Luke 8:1–15
Be Still: Holy Spirit I welcome you. Come into my heart, my mind, and my body. Fill me with the life of Jesus today. You are welcome here. Amen
Read: Luke 8:1–15
You are being let in on the secrets of God’s kingdom. (v10)
Encounter: If you’re anything like me, you will have experienced the mystery of expecting God to do certain things, and then him surprising you by doing something different. This happens to me both in private prayer but also in public ministry. The formula of ‘if I do x, God will do y’ is not how the journey of faith and partnering with God works.
This is partly because God’s Kingdom is often utterly different from what we can imagine. It’s deeply good, deeply pure, deeply true and we are ultimately not! Hence often our thinking can’t keep up with God’s goodness!
Thankfully we have Scripture, and the Holy Spirit to help us and here in today’s passage, Jesus is explicitly revealing to us some of the key ’secrets’ of God’s kingdom.
Two 'kingdom secrets’ that weren’t expected leap out: firstly, the presence and ministry of the women - Mary, Joanna, Susanna and others. The Kingdom has had a radical, boundary-breaking, liberation impact on these women who are now laying down their lives to serve and participate in the Kingdom of God coming on earth. This was not expected!
Secondly, the kingdom of God comes not necessarily in big obvious ways (e.g. short-lived shallow 'rocky ground', flash-in-the-pan ministries) but often in quieter, deeper, more long-term ways. The Kingdom grows in the hearts of those who are ‘good soil’. The message of this passage seems to be that the kingdom develops in unexpected ways, in unexpected people.
Apply: In what ways do you need more of a ‘kingdom mindset’ in how you view other people and yourself? Have you brought your hopes for the future before the Lord recently and asked him to re-align them with his plans? Where could your prayers be more ‘kingdom’ orientated?
Devote: Thank you, Jesus, for revealing more of the Kingdom of God to your followers and to me. Please make me more aligned with your kingdom purposes. I surrender my life to you again today.