Episode 664

TODAY’S READING

32 Right after that, as the blind men were leaving, a man who had been struck speechless by an evil spirit was brought to Jesus.

33 As soon as Jesus threw the evil tormenting spirit out, the man talked away just as if he’d been talking all his life. The people were up on their feet, applauding: “There’s never been anything like this in Israel!”

Matthew 9:32-33

He is above anything that can be holding us down. There are moments in life when we are strapped by what we feel is the enemy holding us down. Having us be unable to speak about our situation. Maybe we’re going through a season in which we have so much shame that we’re not talking about it. Maybe we’ve gone through abuse, or we don’t want to talk about it because we don’t want to relive it; maybe we’ve gone through something in our life. That’s embarrassing. And so it’s better to hush, keep it underneath the table, put it underneath the rug, and we don’t have to ever speak about it. But what happens is that, like this man who was unable to speak, this demon brought him torment inside. And so it took Jesus to cast this out of him for him to be able to speak. And so I just wanted to give you the freedom today that God can do that. He can cast anything out from within you that may be holding you down. That may be causing you shame that may be causing you pain, and God is there to relieve that from you to continue to come for you in this time. And if you are someone who struggles with that, I’m not a therapist. I am not a pastor, but I would definitely point you into the direction of a pastor, a therapist, a counselor, or someone of shared faith so that you can talk about the experiences of life that may be holding you down. And you can find freedom because God will bring you to the right people to continue to help heal you through that process. So a little bit of a dark or heavy morning, really, but more of a free moment, if anything, because God is a good guy, and he’s so ready to heal. That heaviness in you like he did this man.

Prayer:

Jesus, Lord, we thank you that you have the power to cast out, Lord; you are not an outcast. You are our Lord or Savior, our best friend or confidant, and you are our healer, Lord. Some of us have heaviness, God that clouds us, a heaviness that keeps us from talking about shame, embarrassment, pain, abuse, whatever it is that holds us down inside, whatever the enemy put deep down in our souls, God, we bring that to you. We ask that you cast that out from us. And then we can start to speak again, though we can speak the testimony of the goodness of God, or we thank you in advance for healing us. We thank you in advance for bringing us to the right people to bringing us to the right pastures, the right counselors, the right therapists, the right Christians, and God that share the same faith that can help us walk us through moments and journeys of healing. We love you. We pray this all in your son’s mighty name. Amen.