With a Word

"Jesus cut him short. 'Be quiet! Come out of the man,' he ordered. At that, the demon threw the man to the floor as the crowd watched; then it came out of him without hurting him further. Amazed, the people exclaimed, 'What authority and power this man's words possess! Even evil spirits obey him, and they flee at his command!" Luke 4:35-36

Two of the men whose words have impacted me deeply are with Jesus now, but their influence on my life remains in full effect. One taught me what it means to work ... harder, longer and until someone else says to stop. The other continually spoke of God's magnitude and the privilege of his children to dream big dreams and to follow him into their realization.

Those who followed Jesus around were afforded the privilege of being immersed in the very words of God. Words of power. Words of healing. Words of deliverance. Words of hope. Words of instruction. Words of rebuke. Words of life. Peter, even in the face of everything he knew about fishing, still cast his nets out into the deep water simply because Jesus said to do so. The catch was staggering.

God in his sovereign grace, through his Holy Spirit, still speaks. He speaks through his word. He speaks to our hearts. He speaks through his creation. He speaks through each other. His words come with authority and power. The demons were not afforded the option whether to obey or not. We have been. The opportunity to live large stands before us. The key to seizing it lies in his words.

Grace and Peace,

Tom

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