November 16, 2020

Today’s reading
Mark 1
Focusing on verses 23-28

I love the book of Mark. I’m not sure if you are supposed to favor one book of the Bible over the other, but Mark is my favorite gospel. I love how it is written, I love the theme of it (Jesus as a servant) Over the next few devotions I get to write I thought I would share with you some of my favorite passages from the book of Mark.
First off the book of Mark tells us what the subject is about in verse 1. It’s the most important subject we could ever discuss “the gospel of Jesus Christ” Really sets the tone for the book doesn’t it? There are a number of things we could talk about from this first chapter. We could focus on the ministry of John the Baptist, or the temptation of Jesus, or even Jesus choosing His first disciples, but instead I want to look at the miracle Jesus performs in verse 23-28. If you haven’t done so go ahead and read those verses please.
Notice the Spirit starts the conversation with Jesus. Tells Jesus to leave us alone. How many of us are guilty of that very thing? Oh sure we don’t come out and say it but how many of us at some point in our lives have responded to Jesus in a way that says “Just leave me alone” whether it was with our attitude or by our behavior. I know there have been times in my life I have been convicted of sin that I just refused to deal with. In a sense I’m telling the Lord to “leave me alone.” I have felt the Lord tell me I needed to do something, or make something right with a brother or sister but I have disobeyed. In my own way that is me telling the Lord to “leave me alone” Notice also with me that the Spirit isn’t confused on who Jesus is, this isn’t a case of mistaken identity. He didn’t tell Jesus to leave him alone because he thought Jesus was a phony or an imposter. He correctly identifies Jesus in verse 24 he says “I know you, you are the Holy One of God.” Think about that for a minute, when we in our own way tell Jesus to “leave us alone” we are saying that to the Holy One of God, God’s only Son. The sad part of this story is the spirit knew full well who Jesus was but he refused to worship and submit to Him. Hopefully you and I are more wise than to know who Jesus is (I mean we must because we asked Him to be our Savior and Redeemer) and not truly submit to Him and worship Him. I hope today you don’t have the attitude of “leave me alone” if anything we need more of Jesus . Join me today in recognizing as the spirit did the power and the person of Jesus but let’s respond in a different way.

Frank Newsome