Wednesday 23 Feb 2022

February 23: Mark 9:38-40

Key Verse: Mark 9:40
‘Teacher,’ said John, ‘we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.’

Devotion:
I wonder, have you ever been told to stop doing something just because you were not the right person to do it, or the wrong sex or even race? Too many times in our lives we see all manner of discrimination and we put up with much of it because it has always been so! Well, things have not changed much for thousands of years, and I doubt they will change much until people start accepting each other for what we are: God’s Family!

The disciples tried to stop someone from driving out demons just because the person doing so was not one of them! We may think of this as arrogant or belittling in some way, but the truth is much simpler than that – the disciples thought they had some sort of monopoly because they were the one Jesus was teaching directly!

We cannot be like this as Christians! Just because we are not the ones who were initially chosen by Jesus to be His disciples, does not mean we cannot do what they were told to do. If we stand up and try to do things like that just because we want to be recognised as a healer or speaker or whatever, does not give us the right to do things… what does give us the right is if we are willing to ask God to do these things because we are asking in the name of Jesus!

If we are sincere and we are asking in Jesus’ name… and we are willing to give all the glory to God, then we can expect to be able to do things like the disciples were able to. Don’t forget that God can see right through any pretence we may put up; He sees inside our hearts to see if we are genuinely trying to heal someone and give the glory to God! The same can be said for the person sitting next to you!

Points to Ponder:
Do you acknowledge God for whom He is?

Will you give God a chance to do something with you?