volume 4/p96
He Touched Me
Since I’ve met this blessed Savior Since He’s cleansed and made me whole Oh, I will never cease to praise Him I’ll shout it while eternity rolls
Oh, He touched me, oh He touched me And oh, the joy that floods my soul Something happened, and now I know He touched me ~ and made me whole
Shackled by a heavy burden ‘Neath a load of guilt and shame Then the hand of Jesus touched me And now I am no longer the same
He touched me, oh, He touched me And oh, the joy that floods my soul Something happened, and now I know He touched me ~ and made me whole
I do not remember how old I was, but I do remember where I was and who I was with when I first remember hearing this song. I was most likely between the ages of 10 and 12, sitting on the piano bench with my grandmother while she was playing and singing. Whether it was her singing or her playing that caused the song to grab my attention and my heart, I do not know – I only know that it captivated me. Little did I know just how much it would define my life and soul until nearly two decades later, when Jesus began calling/leading me out of “the wilderness”… out of the muck and mire of my own load of guilt and shame of sin that ensnared me. Bill Gaither could have written no truer words to describe this time/season of my life than the ones he penned in the chorus of this song: “Something wonderful happened, and now I know – He touched me and made me whole.”
One Sabbath day as Jesus was teaching in a synagogue, 11 he saw a woman who had been crippled by an evil spirit. She had been bent double for eighteen years and was unable to stand up straight. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Dear woman, you are healed of your sickness!” 13 Then he touched her, and instantly she could stand straight. How she praised God!
Luke 13:10-13 NLT
Needless to say, I can so imagine this woman with the infirmity hearing Jesus call her to come, and how she must have felt when she heard the words of healing and experienced the compassion that followed: ‘Dear woman, you are healed of your sickness!’ “Then he touched her, and instantly she could stand straight!”Can you just imagine how she must have felt? Oh, the joy that must have flooded her soul! For not only had Jesus seen her, but He called her to Him, spoke healing over her, and then He touched her and made her whole! She was no longer crippled and bound by the power of the demon, but set free ~ standing straight and glorifying God.”
… And now I am no longer the same
Friends, as today’s study journal points out, “We were all bound in sin before we met Jesus.” I’m here to tell you, sadly from experience, we must be careful after we meet Him, lest we become caught up in those chains again. This is why Paul warns believers to “be alert, because our enemy, the devil, prowls around looking for someone to devour.” Satan can never take us from God, but he wants nothing more than to cripple us, binding us up in the mindset and chains of this world. Remember, though, when we belong to Jesus, we have been set free from the chains of sin and death, and Satan no longer has authority over us.
Satan has no authority here in this place; he has no authority here! For this habitation was fashioned by the Lord, and He has all authority here 💜
Reflection and Application
How many years was the woman “bound together”? (Luke 13:11)
In His rebuttal to the angry ruler of the synagogue, commentator David Guzik writes, “Jesus did not respond with gentleness.” Instead, He called the ruler a “Hypocrite!” Guzik continues, “With authority, Jesus confronted the ruler of the synagogue who valued extreme extensions of Biblical commands more than the compassionate and life-changing power of Jesus to heal a long-afflicted woman.”
The Lord then answered him and said, “Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound; think of it; for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?” And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him.
(Luke 13:15-17)
“Jesus gave several compelling reasons why it was appropriate to show her mercy, and more appropriate than helping a distressed animal.” The first two reasons centered on the ruler himself:
Hypocrite! “Jesus did not respond with gentleness,” but “With authority he confronted the ruler of the synagogue who valued extreme extensions of Biblical commands more than the compassionate and life-changing power of Jesus to heal a long-afflicted woman.”
i. “Thou hypocrite to pretend zeal for God’s glory, when it is only the workings of thy malicious, unfeeling, and uncharitable heart.” (Clarke)
b. Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? Jesus’ reply was simple. If you can help an animal on the Sabbath, why can’t you also help a suffering person on the Sabbath?
…and then the last four, in compassionate defense of the woman:
· She was a woman – made in the image of God and now long-afflicted
· She was a daughter of Abraham, a Jewish woman, with a covenant connection to Abraham. This may also indicate that she was a woman of faith, as well as her attendance at synagogue.
· She was one whom Satan had bound, and every day is a good day to oppose the work of Satan and to set free his captives.
· She was afflicted for eighteen years, long enough to suffer greatly and to draw forth the compassion of Jesus and others.
