19. HARBOURING SPIRITS. Luke Chapt. 8 & 9.

Harbouring means we are giving something (a person, place or thing) a home, at least for a while if not permanently. Similar to a ship resting in a harbour, it’s a time and place to take on and deposit people and or goods. Spiritually speaking, we often give what I’ll call Minor Spirits this luxury. Allowing them to make harbour in us. Sometimes for a season, sometimes for longer and sometimes for a lifetime. I have identified six occasions in two of Luke’s Gospels (and there are many more in the other Gospels) where Jesus spoke on the spirits we harbour. I thought today I would look at these six and see what we can learn about ourselves and the potential drag on our future. I am not going to discus major spirits like Witchcraft, Murder, Drugs etc. But the smaller ones, because I believe the big problems people have with harbouring spirits have grown from something small that was not taken in hand much earlier in life and “nipped in the bud,” perhaps in childhood, when it was considered cute and funny but now has grown in to something quite serious and has the potential to get even worse. 1. Luke 9.12 ”Send the crowed away.” We can call this a Callus Spirit. One that doesn’t care, Rather than believing that Jesus could do something about feeding the five thousand, the disciples said just send them away to find food and lodging. One of the problems in ministry to day is... We can care more about crowds than individuals, we want contributors but don”t want to spend time on meeting and talking with people and trying to meet their individual needs. Only as we stay in touch with people’s needs can God use us to meet those needs. The old adage still rings true,”People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.’ 2. Luke 9.33 Peter said “ master it is good for us to be here, let us put up three shelters – One for You, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” Scripture says “he did not know what he was saying.” (A babbling spirit.) Peter had a penchant for saying whatever came into his mind., but this time it drew a strong rebuke from heaven. “This is my beloved Son hear Him.” in other words, zip up and listen. There is an important lesson here, our need to appear wise and have all the answers can get us into trouble with God and people. Generally speaking, we are not learning when we are talking so we need to be quiet, observe what’s going on and listen to what God may want to say to us. When we don’t know, we shouldn’t speak. People respect you more when you have the wisdom and humility to say “I’m Not sure about that matter, but if you give me a little time, I’ll pray about it and give it a bit more consideration and get back to you.” Experts tell us we are bombarded with 35,000 messages each day emales text messages, billboards, t.v. radio, twitter, face book, blogs etc. (Information overload,) people don’t need more information they need answers that work. God has those answers, so we need to talk to Him first, only then will we have something to say to others that is worth listening to. Prov 15.13 says Everyone enjoys a fitting reply, it is wonderful to say the right thing at the right time.” 3. Luke 8.22 25 v24 says “as they sailed a squall came down on the lake so that their boat was being swamped and they were in great danger. the Disciples woke Him saying Master, Master we are perishing.”(A spirit of fear or timidity) Take note what is at work in this story “Fear” Fear is natural, especially when we are encountering something we’ve never had to deal with before, and therefore there’s no past experience we can call on. This is why we should always pray for an increase of Faith, because it’s not until our faith surpasses our fear that we can deal with the problem of fear. No matter how many times God blesses us and answers our prayers, we still give into fear the next time we face a crises. Here’s a question, who told the disciples to get into the boat in the first place?. Jesus understood. Faith doesn’t exempt us from life’s storms, but it does equip us to go through them and when we are in the will of God, no storm no matter how severe will drag us under. Jesus knew the storm was coming even before He told them to get into the boat, so why did He expose them to it? I believe it was as in several other Scriptures, Jesus was equipping them for the future, and He does the same for us. For the Disciples it was for the time when He would no longer be with them in His humanity and they would have to face persecution, imprisonment and even death. So whatever it is, we are being prepared for today don’t be afraid, the Lord is with us and we are going to make it to the other side. One thing to remember is. Fear is natural, Faith is not, it has to be cultivated, developed and grow, this is achieved through trust and dependence on God. Try it with little things first and each time you graduate to a bigger thing your Faith will grow a little more. The more we learn to do that the stronger our faith will get. That’s what worked with the disciples, it took them three years and they were with Jesus all that time, so it will take time for us too but, it will be worth it. I will let you into a secret, I am almost blind, and have been so all my life, but, God has been beside me all the way, and shown me what Faith can do. At times things became extremely difficult, and there were several times I almost threw in the towel, especially six years ago when I was diagnosed with Glaucoma, I now only have very limited narrow tunnel vision. But, God is using me to write this series of “When God Speaks” to bring people to Him. One would think God would choose a fully sighted, clever Scripture Scholar, but No He chose me. Like Abraham with his dislocated hip to lead the Israelites, or Paul to write all those Epistles, I like to think He has chosen me an 86year old almost blind woman to write this series, not that I’m anything like those auspicious characters, but I believe God chooses the handicapped or inadequate to do His work so that people will know that it’s the hand of God at work and not their own. Therein lies Faith. When there is no other option than to do one’s best, dive in, trust and obey God things happen. 4. Luke 8.45-48. “And you say who touched me.” This is what I call an (undiscerning Spirit) What is at work here? Notice Peter’s words, “ Master the multitudes throng around you and You say who touched me.” I believe Jesus can tell the difference between the indiscriminate touch of the crowd and a touch of faith. Faith draws on His power and brings results. note v46 “I know that power has gone out of me” and v48 “YOUR FAITH has healed you”Jesus is not taking any credit for the healing. When our Faith touches Jesus the power goes out of Him and He can feel it. Also when we touch Jesus the source of His power the healing occurs (When we turn on a tap, we expect water to come out of it, if it doesn’t, we look for the blockage, I believe it’s the same with Christ, when we touch Jesus we should expect the healing, if it doesn’t happen we should look first at ourselves for what is stopping it. This woman must have walked some distance in considerable discomfort and pain, with just one thought on her mind and with absolute faith just touched the hem of His garment. The last thing a dressmaker does when making a garment is to sew up the hem, but before doing so she goes over all her work to make sure it’s okay Perhaps we should do the same, look for the blockages, what is there in me that is stopping the power of Jesus coming through. Fix it, then you can sew up the hem. And it is finished. This woman was the only person in that crowed who discerned the healing power of Jesus and had the Faith to exhibit it, So we need to develop a discerning spirit. So once again take a step back and pray quietly, and see what God is saying, not what the crowd is doing. 5. Luke 9.46-48. A dispute arose among them as to which of them would be the greatest.” (a self seeking spirit.) As long as our motive is to make ourselves look good we will never enjoy God’s approval, His “Well done” is the only thing that counts. The ability to serve behind the scenes and do it with joy, comes from the knowledge that ultimately our service will be recognised by the audience of One, the only ONE that matters. I believe Christ featured a child that day for three reasons, 1. Because a child is teachable. When we’re finished learning we’re finished. When we can’t or wont be told, God will have nothing more to tell us. Prov. 18.15. Tells us – The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge, the ears of the wise seek it out. 2. A child is trusting, when you promise a child something he believes you, He acts on it and believes it to be so. Psalm 118.8 says—It is better to trust in God than to put confidence in man. 3 A child is tender hearted, 1Peter 3.8.-- Finally be tender hearted. In Scripture the Holy Spirit is represented by a gentle dove, so we need to keep our hearts tender and receptive to His dealings. 6. Luke 9.54-56. “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of.” (A judgemental spirit).-- A pole taken by the “Barna Research Group” Reveals that most non-beli8evers view most Christians as too judgemental so it appears that we can be sincere but too severe. When we mix only with people who share our views and values we can have a tendency to communicate with others in ways that attack rather than attract. I know that never has it been more important to know the truth of God’s Word and stand on it. But if we have the right Doctrine and the wrong spirit, we will drive more people away from Christ than to Him. If Satan has his way ,he’ll drive holiness away from our hearts and into our fists. Imagine Christ’s disciples wanting to incinerate those people who didn’t agree with them. They weren’t even aware of the spirits that were in their own hearts. Jesus said in Matt 19.18-19. “Love your neighbour as yourself.” That includes our non-Christian neighbours. We don’t have to sell or even defend Jesus, we only have to introduce Him. Psalm 34.8 say “Taste and see that the Lord is Good.” So make Jesus the tastiest gift we can give away this Christmas. Thank you all for reading my thoughts on Harbouring unwanted Spirits. And resolve to accommodate only the Holy Spirit of God. Phaline. -----------------------------