FOCUS Day Forty-Two | Mark 1:29-39 by Abigail
DAY FORTY-TWO | Mark 1:29-39 by Abigail
Now, as soon as they left the meeting, they went straight to Simon and Andrew’s house, along with Jacob and John. Simon’s mother-in-law was bedridden, sick with a high fever, so the first thing they did was to tell Jesus about her. He walked up to her bedside, gently took her hand, and raised her up! Her fever disappeared and she began to serve them.
Later in the day, just after the Sabbath ended at sunset, the people kept bringing to Jesus all who were sick and tormented by demons, until the whole village was crowded around the house. Jesus cured many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons. But he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew who he really was.
The next morning, Jesus got up long before daylight, left the house while it was dark, and made his way to a secluded place to give himself to prayer. Later, Simon and his friends searched for him, and when they finally tracked him down, they told him, “Everyone is looking for you—they want you!”
Jesus replied, “We have to go on to the surrounding villages so that I can give my message to the people there, for that is my mission.” So he went throughout the region of Galilee, preaching in the Jewish synagogues and casting out demons.
The Weight and the Glory
Have you ever been overwhelmed by the demands of life?
In this story, Jesus had already had quite the day, having taught and cast out unclean spirits in the synagogue in Capernaum. Mark tells us that when He was done in the synagogue, that He was immediately called to Peter’s house. Peters mother-in-law was sick and so of course, the first thing they did was get Jesus. When He healed her the whole village went crazy bringing everyone who was sick or demon possessed to Him. There are so many people who wanted to be healed or just watch, that the house was surrounded by people.
Reading this story made me think of how sometimes things can feel busy or full, and I can feel overwhelmed. Sometimes I feel this way even in the midst of really good things happening. This has happened occasionally when my family has been ministering at a conference or been invited to a church to speak. Sometimes, when God shows up in a special way, it seems like everyone wants prayer of to get a word from God. It is really beautiful to watch God work, but sometimes I can feel a lot of pressure to make something happen.
I think the pressure is there, because when I pray for people, or give them a word that seems accurate, sometimes people will misunderstand and think that it was all me. They think that I have some special gift, instead of realizing that God is the One that was really doing the ministering. When this happens, sometimes people will give the messenger the credit instead of the One who sent the message.
Over time, I gradually started to think that maybe “I” did something amazing instead of giving every bit of the credit to God. I realize now that I was taking both the credit and the weight of the responsibility for needing to minister to people. Eventually, I got really tired and even at a young age, I felt like I was getting close to being burnt out.
The pressure that I would put on to myself was making me tired and dry. I was at a place where the lie that “I” was doing the cool things had become exhausting. I had stopped giving the credit to God. I realized that ministering to others was only life giving when it was all coming from Jesus, and I was able to give Him glory for it. When we try to get prophetic words, heal or preach without recognizing that it all comes from Jesus, we are operating in our own strength, and that is draining.
But we don’t have to minister in our own strength. We can lean into Jesus and learn from Him. He never let the demands of the crowds get to Him. He relied on the One who sent Him and gave Him all of the glory.
Jesus was really committed to spending time with the Father. We see how Jesus often takes the time to go and be with the Father after a day filled with healings and miracles. He was a human. He got tired, as we all do, and He knew that He needed to take the time to rest in the Father and be with Him.
This scripture says, “The next morning, Jesus got up long before daylight, left the house while it was dark, and made his way to a secluded place to give himself to prayer”.
I think it is important, in the moments when a lot is going on, to take time to be with the Father and give ourselves to Him in prayer. I saw this in my life soon after I followed Jesus’s good example of spending time with the Father. That is when overflowing life started to come back to me.
Since then, whenever I get the opportunity to serve others or minister to them, Jesus has helped me to remember that the weight of responsibility and all of the glory belongs to Him. He has shown me more of Himself as I learn to give it all to Him and focus on spending time with Jesus. I’m learning to let Him be the One to do the heavy lifting.
I pray that we can let Jesus have the weight and the glory. I pray that we can remember Who every gift we have is from. Let’s remember to take the time to pray and be alone with the Father, even in the mist of crazy times.
