No Clothes

Luke 8:26-39
26 Then they sailed to the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27 And when He stepped out on the land, there met Him a certain man from the city who had demons for a long time. And he wore no clothes, nor did he live in a house but in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before Him, and with a loud voice said, "What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me!" 29 For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it had often seized him, and he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles; and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the wilderness. 30 Jesus asked him, saying, "What is your name?" And he said, "Legion," because many demons had entered him. 31 And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss. 32 Now a herd of many swine was feeding there on the mountain. And they begged Him that He would permit them to enter them. And He permitted them. 33 Then the demons went out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned. 34 When those who fed them saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. 35 Then they went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 36 They also who had seen it told them by what means he who had been demon-possessed was healed. 37 Then the whole multitude of the surrounding region of the Gadarenes asked Him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. And He got into the boat and returned. 38 Now the man from whom the demons had departed begged Him that he might be with Him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 "Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you." And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.    NKJV

I am always intrigued by the strategy of God. In coming from a meeting yesterday with leadership, I come away with that which has to be God or FAIL! Now in the human side of things, we can certainly fail and make those mistakes. But in looking out for others is paramount. It is loving your neighbor above your self. When finding some leaving from ministry, you look for that which helps them make the transition they need to make, in order that they keep their walk with the Lord.

And of course, it is always in the Word and seeing our faith built up by that prosperous word.

We can face some things at time, when opposition will come and it does. Believe me, it comes and we must be ready with the Word that prevails in our lives.  In praying for all attending this meeting yesterday, I remembered the passage above. Now reading in that which is right before Luke 8:26-39.......and please read for yourself, there was this great wind that blew up on them in the boat crossing from Galilee to the country of the Gadarenes. And in this storm, Jesus was asleep in the boat as they crossed over to the "other side". The windstorm came down on the lake and was causing waves so high that the boat was filling with water. Now Jesus was in the bottom of the boat and had to be awakened. The disciples spoke, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" Jesus arose from His slumber, rebuked the wind and the raging water. AND THEY CEASED! Then a calm was upon them. And Jesus asked, "Where is your faith?" And the disciples were afraid and even marveled that the winds and the water obeyed Him.

Well after seeing the supernatural occur in my life............let's see now, "my faith" is.......!

Distraction  is a vehicle for how the devil likes to bring fear into people's lives. We must have the balance like my husband and kids say all the time. And it is true for that Word always. We must have discernment when something changes dramatically in our lives. Like the disciples above, the wind and waves became bothersome to cause a "fear".  Where was the balance?

But God did not give us a spirit of fear, He gave us power, love, and a sound mind.

2 Timothy 1:7

7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 

NKJV

He desires "balance" that comes from reading the Word, over and over. It comes by praying His Word back to Him to remind Him of what He has spoken. And it is being thankful for that Word that we can walk on as we had seen Jesus do in Matthew 14.

Matthew 14:26-27

26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out for fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid." 

NKJV

In reading in verse 27 from Luke chapter 8, our scripture foundation, we find that they have gotten to the country, and the place they arrived was the "tombs". Hey, been to the cemetery to minister lately? NO! 

Jesus knew this man to have many demons for a long time. How? Well, he had on no clothes. He was dirty and when he spoke, it was not him speaking, but the demonic spirit. For the demonic spirits do not want to be tormented.......as he spoke about knowing Jesus as the Son of the Most High God! And this devil of demons had brought others with him to inhabit this man in that they were a legion and were called "Legion".

As they asked Jesus to permit them to go into the swine..........it scared the swine so greatly that they created a stampede and they fell off the edge of land and into the water to drown. Those who fed them and saw what had happened fled.......... to tell it in the city.

They fled.....away from a man being helped. They ran away!

And on their return, they find the man clothed, sitting at the feet of Jesus and in his right mind.

 And the people were afraid.........now there is two sets of people here who were the "afraid"..........yes, they had fear. Yet, Jesus came to set the captives free and how does that look? Disciples had "fear" in the boat with terrible winds and high waves. Now, it was the neighbors having fear of that which is helpful for another human.

Let's look more closely into this.

Well, first of all those leading have to be set free from that which holds them in a bondage, if there be one. Then as a group, worship God, praise the Lord, and ask the Holy Spirit for guidance each and every moment of our lives. Because there will be times the wind will be boisterous, and the waves high, and we must quiet the voices from the outside that represents the world and the five senses.
These who followed their senses were okay with the naked running around the tombs. (Yikes!) They were comfortable with the naked man living close to the pigs and vice versa.

But Jesus asked "where is your faith?" On the boat, it was the faith factor that was missing. For our lives to be the balanced, we like Jesus are to have the Word, and go out to the community. Faith is the courage to believe in Jesus and trust His Way, Truth and Life. As we do this day in and day out, our faith grows, and it takes hold of that for which Jesus died to give us. We are to be the "just who live by faith". (Romans 1:17) The supernatural should not scare us. Jesus lived a life that was of the "supernatural". He lived by the Spirit!
I think of the verse where the demons wanted to go into the pigs. Now pigs are very social. In truth they dwell together in most circumstances. They have been known to save humans from instances of tragedy and brought their owner out of harms way ........from drowning and another from a bog. And the other thing I think of is that they smell sometimes. But living with the pigs was not this man's destiny. He came to the feet of Jesus. But this was in Jesus' time and pigs were not lawful to have in that land. So people were ignoring God and His Word!
What have we gotten use to seeing and doing everyday that could be harmful to our walk with God?
James 1:21-27 tells us to lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. We are not to just hear the Word but do it. We have to keep looking into that which brings us liberty. It is spirit and truth.


We are to walk on the top of our circumstances, not be weighted down my them. To do that we must apply the Spirit of that Word to our lives...........to walk on the water.........to calm the boisterous winds and high waves.........any circumstances that appear out of control. The kingdom of God has come through Jesus Christ. We are not seated on earth but in heavenly places. We speak as they speak in heaven and we see the same as they see in heaven.

Let's not be distracted by the familiarity that breeds contempt. I heard this person speaking the other day and she told how the word "compel" from the Bible and in case of the scripture......from Luke 14 and verses 23-24.......is a violence.........it is one that is not the meek, but that which was not translated rightly as was intended.

Luke 14:23-24
 23 Then the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.' " NKJV

And when we consider Jesus...the PROPHET, we know ....Him as the "passionate", He was "fire", He was the "vigilant" and those who 'ABIDE' in Him are those who become the passionate, the fire, the vigilant, and do the word of God. For if we move outside of that ring of fire....move out of the abiding.....then we become the..........bored, then, the disgusted and then the loathing. Our sights are to be set on the Lord and remain vigilant of how He lived and was social with others. It was about touching their hearts.

In the above passage, we saw the pigs who are a social creature, who constantly communicate with one another, and have much different sounds when communicating with another. The pigs are suppose to be a friendly animal and that the female is only mean when provoked when she has young offspring.

In the social environment we are not meant to abide in contempt for another, or in disapproval, or in anger or even  in rage.  Social is not about being satisfied with seeing "man" running around as the naked as the Gadarenes had grown accustomed to seeing. In social environments it is about being healed with the touch of Jesus, that Word of power being brought by those who have sound minds to speak that into another. It is about bringing fire to LIGHT THE DARKNESS, and see that power become new in others. I am certain Jesus did not go up to the tombs in meekness, but in power of the Holy Spirit. He went in power ...........and we are to go out in power.........to compel them..........to tell them with fire, that Jesus lives today, that He died for them 2000 years ago and speak to them in prayer to God that God is love and He is for them. If we are the stagnate, if we are the dry, it is because we have no word in us. It is a zeal, a passion and it is how we are to act and speak.

Let''s abide in the Word to have the same zeal Jesus did when He met the demoniac in the tombs of  Gadara. Maybe if we touch someone with that fingerprint upon their hearts that is of the true, the fire, then we will see Revival Burn for the nation to bring others to the feet of Jesus. 

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