The Power Of Our Response
BRD REFLECTION 2025
Luke 9 and Psalm 22:1-21 (NIV)
(Celine Sia from Small Group Ministry)
READ:
Read Luke 9 and Psalm 22 (NIV)
OBSERVE:
I focused on the passages in Luke 9 that showed the great lengths Jesus went to to reach out to the crowds to preach about the Kingdom of God. He sent His twelve disciples out telling them to take nothing, not even a change of clothes. Jesus also welcomed and taught a large crowd of thousands for a whole day, and even late into the day when there was no food in the secluded spot. He rebuked His disciples who wanted Him to call down fire to destroy the Samaritan village that rejected them. But I also noted that before Jesus sent out His disciples, He told them that for those people who refused to welcome them and their message, they were to shake the dust off their feet and “abandon those people to their fate” (v5). And this fate is reflected in Psalm 22:1, David’s foretelling of Jesus’ Words as He hung on the Cross.
APPLY:
Jesus told the crowds and His disciples of the great cost of following Him. At the same time, He proved to His closest disciples that following Him would lead to the Almighty Yahweh. He also showed the crowds who followed Him, His power and miracles. For those like Peter, who declared that Jesus is the Messiah sent from God, and for Peter, James and John who got to hear God’s voice and see Moses and Elijah, they all saw the “majestic display of God’s power” (v43). To those who did not heed His call, they would be left confused like Herod, or be unable to experience God’s power because of their faithlessness, like the crowds watching Jesus deliver the boy from the evil spirit. And ultimately, a final rejection of Jesus means the horror of being separated from God forever.
These verses remind me to seek and experience God’s power in my life, through His Word, through my personal walk with Him, and also through sharing who He is freely and intentionally.
DO:
I will:
• build up my faith by reading His Word which is the Truth
• believe that God answers my prayers to Him
• reach out to others, trusting in His power in me to speak words of life and light to the lost.
PRAY:
Father God, help me to experience Your majesty and power each day, through the gift and growth of faith in Your Word, in my prayers, and trusting that I will see the harvest from the seeds sown even on hard ground. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
