Topic: Be Enlightened
Text: Luke 24:33-53
Key Verse: Then he helped them understand the Scriptures. – Luke 24:45
Interruptions and unexpected events do not come from God, but God can use each situation to work out well for his people. It is usually difficult for the human mind, which is limited to only the past and the present, to understand how this is possible. God graciously helps us by providing illumination.
Illumination is to have clarity, understanding, or enlightenment; this comes to give the individual peace amid the crisis. It is God that grants this grace. Even after Jesus had spoken to the disciples, and they knew he had experienced something miraculous, they still had questions in their hearts that produced fear and doubt.
But Jesus said, “Why are you so frightened? Why do you doubt? – Luke 24:38
Fear results from unresolved issues, and doubts come when what has happened is contrary to assumptions we have made and lived with. Jesus is patient and generous enough to give you as much proof as you require to resolve your fears and doubts.
Look at my hands and my feet and see who I am! Touch me and find out for yourselves. Ghosts don’t have flesh and bones as you see I have.” The disciples were so glad and amazed that they could not believe it. Jesus then asked them, “Do you have something to eat?” They gave him a piece of baked fish. He took it and ate it as they watched. Jesus said to them, “While I was still with you, I told you that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the Books of the Prophets, and in the Psalms had to happen.” – Luke 24:39,41-44
Are you so full of fear because of the events that have played out in your life, don’t pretend to be strong and act as if you are in control; ask the Lord for help, acknowledge your fears and worries, seek clarity, and Jesus will help you.
Jesus said to them, “While I was still with you, I told you that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the Books of the Prophets, and in the Psalms had to happen.” Then he helped them understand the Scriptures. – Luke 24:44-45
The importance of having a good knowledge of the scriptures can not be over-emphasized; nothing happens outside the truth revealed in the Bible, so be open to receiving the word of God from the scriptures.
The devil’s strategy is to make you blame God for the interruption, doubt his love and promises, and then shut you out from receiving understanding. The truth you seek is in the word, the Bible.
When received by faith, breaking bread in communion can break off scales in our understanding. God honours faith and will always show up when you renew your covenant.
Then the disciples from Emmaus told what happened on the road and how they knew he was the Lord when he broke the bread. – Luke 24:35
I remember once when the enemy attacked my health; it would have been fatal; l looked up to God as a child would look up to her parents in childlike faith because l couldn’t understand why l had a revelation of the attack, l prayed to prevent it and it still manifested physically. I couldn’t imagine life without actively using one side of the body. Then l heard the Lord say, “fight back with communion”! I quickly sent for items and began to take communion daily. As l continued this act of faith, l regained my health, and God restored my nerves.
God has no pleasure in causing anyone pain, especially those he loves, but life is warfare; you must cast away wrong assumptions about how the kingdom operates and let God reveal the truth to you.
He told them: The Scriptures say that the Messiah must suffer, then three days later, he will rise from death. – Luke 24:46
And so, I said, “I am here to do what is written about me in the book, where it says,’ I enjoy pleasing you. Your Law is in my heart.” – Psalm 40:7-8
Let God’s Law be in your heart as you process the events that are not pleasant; that is the key that will prepare you for the transition into the new season.
God never leaves us in a place; he moves us into the future through the clarity he provides. Jesus did not only give meaning to the past, but he granted them insight into the future that was ahead.
They also say that all people of every nation must be told in my name to turn to God, to be forgiven. So beginning in Jerusalem, you must tell everything that has happened. – Luke 24:47-48
Have you received word about your future? Ask for it. Many people in pain can not see any future and even believe that taking their lives will give them a better future, but that’s a lie from the devil. You have yet to be in the future, so why do you think of impossibilities? Expect the miraculous, the supernatural, and the new, and watch what God will do in your life.
Jesus left them for three days to be with all who believed in him forever! The latter is always greater than your past if God is in it!
Prayer
Father, walking with you in this season is so comforting and reassuring. Thank you so much for your presence; l need not do life alone.
It isn’t easy to see the good in all these things that have happened right now, but l trust your faithfulness to the covenant l have with you, l embrace your will, l trust your love for me.
Clarify my darkness, oh God, enlighten me with your truth in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Pastor Ada
Photo by Rohan Makhecha on Unsplash