Thursday after the Festival of the Transfiguration of our Lord
Scripture: St. Matthew 9:27-38 (NKJV)
9:27 When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, “Son of David, have mercy on us!”
28 And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”
They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”
29 Then He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be to you.” 30 And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, saying, “See that no one knows it.” 31 But when they had departed, they spread the news about Him in all that country.
32 As they went out, behold, they brought to Him a man, mute and demon-possessed. 33 And when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke. And the multitudes marveled, saying, “It was never seen like this in Israel!”
34 But the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.”
35 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. 36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. 37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
Devotion
It is not enough just to talk about Jesus. We should pray that we speak of Him properly, confessing His whole truth in the time and manner that is faithful to His will.
Good intentions are not enough. One of the unhelpful messages of false teachers is that we should go and yak at people about Jesus in every time and place that seems right in our own eyes. That is not to say that God cannot work good through such occasions. But the better focus is to learn discernment from His wisdom and show forth His humility and mercy as mature sons and daughters of God.
The devil and his fallen angels would have us err in either direction. The enemy would have us babbling about things carelessly, or he would have us mute and turned inward. The Word and Spirit of God drives out such things and makes us faithful and wise according to His kingdom and righteousness. Our speech is not to glorify ourselves (or our own efforts in trying to glorify God), nor is our silence to be vain avoidance of His holy work. All that we do and say should be focused on revealing the holy Words and will of God in faith and discipline. By His gracious will and power we are to be made to show forth the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, and Him crucified for our forgiveness!
We pray: Almighty and Everlasting God, mercifully look upon our infirmities, and in all our dangers and necessities stretch forth the right hand of Thy majesty to help and defend us; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
