Mark 5:1-20
The scary “even the wind and sea obey Him,” experience leads to all the fellas experiencing more stretching: “they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes.”
Immediately they entered a very scary horror movie!!
Legion possessed by likely thousands of demons…”thousands”…he was tormented, suicidal, cutting himself, crying out…sleepless and alone…who in your life is depressed and oppressed? Perhaps reaching out in prayer, a kind word or some other grace gesture may be helpful today…Would you know what to do as a disciple of Jesus if you ran into a demon possessed person?
Remember disciples are made during storms and after teaching comes the testing leading to the victory of your TESTimony
Legion has enough faith and trust in Jesus to run AT Jesus the moment he sees him. Run to Jesus no matter what problem you are facing today…”he ran and worshipped HIM.”
Here is one way to cast a demon out:
1. Walk in the Spirit
2. Rely on Jesus
3. Obey exactly and only what He tells you…
Jesus said, “Come out of the man, unclean Spirit.” Let the Holy Spirit do the work in Jesus’ name.
Notice the demons asked Jesus to send them into the pigs…even demons would prefer to dwell in suicidal pigs than go and be with Satan…
Jesus does three things here:
1. He coached his disciples through their fears from physical storms to spiritual storms giving victory to everyone in each circumstance…your victory is coming too!
2. He rescues Legion.
3. He exposes the spiritual realm while redeeming mistakes made by Reuben, Gad and half tribe of Manasseh generations ago. God will go to the ends of the earth to redeem your mistakes too…often in unconventional ways.
In Num 32:1-5 Reuben, Gad and half tribe of Manasseh settled on the wrong side of the Jordan because “we have cattle and this land is good for cattle.” That compromise was one of many factors leading to the Israelites only garnering at most 10% of God’s promise land for them.
Here Jesus goes back to the GADarenes and eliminated pig farming (which no Jew was supposed to be doing) and allows the complete ruin of their local economy as he sets Legion free, he goes to the Decapolis (10 cities) to share his testimony, (let God take you where he wants so the Gospel goes where and to whom it is needed most).
The fruit of all this was Legion was “sitting, and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid.”
The cost of saving one life seems excessive…until you remember what Jesus did to save you and me. Who today gets the joy of salvation and deliverance because of your obedience to answer the Lord’s still small voice in and around your life today?