Rejoice in Your Salvation!

Luke 10:17-20

"Then the seventy returned with joy saying,"Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name. And HE said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I gave you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means harm you. NEVERTHELESS do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven."

I love this  gentle reprimand from Jesus as He guides his disciples, and in turn guides us to keep our priorities straight. I can only imagine, as I put myself in the place of the seventy.  These are the ones chosen by Jesus to go out and witness in His name. He had entrusted them with the Good News; spiritual gifts and instructions; and with the lost people that He so longed to bring unto Himself.  I can only see myself in their excitement over seeing people freed from demonic strongholds. How remarkable would it be to witness the healing of people who had been plagued by possession or sickness? They so excitedly brought good report back from the mission field and boasted an astonishment at the power in Jesus' name. Jesus is obviously not surprised since, after all, He had witnessed Satan's fall to earth at the order of Almighty God. He also reminds them that any power they witnessed had been given to them by Him. 'I gave you the authority'. How often, when we see great breakthroughs on our spiritual journey, do we tend to credit ourselves and think that somehow our blessing comes from something that we have done because we have behaved better; or sacrificed more; or worshipped deeper; or that blessing has come as a result of something we have controlled?  Jesus must sense that the disciples are forgetting that it was He who gave them power over the enemy.  He protects them of boasting in their own power. Jesus assures them that because of His imbued power, nothing will harm them.... because of His authority; not theirs. 

Finally, for me this last part of this passage is the most meaningful. 

Jesus says, "NEVERTHELESS".....don't be praising God over the miracles done or even the outpouring of deliverance in My name. He otherwise instructs them to  rejoice because they have received the gift of eternal life through Him...their names are forever written in the Lamb's Book of Life.  

He reminds us in the victories of battle; the most treasured victory is the one issued for us at the cross...the eternal victory of life over death. The gift of eternal salvation.

Infinite Wisdom

My husband, most recently while riding in the car with my daughter, was sharing some nuggets of wisdom that made me pause to re-think. Her husband works for a banker's bank and has just recently been taken over by the FDIC. Al who work for this bank are waiting news from the corporate office about the fate of the bank and whether some private equity investors will be taking control soon. Of course everyone employed there at the bank have "the need to know" and this also includes my daughter and her husband.

"We all think we have the need to know the plans God has for us", my husband shared. "As I have grown older, I only realize how very little is in our control at all." God wants us to be in the place with Him that every outcome can bring glory to Him; where we cannot take any credit for what may come. That includes bad or good outcome. What a great God we serve in that He knows if we can take credit for success; we would take the awful burden of failure as well. I don't think in some of the ways we fail ourselves and others we love, we could stand that burden of disappointment. How humbling for me to depend totally on God and to let go of my control. What can we take into our own hands? Who that is created is greater than the Creator. Who is wise in all things concerning our ultimate well-being?

sweet time

I know the Bible says that in heaven we will have no more tears. I saw something tonight at the sweetest women's fellowship where I was a guest of my daughter. A group was performing there who were from a work center for mentally retarded adults. A retired music teacher volunteers at the center so that these handicapped adults can create music for us to see. As uncomfortable as most find it to be around these retarded people, tonight's songs made me think of heaven. I saw heaven in a most inspiring way. There was a smiling, young woman who was a soloist for the group. After they had sung some silly but fun songs; her task was to sing "Amazing Grace." Although her voice cracked often and she couldn't always remember the words, her rendition brought to my mind such a vision of heaven. "Amazing Grace, How sweet the sound; that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now I'm found; was blind but now I see." It reminded me that we are all, in our different ways, handicapped. And as each of these smiling faces delivered their songs to us, with their awkward movements and unfamiliar tones; their pure joy in doing so brought a little of heaven here to earth. Their songs and dear hearts reminded me that in heaven, there will be no more suffering; no trials and no more tears......for any and all of us.