Daily Bread 8/9/2023

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    Daily Bread – August 9, 2023 (The Fourth Day – Genesis 1:14-19) Matthew 8:16 – When evening came, they brought to Him all those possessed with devils, and He drove out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. One of the foremost works characterizing the ministry of Jesus was the casting out of devils (Matthew 4:24, 8:16,28, 9:32, 12:22-28, 15:22-28, 17:18; and Mark 1:32, 5:15, 7:26, 9:25, 16:9; and Luke 4:35, 41, 7:21, 8:2, 27, and Luke 9:42, 11:14, 20, 13:32; Acts 10:38). It was for this reason the Son of God was manifested – to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). The devil had imposed sickness and diseases of all sorts upon mankind and Jesus came with the power and authority to destroy every one of Satan’s works and liberate men from their awful state. When the ministry of Jesus was summarized in Acts 10:38, we read how He was anointed with the Holy Spirit and power, Who went around “healing all who were oppressed by the devil.” When Jesus gave power and authority to His disciples, the power He gave them over demon spirits is highlighted as if to point to the key to curing men of their diseases, “Then He called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases” (Luke 9:1). Once again, in one of the summaries of the ministry of Paul found in the nineteenth chapter of Acts, we find an association of sickness and evil spirits which were driven out simply by taking a cloth from the body of the man of God who had been anointed by the Holy Spirit to preach the Gospel, “So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs, or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them” (Acts 19:12). It is so important for us to remember what the will of God is for our lives when Jesus revealed to us how the works which He did we will also do and even greater (John 14:12). Let us abandon all else and give ourselves entirely to the work of the Spirit of God – Who sets the captives free! Blessings, Pastor Mark Spitsbergen