Jesus Heals and Demon Possessed Man by Joseph Michael Brown

Based on Luke 8:26-39

Luke 8:29 CEB
… and the demon would force him into the wilderness.

Before Jesus frees the demon-possessed man, his neighbors would try to bind him with leg irons and chains and guards. It didn’t work. He would break the restraints and overcome the guards and be forced into the wilderness. You might know what that’s like. Brokenness… Isolation… Life as wild as your surroundings.

Jesus knows the wilderness, too. Before he begins his public ministry, the Spirit leads him into that very place. (Luke 4:1-13) Forty days and forty nights we can’t begin to imagine. The evil one tries to break him but fails again and again. The wilderness for Jesus becomes a place of preparation, like the wilderness wanderers of old. Just like them, he is not alone. Just like them, he is offered the path of deliverance and salvation. Jesus emerges ready to lead and light the way.

Jesus knows the wilderness, its beauty, and its danger.
Because he has been there before he will not hesitate to go there to find us
In our brokenness, isolation, and wildness
In our battles with disease and mental illness and addiction
In our lives of poverty and prejudice and fear and evil

Because he has been there before he can offer us what he found
Wholeness, belonging, new life

Because he has been there before he can lead us out.

Because we have been there and been there with him,
We can join him in leading out others

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Into the Wilderness © 2013 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

Click for another post on this text entitled Resisting Temptation

Click for another post entitled Quotes: The Wilderness

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