Day 91 Bible Readings – Luke 9: 1-2 (ESV)

Numbers 31: 25-54, Numbers 32, Luke 8: 40-56, Luke 9: 1-9, Psalm 55: 12-23

Luke 9: 1-2 (ESV)

“And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.”

In verses 1 and 2 from Luke 9, Jesus tells his twelve (12) disciples that he was giving them power and authority to heal people from demon possessions and to cure diseases. Jesus send the disciples out in pairs to different parts of the land of Israel. I’ve always wondered what these healings would look lik,  and the reactions of the disciples when they found they could heal people of disease and banish demons like their master Jesus.

If you’ve been following my Blog, you know I love the series The Chosen. I love how they’ve imagined how Bible scenes would play out in real life. So I was so happy when they showed in Season 3 Episode 4 several scenes of the disciples healing people in pairs. You can see the shocked faces of the disciples when they found out they could heal people, and their happiness as well. I love that Jesus gave his disciples a taste of what their life would be like when he left, and the confidence to know that they could carry on his teachings and his healings.

Enjoy the disciples healing people from The Chosen TV series, Season 3, Episode 4:

Day 90 Bible Readings – Luke 8: 25 (ESV)

Numbers 30, Numbers 31: 1-24, Luke 8: 19-39, Psalm 55: 1-11

Luke 8: 25 (ESV)

“He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?”

In verse 25 from Luke 8, Jesus scolds his disciples for their lack of faith when they awoke him because they were afraid of the storm. Jesus and his discipled had gotten into a boat with Jesus telling them “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.”  In a Biblical commentary I read on this verse, the author stated that Jesus had promised that they would go across to the other side of the lake. The author noted that Jesus scolded his disciples for their unbelief, when he had promised them that they would go to the other side of the lake. This Biblical author made it clear that the difficult storms in life are not evidence of unbelief; “Unbelief is the rejection of a promise or a command of God relevant to a particular situation.” I think this definition of unbelief makes it clear that having difficult situations come up in in your life doesn’t mean you have an “unbelief”. Having an “unbelief” comes from when you hear the Holy Spirit tell you everything is going to be alright, and you still have doubts that what the Holy Spirit said is true. I find it so easy sometimes to slip into “unbelief”, despite the fact that I have so much evidence in my life that Holy Spirit is always right about everything. I have to keep remembering that it is always my sinful nature that whispers doubts in my mind, like the serpent in the Garden of Eden. That serpent never seems to shut up and I have to ask the Holy Spirit for help every time. I sometimes feel such a sense of shame that my doubts never go away, but that is what having a sinful nature is all about – having a doubt-filled mind. I am so grateful that I have the Holy Spirit to help me quiet the doubts long enough for me to see and experience the daily miracles God gives me in my life.

Day 89 Bible Readings – Luke 8: 18 (ESV)

Numbers 28 & 29, Luke 8: 1-18, Psalm 54

Luke 8: 18 (ESV)

“Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.”

In verse 18 from Luke 8, Jesus tells his disciples to pay attention to how they hear his teachings. If they take the teachings of Christ into their heart, mind, and soul then more will be given. However, if you don’t pay heed to Christ’s teachings then all that you have will be taken away. Some Biblical scholars suggest that you cannot just passively listen to the teachings of Christ, your actions must also reflect Christ’s teachings. When your actions reflect God’s teachings, then you will more have more hunger for the teachings of Christ and more of God’s blessings will come to you. And if your life doesn’t reflect the teachings of Christ, then even the blessings they think they have from God will be taken away. For me the hardest part is to have my life reflect God’s teachings, especially when it comes to sharing my faith. We live currently in a culture where faith in Christ is looked down upon, and faith is too controversial a subject to be talked about in polite company. I don’t want to be type of Christian who just vomits their faith over everybody because when it’s been done to me I was repulsed even as a Christian. I want to instead rely on the promptings of the Holy Spirit when to share my faith because that means to me, Holy Spirit has created an opportunity for faith sharing to happen. I know that by myself I can do nothing without the Holy Spirit’s help, and this especially applies to sharing my faith with people I don’t know and even family and friends who do not yet know Christ.

Day 88 Bible Readings – Numbers 27: 12-14 (ESV)

Numbers 26 & 27, Luke 7: 36-50, Psalm 53

Numbers 27: 12-14 (ESV)

“The Lord said to Moses, “Go up into this mountain of Abarim and see the land that I have given to the people of Israel. When you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, because you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin when the congregation quarreled, failing to uphold me as holy at the waters before their eyes.” (These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.)”

When I read verses 12 through 14 from Numbers 27, I felt so sad for Moses. God told Moses to go up a mountain to see the Promised Land, and then said to Moses he would die afterwards. God then reminds Moses that he wouldn’t see the Promised Land because Moses failed to uphold God as Holy in the wilderness of Zin. These verses make me wonder what Moses must have thought when he found out about his fate. Moses had led the people of Israel out of Egypt and then stayed their leader as they wondered through the desert for forty years. The next few verses show that Moses did not question or complain to God about his fate. He did not try to change God’s mid. Whatever Moses felt, he was obedient to God in all things. But as faithful and obedient as Moses was to God, he was not spared punished for his failures. Moses shows us that we need to be obedient to God as well as faithful to him all things.