1/4/18 – Numbers 31:25-54, Numbers 32 Luke 8:40-56, Luke 9:1-9 Psalm 40:1-8

Num 32:4-7

the land the Lord subdued before the people of Israel—are suitable for livestock, and your servants have livestock. If we have found favor in your eyes,” they said, “let this land be given to your servants as our possession. Do not make us cross the Jordan.”

Moses said to the Gadites and Reubenites, “Should your fellow Israelites go to war while you sit here? Why do you discourage the Israelites from crossing over into the land the Lord has given them?

It’s a truth that there are always people who want to sit back and enjoy life rather than get involved in the fight.

Moses doesn’t take this well. Why should they get to sit back and enjoy life whilst everyone else risks everything. He was conceded that their attitude would spread and people would be discouraged about taking the land. The last time this happened it meant a 40 year delay.

But he’d people did decide to join the fight. They promised that they’d help even though they wanted this land before crossing the Jordan.

The fight is for everyone. Every Christian has been enlisted in the war against the darkness – we don’t get to sit it out. Why should some sit back whilst the rest do the work of the gospel? That sort of attitude spreads and means we all lose the victory.

Stand up. Join the fight. The time for enjoying the land comes later.

Luke 8:45-46

“Who touched me?” Jesus asked.

When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.”

But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”

Lots of people were clambering and touching Jesus. Yet when this woman did – there was something different. He noticed that there was something different.

What was that? He says He knows some power has gone from Him. In other words, Jesus doesn’t do miracles without noticing.

This woman reached out to Him in the chaos and the noise. Sometimes that’s all we can do. In the middle of the storm we just reach out.

What was different about her touch? It was a touch in faith. It’s her faith that made the difference.

And it’s the same for us. Many people pray, many reach out.  But not in faith. Jesus responds to faith.

Ps 40:1-2

I waited patiently for the Lord;

he turned to me and heard my cry.

He lifted me out of the slimy pit,

out of the mud and mire;

he set my feet on a rock

and gave me a firm place to stand.

He has lifted us up, out of the mess our lives were. We were lost, stuck in the mud and the mire. And now we are on solid rock.

It’s good to remember where he’s brought us from, not to wallow in the past, but to remember how far He’s brought us. When we remember, we give thanks. Thank you Lord for changing my life, for lifting me up out of the mess – for giving me hope and purpose.