After Jesus left the girl's home, two blind men followed along behind him, shouting, "Son of David, have mercy on us!" They went right into the house where he was staying, and Jesus asked them, "Do you believe I can make you see?" "Yes, Lord," they told him, "we do." Then he touched their eyes and said, "Because of your faith, it will happen." Then their eyes were opened, and they could see! Jesus sternly warned them, "Don't tell anyone about this." But instead, they went out and spread his fame all over the region. -- Matthew 9: 27-31 (NLT)
It has been a busy day no? Healed a paralytic, raised a girl from the dead and stopped a 12 year old case of suffering. He is not done yet though! Now we see Jesus is approached by two blind men who desperately want to see again. Beyond the physical realm there lies the spiritual. This is a realm the church remains woefully ignorant of. Spiritual warfare is constantly mentioned in Scripture yet it is barely broached in the modern church, which is seeking more seeker-friendly topics to talk about. Everyone would rather hear about how much they are going to be blessed than how many demons they may be facing each day. The Book of Daniel tells a story of how Daniel prayed for 21 days before an angel showed up and it turns out there was a reason for the delay:
Then he said, "Don't be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the
Do we understand these verses? While Daniel was praying in the natural realm, there was a war waging in the heavenly realm. The spirit prince of the
You say, "I am rich. I have everything I want. I don't need a thing!' And you don't realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. -- Revelation 3: 17 (NLT)
Oh does this ever describe the state of a great portion of the modern church today! Rich beyond the dreams of avarice as the world measures but blind spiritually to anything that truly matters. As these two men cried out that day -- Son of David! Have mercy on us!
When they left, a demon-possessed man who couldn't speak was brought to Jesus. So Jesus cast out the demon, and then the man began to speak. The crowds were amazed. "Nothing like this has ever happened in
And here was the final stop on the Jesus miracle tour for this one day out of the nearly 1100 during the ministry of Jesus. For the last act of this chapter we see Jesus cast out a demon from a possessed man. The reminder for us today is clear. The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives inside of us. We have power and authority over the works of Satan but we rarely walk in them. We hear all the time of Christians talking about how the enemy is chasing them and we wonder why are you running? The Bible does not say to run from the devil but to resist him and he must flee. There is a folklore story about Martin Luther being awoken late at night by the visage of Satan himself standing at the end of his bed in all of his horror personified. Luther looks up, says -- "oh it's you" -- and goes back to sleep. In the garden, Eve did not lose the battle when she bit the fruit but rather, when she engaged in a conversation with the enemy. There is a reason he is called the enemy! We are to cast him out -- not sit down for brunch with him. There is a terrific example of this in Nehemiah; who was busy rebuilding the walls of
