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Luke 8 - Devotion · The Five Minute Bible Podcast

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  Welcome to Five Minute Bible in our journey through the New
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  Testament. In each episode, we take just a
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  few minutes to focus on one chapter of the New Testament,
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  exploring the truths God is teaching us through His Word and
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  expanding our view of who He is. Before you listen, make sure
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  you've gone straight to the source, either by reading
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  today's chapter of the Bible yourself or listening to today's
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  read along episode in this podcast feed.
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  If you haven't done that yet, feel free to pause and do that
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  now. When you're ready, let's dive
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  into God's Word together. In Luke chapter 8, we see Jesus
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  perform a series of four miracles consecutively.
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  In particular, he stills the sea, he cast out demons, he
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  heals A hemorrhagic woman, and he raises a dead girl back to
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  life. On the surface, these miracles
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  may seem like unconnected examples of Jesus being Jesus.
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  When we look at them as a group, we find that the Holy Spirit is
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  teaching us a powerful truth about power and fear.
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  In this 8th chapter of Luke, let me show you what I mean.
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  In the first story, we find the disciples caught in a great
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  storm on the water. They come to Jesus, who's asleep
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  on the boat, and wake him up, saying, Master, Master, we are
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  perishing. They are afraid of this storm.
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  Jesus gets up, rebukes the wind and waves, and the storm is
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  calmed. Now listen to the language of
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  verse 25. And he said to them, where is
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  your faith? They were fearful and amazed,
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  saying to one another, who then is this that he commands even
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  the winds and the water, and they obey him.
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  As they see the power of Jesus over nature.
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  Their fear of the storm is replaced by a fear and amazement
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  at their master Jesus. In the next story, as we've seen
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  before in other accounts, Jesus cast out legion from a man who
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  dwelled among the tombs. After this act demonstrating
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  Jesus power over demons, the people of the city become
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  frightened. They see the power of Jesus and
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  our verse 37 says gripped with great fear.
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  They weren't afraid of the demons anymore, they were afraid
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  of the one who had power over them.
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  Then we see Jesus heal the hemorrhagic woman.
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  She's been bleeding for 12 years and has been unable to find
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  healing anywhere. She approaches Jesus in the
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  crowd and touches the fringe of his cloak, and immediately she's
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  healed Jesus, demonstrating his power over sickness and disease.
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  Jesus notices what has happened and calls for the one who
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  touched him to come forward. The woman came trembling,
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  afraid, and fell down before him and told him why she touched
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  him. Jesus responds in verse 48.
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  Daughter, your faith has made you well.
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  Go in peace. She was afraid of what might
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  happen to her as a result of her boldness, but Jesus honors her
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  and blesses her. Finally we see Jesus raise the
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  daughter of Jairus from the dead.
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  As he's talking with the hemorrhagic woman, someone from
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  Jairus's house comes to tell him that he need not bother Jesus
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  anymore, it is too late, his daughter is dead.
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  Jesus hears this news and says do not be afraid any longer,
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  only believe and she will be made.
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  Well, there's that fear again. Jesus enters Jairus house and
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  raises the girl back to life with a word and a touch and her
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  parents are left in amazement. So in these four stories we see
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  Jesus demonstrate his power over nature, his power over demons,
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  his power over sickness, and his power over death.
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  And in all four stories as a whole, we see that because of
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  Jesus, we need not fear anything or anyone except for the Lord
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  himself. If our Savior has the power over
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  nature, over the spiritual realm, over sickness, and even
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  over death, what is there to fear?
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  Nothing. Nothing except the one who
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  possesses that power. And when we fear the Lord, when
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  He alone is the one we honor and esteem and hold in high holy
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  reverence, we will not receive his anger or His wrath or His
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  power poured out against us. Rather, like the hemorrhagic
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  woman, we will receive from him a healing touch, a blessing, a
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  word of kindness. This is not to say that in this
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  life we will not have trouble. In fact, the reality is just the
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  opposite. But when we meet those difficult
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  circumstances, when we experience pain and suffering,
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  we can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the One who is able
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  with a word to remove every one of those painful circumstances
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  from our lives is with us. And even when He chooses for our
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  good to allow those trials to remain, we need not fear because
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  He is still with us. For He Himself has said, I will
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  never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.
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  So do not fear what life throws at you, fear God alone.