Mark Reading – W1D4
Week 1 | Day 4 | Mark 1:21-26
Pray
Pause and breathe for a minute. Then ask God to open your eyes and your ears to his Word
Bible Reading (read these verses three times slowly)
They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit cried out, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” “Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.
Reflection & Questions
In our readings so far this week, we’ve heard testimonies of who Jesus is from the Old Testament scriptures, from people like John the Baptist and even from God the Father himself. Today, it’s a demon’s turn.
As Jesus was teaching with power, the demon couldn’t stand it any longer and cries out: “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God!”
Even the demons know who Jesus is: the Holy One of God! And they know that Jesus is ushering in the end of their reign of terror. Jesus casts out the demon, and so proves that He is greater, that the Kingdom of God has come and the devil’s realm is being routed.
The devil and his demons are still working their schemes to this day (on borrowed time), trying to trip us up, distract us or condemn us. But the confidence of the Christian is they know someone greater; they know the Conqueror, and He is just a prayer away.
- Do you see the work of the devil and his demons in the world today? How?
- It’s been said, “If the devil can’t make you bad, he’ll make you busy.” Why’s that a good strategy? Are you distracted from what God is calling you to do?
Pray
Pray in response to your reading and reflection today.
Worship Song
Today worship God through this song by City Alight.
Bible Reading
They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit cried out, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
“Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.
Reflection & Questions
In our readings so far this week, we’ve heard stories of who Jesus is from the Old Testament scriptures, from people like John the Baptist and even from God with a voice from Heaven! But today, we read that something else happens.
As Jesus was teaching with power, there was an impure spirit that was listening, and he couldn’t stand to keep listening to Jesus. Remember, Jesus is God, and He’s perfect and came to defeat all evil, so any impure spirits don’t like Jesus at all! This impure spirit cries out: “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God!”
Do you think that this impure spirit is scared of Jesus? I bet he was! He knows who Jesus is: the Holy One of God! And they know that Jesus is bringing in the end of all evil, so it makes sense that they’d be pretty upset!. Jesus casts out the impure spirit, and proves that Jesus is greater than all things, especially evil things!
- Do you think that there’s anything that Jesus isn’t stronger than? How can we be so sure?
- When you’re dealing with something hard or bad, do you talk to God about it and ask for help? If you do, when have you done that before? If you haven’t, do you think that you can next time?
Prayer
Pray and thank God for being there with you when things are hard, and for helping you when you need it. Also pray thanking Him for being there when things AREN’T hard, because He loves you and is there for you all of the time!
Bible Reading
They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit cried out, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
“Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.
Devo Focus
Mark 1:22 “The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him.”
Question
Have you ever seen something super weird before?
Like so weird you immediately thought to yourself, “I’m out of here this is just not for me.” Ever see someone screaming to themselves standing at a stop light? Ever see someone in Walmart shopping while wearing a T-Rex costume? Ever get coffee from a robot at the mall?
Weird things happen sometimes in life. In this passage Jesus does a weird thing, he talks to a demon and tells him to leave. DUDE? Like really what’s more skin crawling weirder than that? Forget weird, it’s a scary horror film! As weird as it is, it says something about Jesus. He has authority over the scariest or weirdest thing that could come into our lives. He has that authority because it’s what God gave Him. Knowing Jesus has that kind of power over demons means he’s worth trusting.
How about you?
- Is there an area of your life that you think God has forgotten about with you? Like it’s so scary that he must not want to deal with it?
- The truth is there’s nothing scary to God and there is nothing outside his authority.
- Ask God to give you wisdom for dealing with the weird and sometimes scary things going on in your life.
- Talk to Him about want to trust Him more with those scary things in our lives.
