What causes us to fail in doing the works of God? What causes us to derail or miss the opportunity God presents? And if we can narrow that down, how will that impact our walk with Him? It’s simple and I’ll say it again and again.
I was reading Luke 9 this morning:
Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.
And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.
— Luke 9:1, 2
The disciples were equipped and ready to go. Now, we must understand, that we too have been given that same power and authority as these twelve did then. What’s different? Jesus Christ was there with them and not yet glorified. Now, we have the Christ, the Glorified One who has poured out this same holy spirit, as was prophesied:
And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
— Acts 1:7, 8a
We’ve now received to do good like those disciples:
Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God
— Romans 15:19a
In Luke 9, we later find that the disciples failed to help a young boy – a demon would toss the poor child and the dad, to Jesus says:
And I besought thy disciples to cast him out; and they could not.
— Luke 9:40
What a different image from the beginning of Luke 9. Victorious. Capable. Handling the adversity of the adversary. Yet, something happened to them. Do you remember what happened? How did Jesus respond?
And Jesus answering said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you? Bring thy son hither.
— Luke 9:41
The word “perverse” here is “diastrephÅ” – “to distort, turn aside” and “to turn aside from the right path”. What a way to react. But we often loose the meaning of what’s being said. Of course, we are in a perverse generation. But that’s our problem. As in that’s our problem. The disciples thinking got in the way of what they were given the authority to do.
The kid is thrown by the spirit possessing him – and when the disciples prayed over him… the boy was still convulsing. Nothing is happening… the disciples might have said. Something – the perversion of their own thinking – has gotten in the way.
Back in the early part of Luke 9, the disciples were given the authority. Later they came back in verse 10 and told Jesus all that they had done. Did they include this detail? I don’t know.
The power we have is kept in check by our minds and what we think – how distored our thinking is about what God has said and if what God says is really true or not.
It’s not easy. But that’s okay. If the disciples who walked with JC Himself fell short, I think we have a little grace to cover here for us as well.
