Authority over Physical Struggles

Mark 1:40–41
40 And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” 41 Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.”

Jesus has authority to heal. Plain and simple. The leper knew it. The bleeding woman knew it. The blind, deaf, and paralyzed knew it.

Do you believe Jesus can?

The leper questions not Jesus’ ability but his willingness. In our world, where science, technology, and years of accumulated understanding exist, we are tempted to think only in the natural—what we have seen, heard, or experienced.

Can we really believe that Jesus can restore, remedy, and heal?
Not just in theory or in church, but that in real life with YOUR diagnosis, procedure, and pain!

Let’s be specific. We should pray about that chronic illness. We should pray about that procedure coming up. We should pray about a diagnosis that is discouraging. Pray and believe that God can. Pray and ask God that He will.

This is not guaranteed, as many still battle cancer, sickness, and chronic disease. This is not a result of lack of faith or failure to pray. All prayers, as Jesus instructed, ask that God’s will be done while still making our requests known!

As I consider the leper, I see faith. Faith in Jesus. Faith that can move mountains. Faith that makes all things possible.

Today, I invite you to ask the question I am asking myself: Do I believe that God can? Do I pray with faith or simply hopes and wishes? Am I confident in God’s abilities, or do I worship a limited deity?

Authority over Spiritual Battles

Mark 1:23–26
23 And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, 24 “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” 26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him.

Jesus is the Ultimate Authority. There is nothing outside His dominion.

In Mark 1, a man possessed by an unclean spirit cries out, and with a simple command, Jesus silences the demon and sets the man free. No struggle. Just authority.

We may not encounter visible demonic possession in our daily lives, but Scripture reminds us that spiritual opposition is real. There is an enemy who would love to pull our hearts away from worshiping the Creator toward lesser things.

That does not mean every hardship is demonic. Some battles are physical. Some are emotional. Some require counseling, medication, or rest. But we would be naïve to believe there is no spiritual resistance at all. The enemy will gladly use our weaknesses, wounds, and fears to isolate us from God.

So what do we do?

We do not fight alone.

We bring our doubts, our anxiety, our discouragement, and our temptations to the One who has already proven victorious.

Take a moment for honest inventory.
Where do you feel pressure?
Where do you feel condemnation?
Where do you feel pulled away from trust?

Fear and accusation are not the voice of your Shepherd.

Jesus has authority over every spiritual battle. And His authority is on your side.

The Son of God was not spared

Day 5

Big Idea: The Son of God was not spared so you can be saved.

Mark 15:39: “And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!’”

As I shared on Sunday, I love the contrast of the sacrifice of Isaac to the sacrifice of Jesus. Why is it that in the story of Isaac, my heart races more, my fears rise up higher in my throat, and my desire for relief is so much greater? Why is it I struggle to accept God asking Abraham to sacrifice his only son, yet take for granted that God sacrificed his only son?

The difference in the story of sacrifice in Genesis 22 and Mark 15 is that in Mark 15 the person dies while in Genesis 22 the son is spared and the ram is slaughtered.

That brings us to my big idea today: The Son of God was not spared so you can be saved.

The Son of God was not spared so you can be saved.

The Son of God was not spared so you can be saved.

Yes, I meant to do that because I want you to see it. Feel it. Hear it. Experience it.

Jesus was not spared though he was sinless so that you, though sinful, can be saved.

I end the week with this verse: Romans 5:8: “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Sit in that today!

Jesus is not only…

Day 4

On Sunday I stated, if Jesus was only a teacher, then at best he could offer us wisdom. If Jesus was only a healer, then he could fix our ailments. If Jesus was only a good person, then he could show us how to live. If Jesus was only a prophet, then he could warn us of what is ahead.

But Jesus is not simply a great teacher, or magnificent healer, or sinless man, nor merely a prophet: Jesus is the image of the invisible God in whom the fullness of God dwells.

He is God among us! God with us! God suffering for us. God dying in our place. God defeating death once and for all. God giving us hope, life, and peace.

Big Idea: Jesus is not merely a ________, he is the Son of God sent for us!

Where do you need to expand your understanding of who Jesus is?

Fully God and Fully Man

Day 3

Past Days:

Don’t complicate the simple!

When Jesus is called the Son of God it is a direct repudiation of Caesar who was treated as a god.

Big Idea: Jesus is Fully God and Fully Man.

Philippians 2:5-8: “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.”

Jesus existed from the beginning. John’s gospel calls him the Word of God, which, when you connect that concept to Genesis 1’s creation story, leads us to the conclusion that it was through Jesus all things were made. Jesus is fully God!

Yet, through the womb of a virgin in the virgin birth, Jesus is fully man. Jesus started as a helpless infant like me and you. Jesus had a childhood like me and you. Jesus experienced the teenage years and learning adulthood like me and you.

Everything we have experienced on this earth, Jesus experienced something similar. He mourned the loss of friends and family. He was scraped and bled. He hungered and thirsted.

While every other religion requires man to try to attain the divine through perfection and holiness, Christianity shows God stepping into our world as one of us—enduring, suffering, and experiencing all the heartaches of this broken world.

Jesus, the almighty and all-powerful, takes on flesh and dwells among us, dies for us, and defeats death once and for all. As Paul writes in Colossians 1, Jesus is the image of the invisible God, and the fullness of God dwells in him.

Today, I encourage you simply to be overcome by the fact that God became man to suffer and save.