The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.
Luke 4:18,19
When we give Christ authority in our lives, we also discover that He has the authority to make our lives so much better than they would be without Him. Just look at the verse from Luke, for example.
Are you brokenhearted over a child, a relationship with a family member or something happening between you and another person? These heartbreaks and sorrows are a part of life. I have faced too many of them and found myself without any word for them. But Jesus said to give Him our hurts and sorrows.
Will you take your broken heart with you to the grave and end up hopeless? Or will you take your broken heart to Christ and let the Great Physician heal you on His authority? Jesus said He can heal the brokenhearted.
In addition, Jesus has authority over sin. Nothing gives us freedom and heals our sorrows more than forgiveness of sins. Look at Mark 2:5, where Jesus says to the paralytic, "My son, your sins are forgiven." And then, to squash grumbling among the scribes who said only God has such authority, He proved who He was by healing the same man!
Finally, He has authority over death. We see this in the raising of Lazarus in John 11 and then, of course, through His own resurrection.
Knowing you have eternal life because of Christ gives new meaning and hope to your years on earth. As Jesus said, "O death, where is your victory?" (1 Cor. 15:55).
Prayer: That God will give you hope and joy in the midst of troubled times.
Discuss: What is causing heartbreak and sorrow in your life right now? Have you spent time talking with God about it?
6 comments:
I see so many people that can not get past things. That is exactly where satan wants us. then he can move on to the next person and not worry about us. It manifests itself in so many ways from sadness, worry, low self esteem and the list goes on. I think Paul had the answer found here in Phil 4:12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
First of all, I want that. True contentment. I am still a little confused on how to be truly content and driven at the same time, but I am working on it. The real point is verse 13. Trust Him.
blessings
cas
IF there is anything I have learned in this crazy economic climate, it is that:
God is in control and I am not. Jesus has the authority over everything that happens to me and the things that don't. He has authority over the things that happen to my children as well. However, because I was forgetting it with today's issues, I was just again reminded by my wife to turn these things over to the Lord for Him to handle and deal with.
great verse cas....love the line about being content in any and every situation...wow, imagine what that must feel like!!
I think the contentment comes when I focus on fulfulling what God has called me to do...and executing that in the now instead of focusing on my inadequacies or on my strengths, problems, pain, etc.
Joy comes in knowing that God is in control and that there's a purpose to life no matter what stage.
yeah... I was getting ready to write my response, when I read that trm excellently said what I wanted to...Contentment comes from a focus on the task at hand and knowing God has you here/there for a reason.
Nice post, excellent verse.
Great little series on the authoriy of Christ. Good comments on contentment, obedience, and leadership.
I was recently asked to provide some ocomments on leadership at work, which was no easy task. There are some interesting parallels here. To me, leadership comes down to character; moreover, trust, integrity, and accountability. Now consider Christ's leadership: He is forever faithful, therefore we put all our trust in him; His integrity is unmatched - there has never been another who was sinless; and He was ultimately accountable - He bore the sins of the world in his death. And then - He rose.
Indeed - who else could we follow? Amen Peter.
tba
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