“Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” Matthew 9:33b (NIV)
Jesus was healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind and casting out demons and the people were coming to Him! Word spread about Him and people were amazed everywhere He went, proclaiming we have never seen anything like this in our land, ever!
Yet the Pharisees said it was the work of the devil! Sadly, much of the church still makes this claim against what the Holy Spirit is doing. As Jesus is moving powerfully in this dark hour, that same religious spirit that was operating in the Pharisees is manifesting now!
Two views, two filters, two ways to perceive what is going on… We can come in faith believing Jesus is doing something amazing, something never done in our land before! We can chase after in Him in desperation, cry out to Him for mercy, shout out in audacity for healing like the two blind men who screamed loudly and followed Jesus into a home (Matthew 9:27), seeking His touch, AND received it! Or we can be like the Pharisees, who did not have eyes to see that God was in their midst. It didn’t matter what Jesus did, as He healed the sick, cast out demons, even raised the dead, but this religious spirit was more concerned about maintaining control by mandating the law! Which view is yours? Which view does your pastor, and your church take? This is a serious question to consider!
As we press into a day where the greatest move of God, ever, is beginning to materialize, please pray that your eyes would be open to see what God is doing, even if it is something new. And btw, always let the Holy Spirit and the Bible be your filter, not man, not ‘the way we have always done it,’ not even your church’s theological stance (as that is an interpretation of the word). Pray for your pastor and church leadership to have eyes to see what the Holy Spirit is doing today is not the work of the devil! Pray that across Athens we would hear people saying about the work of Jesus, ‘we have never seen anything like this in our city!’ Cry out like the two blind men who audaciously shouted and followed Jesus and received what they were seeking… their sight! May God give us eyes to see what He is doing today!
