A HUNDREDFOLD
Today’s Reading: Luke 8
Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion on the right-hand side).
A path, bordered by wheat fields, leading down from the Mount of Beatitudes to the Sea of Galilee. Does this look like a 100-fold return on the original seed sown?
GOOGLE MAPS – To see where Reynold took the photo, click HERE.
Key Verse: Luke 8:8
“…But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold.” When He had said these things He cried, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
This reading begins with the deliverance of Mary Magdalene from seven demons. It also contains the deliverance of the man on the other side of the lake who had many demons. What are we to make of this? We hear little of deliverance from demons now. Why? Perhaps it is because of the lack of the Gift of the Spirit known as “discerning of spirits” (1 Corinthians 12:10). First Corinthians 12:31 tells us to “earnestly desire the best gifts.” The outward expression of these two tormented people varied. Jesus’ way of dealing with them varied and the results varied. Mary of Magdala was the first at Jesus’ empty tomb, and the second was sent home by Jesus to minister to His family. May I suggest that the key to a ministry of deliverance is in our key verse…”a hundredfold.” Let us move from 30 and 60 on up to our full potential in Christ. Other spiritual gifts necessary in deliverance are most certainly: “The word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith” (1 Corinthians12:8). Please take note of the word “another.” Powerful results will be seen when we work in unity with others!!!
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord Jesus, You are my Deliverance! In You I trust! Hallelujah! Please send Your Holy Spirit to accelerate my growth towards that 100-fold goal. I desperately need that “more excellent way” spoken of by Paul (1 Corinthians 12:31) and described in 1 Corinthians 13, “the way of love.” Please fill me with Your love and grant me wisdom in all my ministry. Amen!
100 PERSONAL WORDS:
I’ve learned through 64 years since God called me to ministry that love is the essential ingredient. Love calls me to great care for others, to respecting each person as made in God’s image, to work with others closely, submitting one to another, and not allowing any one person to manipulate or lord it over others. “God is love” (1 John 4:8). In my devotions earlier, I read 1 John, chapters 2 to 4. Also, I read 1 Corinthians 13. I’ve taken note that this “Love Chapter” is like the meat in the sandwich of chapters 12 and 14. These chapters are about the Gifts. Without a full growth of the Fruit of the Spirit, which is “Love,” gifts exercised in a loveless way can do more harm than good (Galatians 5:22-23). I need to constantly remember that the “fruit of the Spirit” is the character of Jesus and the “gifts of the Spirit” were the means through which He ministered to human need. Though He was fully God, He functioned as a Man, 100% filled with the Holy Spirit. Oh, how I pray fervently for a greater measure of the fullness of God’s Spirit. I’m gazing into His face by faith now as the Holy Spirit fills me for this new day. As John wrote, “We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). My heart is so full that I’ve typed well over my goal of 100 words. Please be patient with me.
Yours for 100-fold living in Christ,
David
Thank You, Lord Jesus. You are a miracle worker, and Your miracles aren’t for show – they’re acts of love to set people free and give new, and real, Life. As David said, fill us with Your love and help us do the work You have prepared for us, in Jesus’s great name, amen
Thank you to David and the Mainse family for this daily blessing.May God always smile on you.
Knowing The Joy
May the roses of heaven be your dream
Where the night birds lull you to sleep
And the sounds of a mountain stream
Brings the peace,yours e’er to keep
Then in your dreams may you find
The love that waits at heaven’s gate,
For there loved ones wait unconfined
Knowing the joy that is your fate.
GW)Bill Marshall/30Nov,2016
This particular reading has always puzzled me (the parable of the seeds). I don’t understand why Jesus didn’t want some people to understand. Any thoughts on that? Blessings all on a beautiful day.
Doreen, I also used to struggle with this passage. I believe that it implies that those who really desire and seek to know God and His Word, to them God will give a greater understanding. (The disciples fell into this category). Those who are not really interested will not be able to “grasp “ the depth of His teachings. It will be “foolishness “ to them.
I also would like to hear from other bloggers as to their thoughts on this passage.
Here is a quoted spiritual response to your question Doreen: “Christ was making clear that not all hearts have been prepared to receive the gospel. The seed must have a specific prepared “landing place” in order to bear fruit. Now, in this parable of the growing seed, Jesus is dealing with the process that the gospel message undergoes in the soul.”
Lord, fill us with Your Holy Spirit.
https://youtu.be/qNwnOfZ5N8A
Keep asking questions Doreen. Many of us that read the gospels have questions .Before reading your daily scriptures, it was told to me to ask Holy Spirit, our teacher, to bring a deeper revelation and understanding to His word.
Sunny but cool here in Sudbury today.
Thank you all for your prayers.
My wrist surgery went well and 21st they will remove the cast.
I have no pain Thank God.
God Bless You All
Yes God fill us with your Holy Spirt to Love one another.
Your questions and answers have helped me grow in the Spirit.
So happy to hear that all went well with the surgery, Teresa.
Great advice- prepare the soil! Prayer & fasting. Lord, in Jesus Name, open our understanding to Your Word. Amen. Blessings and continued prayer for Teresa’s continued healing.