In The Land of The Gergesenes

I've been speed reading through Matthew and I stumbled across a few interesting things in chapter eight. In 8:31, the demons begged Jesus to be sent into the herd of swine. Why did they do this? Jesus could very easily have not complied, but He did so anyway. Why would Jesus knowingly permit the demons to go into the herd of swine? He knew they would only drown the pigs and ruin some farmer's live stock. Was it a lack of clear judgment on our Lord's part; by being limited in his finite form? In verse 32, they do just that. It even says in the NKJV that they ran “violently”. In verse 33 it says the men who kept the swine were watching. Terrified and angry no doubt. Verse 33 also shows us they went into the city of the Gergesenes “and told everything and all that had happened to the demon possessed men. And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him they begged Him to depart from their region.” These people cared more about the swine than the fact that these well known demon possessed men had been set free, delivered. Why was Jesus so willing to cause so much trouble? Because He loved those two demon possessed men more than He loved the swine. We find earlier in Matthew, in chapter 6, when Jesus was teaching His sermon on the mount, He said, “are you not of more value than they?” speaking of the birds. Matthew 10:29-31. “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” As He said,“Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin?” and onto 1 Peter 1:18-19 which says, “…knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold…but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”
God has not redeemed us with copper, but with His own blood. No doubt this was the very thing that drove Jesus to sending the demons to the swine. But another question arises; “couldn’t Jesus have just said no and cast them out any way?” To answer this turn to Mark 9:14-29, the situation is a boy that had a mute spirit. After one of the crowd, the boy’s parent explained the boy’s condition, Jesus asks in verse 21, “ How long has this been happening to Him?” After Jesus delivered the boy of the spirit His disciples asked Him why they could not cast it out. To this in verse 29, Jesus responds with “ This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” In Mark 5, we find the man who had a legion of demons within him. In verse 8, Jesus attempts to cast them out, but fails? Then in verse 9, He asks its name and it is in verse 9 we find it is not just one but a legion of demons. This chapter shows that the demons had inhabited the man for a very long time. On both accounts in Mark, the demons had inhabited the subjects for an extensive period of time and in both accounts, it proved slightly more difficult for our Lord. Back to Matthew 8. Perhaps another reason why Jesus permitted the demons to enter the farmer’s swine was once again out of love the two demoniacs. He didn’t want the exorcism to take any longer than it had to.

The Personal Revelation

“Sometimes the Lord desires us to do certain things for an outcome we cannot immediately comprehend. As With this Tent Revival, we have had many worries, our Lord commands us not to worry. We haven’t felt strong, yet He is our strength. Our Lord tells us to abandon; this includes our doubts. When we despair and doubt, we insult our Lord’s abilities. If revival depended upon our readiness, revival would be an impossibility.
Let us never love the evil and dangerous thought the enemy whispers to us in the night hours. The thought that other’s salvation solely depends on our good conduct. Yes we help, but Jesus redeems.
If this tent seemingly does nothing, we have fallen into a great snare. A leap of faith such as this has no choice but to add to the kingdom by adding to our faith and readiness to be fools for Christ’s sake. Then we may turn to others in the future who fear being rejected and joyously say, “it’s alright, I have experience with being rejected.” Remember Joseph, but more importantly our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Whom if not had been rejected, we would not have gained salvation.
Let us be fools for Christ, carry our cross and ignore the mocking crowd in love.”

Fields of Praise

" Alas I saw eternity.

It touched my soul,

yet broke it still.

A calm thunder

and a loud rain,

the light shining through,

piercing through darkness,

making me whole.

I felt eternity,

a rushing wind,

an open field

singing praise

to the Lord,

the craftsman,

the sculptor of the hills,

of the bright evening sun

which broke through

those gentle clouds.

With ease it broke through,

with ease He touched my soul,

pieced my very being.

Showed His love to me

and His anger still.

I saw heaven today.

Nay, a brief glimpse

into its reflection

of a passing shadow.

That was all I perceived.

Alone I stood with The Maker,

The Sculptor,

as silent and still as I.

Through the rain He spoke to me.

Through the clouds,

the sun,

those fields of praise.

This He spoke to my soul,

"' Be onward still my child,

yet be still.

This I give to you,

taste it, embrace it

and enjoy it,

yet for now.

For trials come,

pain and agony,

questions and distance."'

"' Yet I have made this for you,

for them.

My love endures,

but my anger yet burns.

My child, this is,

but a whisper of a whisper,

a cloudy image,

of and aged idea.

When compared to

what I desire for you."'

'" Know this,

I made this for you,

so show this mightily to them.

Bring them, nay,

show them the way home."'

I saw the Kingdom today.

O' the beauty,

o' the majesty.

I saw it,

in the fields of praise."

"...In whatever state I am to be content." Phil 4:11

In adversity, when family and friends, colleagues and the world itself seem to be piling up upon one's shoulders with increasing ferocity, one must be reminded that it is not God's utmost priority to make one happy. If God has an utmost priority for us it is most definitely to make us holy. (James 1:2-3)
When we are thrown into a situation not pleasing to us, let us not complain, nor seclude ourselves from everything, especially from God. For when we focus our energies solely on complaining about the unfortunate, we set our hearts on all things excluding our Lord. Therefore unless we break this detrimental habit of complaining we shall surely, in all situations, notice the slight ache in the knee over the blessing of the health to walk. When we have reached that point we cannot effectively give our Lord the glory and praise truly due His name. We are then too busy complaining to do so. "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (Mat 26:41) (Gal 6:9)
(Psa 46:10)
Instead of complaining, let us use all unfortunate times as yet another opportunity to glorify Him, learn from Him, love Him and show Him to others. For if we discern situations and judge them according to our limited and infantile understanding and not according to His eternal and limitless truth and understanding, we shall inherit nothing but a simple and easy ruin. Which with we may only complain about. So let us focus more on Jesus as opposed to the storm in which we ride.

It never ceases to amaze me how I may think that for quite some time I'm truly serving the Lord when all along I'm just being religious. The Lord did not die for me on the cross and take my punishment upon Himself so I may study, speak what I've learned or become a great intellectual in the kkingdom of heaven, no, He died for me so I may be sanctified and enter into a true relationship with Him for eternity. Sometimes I forget just how important taking time to be personal with Him is compared to doing the work He desires of me. A wife doesn't want a husband for the work he can do but for the man himself and that's precisely why God wants us, just to love us personally forever.

The Begining

This marks my first entry into this blog and I shall update later.