Healing the Blind

Scripture: Mar 10:46 - 52 And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, [thou] Son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, [Thou] Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee. And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.

Observation: Whenever Jesus would heal or deliver someone, almost without exception, he would ask them to say or do something. In this instance, he asks Bartimaeus what he would like Jesus to do for him. There are many things Bartimaeus could have said. If he had doubted that Jesus could have healed him, he could have asked for riches so that he could at least get off the street. It took faith for Bertimaeus to ask for healing.

Application: Jesus wants us to have faith. He wants us to demonstrate our faith, to speak it or do it. Faith enables the work of Christ to be manifest in our lives. We as children of the most high God are given free will, a choice, and we must choose to accept the best that God has for our lives.

Prayer: Dear Jesus, let us no longer suffer along with what we can provide for ourselves. Thank you that there is so much more for us as the children of the most high God. Let our yes be yes, and our no be no, and when we ask something let us ask in faith believing that you are more than able to meet our needs. Let your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven... this day. Amen

Prayer and Fasting

Scripture: Mar 9:28-29 And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out? And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.

Observation: Jesus told his disciples that they needed to pray and fast in order to see his power and purpose come to pass in their lives. We know that God told us that he came so that we would be free; and most certainly it was his will that the young man who was demon possessed would be free of that oppression. However, his disciples were not able to cast out the demon. The purpose of prayer and fasting is not to break the demonic oppression, that somehow a session of prolonged spiritual warfare would have set the young man free. We know this because when Jesus set the young man free, he simply commanded the Demon to come out. He did not have a 24 hour prayer and fasting session. Rather, what Jesus demonstrated was prolonged times of prayer and fasting daily. His discipline was to go to a quiet place and have fellowship with the Father in prayer and fasting. Evidently his disciples were not so disciplined. At the garden of Gethsemane on the night of Jesus crucification, recall that his disciples could not pray for even an hour. Jesus however, was very comfortable spending hours in prayer and fasting.

Application: We need to be people of prayer and fasting. How many of us could pray for even an hour? How many of us spend a significant amount of time every day in prayer, worship, fasting, bible reading? How can we expect to see God's power and purpose come to pass in our lives if we don't?

Prayer: Dear Father, Help us to live our lives fully devoted to you. Help us turn our lives up side down and begin to make you first in our lives. Let us be your people, and let us declare that you are our God in word and deed. May our lives be a testimony to your love and grace. May we act like your children, and may we not act like children of this world. In Jesus name, Amen!

Save the children

Scripture: Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.

Observation: Satan loves to attack the defenseless little children. He used the same tactic to try to take out Moses. You see it throughout the lineage of Jesus Christ where he tried through attacks on the family, fertility, and newborn children.

Application: As men and women of God, we need to protect the unborn and the family. Still today, millions of our children do not make it to adulthood; either through abortion, infertility, family breakups, poverty, disease, or accidents.

Prayer: Dear Jesus, help us to protect the little children. We know that they are precious in your sight. Give us the mind of Christ, help us to see your perspective. Give us divine abilities to stop the attacks on our children. I pray angels charge over all of the little children in my life. In Jesus Name.