One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. Acts 19:15-16.

They found Him in the temple . . . And He said to them, “Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” Luke 2:46, 49.

“I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11.

And continuing our 351 Old Testament prophecies, promises of God, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, we come to number 105: He went about doing good. Psalm 38:20: And those who repay evil for good, they oppose me, because I follow what is good. And, Acts 10:38: “You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

The first Scripture verse cited above was in Hearing God by Dallas Willard and he wrote: “What happens if words of kingdom authority are spoken without prayer, without an understanding of the kingdom or without faith, hope and love? A traveling troupe of Jewish exorcists, the seven sons of Sceva, found out. When they saw the miracles of God worked through Paul, they imitated the words Paul used, mistaking them for incantations rather than intelligent, rational discourse within the kingdom. The demons they tried to exorcise recognized their fakery and attacked them. (This caused believers who had been using spells to forsake magic so that the word of the Lord spread |v. 20]!)” And the second Scripture verse cited was from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers and he wrote: “Our Lord’s childhood was not immaturity waiting to grow into manhood – His childhood is an eternal fact. Am I a holy, innocent child of God as a result of my identification with my LORD and Savior? Do I look at my life as being in my Father’s house? Is the Son of God living in His Father’s house within me? The life of your LORD is to become your vital, simple life, and the way He worked and lived among people while here on earth must be the way He works and lives in you.”

Which brings us to the third Scripture verse cited which is Creator God Himself telling us of His plans for us that are for our good and not for disaster. In this world there will be disasters but it is as we draw near to God and let Him draw near to us that it becomes His very presence with us that is our comfort, help and strength. This morning in our Friday Zoom retreat, I shared the first chapter of the book Luke the Greatest Love Story Ever Told (The Devotion of A Farmer Girl) by Erica DeWaard. I love how so many different people from many different walks of life are sharing their love for God and how He is working in their lives, which is the Holy Spirit being about our Father’s business in us. Jesus taught for three years – roughly 1,095 days. And yet look at that impact thousands of years later. We can read about famous people in history and their impact in our world, but Jesus the Son, Creator God, enters into our very lives now bringing us hope and understanding that changes everything as we navigate in this fallen world. It truly is the way He worked and lived among the people living then because He, Creator God, personally lived and worked and taught and healed among those very people for those three years. Imagine being Luke, a gentile Greek physician, interviewing people who had seen Jesus and were able to share with him their memories that he then organized in the Gospel of Luke and in The Acts of the Apostles. And he traveled with the Apostle Paul so that his writings were then first-hand accounts. Truly a love story about God’s love for us that has no ending and is being written still in our own lives being led by God. Have we ever considered that? Our part in this ongoing love story is being lived still today. Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name. “They will be Mine,” says the LORD of hosts, “on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.” Malachi 3:16-17. The Holy Spirit is doing His work in us as we turn to God every day and remember and draw upon His love to guide us forward. Trusting God is our own personal act of worship lived every single day with Him who loves us and calls us His own.

***PSALM 23 The LORD is my Shepherd; I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters; He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. This prayer is a composite of Bible translations.***