JESUS, the MIRACLE WORKER (18)

Section Three: 
Jesus, the Miracle Worker

11. A Man of Marvels 12. Crisis Manager 13. Captain of My Ship 14. A Miraculous Multiplier 15. A Leader Worth Following 16. The Great Empathizer 17. The Divine Ophthalmologist 18. Spiritually Sovereign

#18 Spiritually Sovereign
I am so thankful that JESUS is spiritually Sovereign
in ALL His 
ways

"God’s sovereignty is His right and power to do all that He decides to do.  Job 42:2:“I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.”" ~John Piper ["Sovereign" means being the Ultimate Source of all power, authority & everything that exists. Only God can make those claims!]

Many places defining this online were incorrect in my opinion, because they were mystic in origin. You need to be careful in who the source is when doing any search.
Sovereignty is God's absolute right because it comes from & depends upon our Creator.
You Version (YV) plans that go along with
SOVEREIGNTY
For this final week in JESUS, the MIRACLE WORKER, I will be reading on SOVEREIGNTY.

The following scriptures are the ones highlighted for JESUS, Spiritually Sovereign this week:

Mark 5:1-20; Mark 1:21-34; Matthew 12:43-45; James 4:4-10; 1 John 3:4-10

and the 5 segments/ subtitles are:

"Heavenly Rebellion" Mark 5; Genesis 1:31; 3:1 "Demons are Real" Mark 1:22-27; Mark 1:32-34; 39 "Demons are Vicious" Mark 5:2;3-5,13 Ps106:34-37 "Agents of Sin & Death" Matthew 12:45 *"Demons are Vanquished" James 4:7; 1 John 4:4; Colossians 2:15

I have to agree empathetically with the *opening statement* when I attempt to state anything about "demons" as you can see from the above subtitles & scriptures that JESUS, as the MIRACLE WORKER, dealt with demons and deliverance, to show us that demons are no match for JESUS & how we as followers of JESUS Christ, in whom Jesus lives, can rely on His power in our spiritual warfare ...

"I don't want to make the mistake of underestimating or overestimating the power of demons."

But demons are no match for the power of JESUS! The verses listed in that last subtitle are the 3 most important verses in the Bible of JESUS over demons. 

"Lord, give me eyes to see the spiritual realm as You see it, confident that the power of the Holy Spirit is alive in me through Christ."

Demons will attack, but when you trust JESUS Christ as your Savior, God's Holy Spirit comes to live within us & scripture tells us "greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world" ... take the authority of JESUS and bind these demonic forces & defeat them in Jesus' name
Followers of Jesus can never be possessed or defeated, if the Holy Spirit has control but we can be demon-influenced, which is why we need to stay & be in the Word, keep up our spiritual guard (& flee), continue always to pray (with the sword of the Spirit) and fight falling into temptation or the lies we listen to or battle in our minds. JESUS came & delivers us if you follow Him closely & pursue His truth & avoid being deceived. 

"... And lead us not into temptationbut deliver us from evil ..."
For Thine is the power, & the glory & the Kingdom,
Now and Forever
AND
the devil & his demons
lose

JESUS
is
SOVEREIGN
SPIRITUALLY SOVEREIGN
absolutely
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10 Powerful PRAYERS for DELIVERANCE

JESUS
is our
MIRACLE WORKER

JESUS, the MIRACLE WORKER (17)

Section Three: 
Jesus, the Miracle Worker

11. A Man of Marvels 12. Crisis Manager 13. Captain of My Ship 14. A Miraculous Multiplier 15. A Leader Worth Following 16. The Great Empathizer 17. The Divine Ophthalmologist 18. Spiritually Sovereign

#17 The Divine Ophthalmologist
Just in case, you wondered ... & wanted it confirmed

"Optometrists examine, diagnose, and treat patients' eyes. Ophthalmologists are eye doctors who perform medical and surgical treatments for eye conditions."

"Jesus gives sight to those who chose to see who He is. Those who refuse remain in darkness."
[Sidenote: Interesting to find out that there are a few churches who have done52 Weeks with JESUShere's one on this chapter - start at 23:00 for just the sermon]
JESUSisbothOphthalmologist & Optometristbut alwaysDivine
He is known also as

The God Who Sees Me

When I read this title, The Divine Ophthalmologist, that was the first thing that came to my mind, as well as the old adage "seeing is believing" (which you'll notice in the segment/ subtitles reversed). More and more I appreciate how precious all of our senses are, yet sight truly seems to be the one I am so thankful to have (even with glasses), but more importantly just how wonderful God created us to see with our physical eyes yet how much more important it is to see with our spiritual eyes. Most of the time, we are particularly thankful when God sees us, when we feel He has His eye watching over us ... and I'm sure if we are truthful that there are times that we wouldn't want God to see, yet He still does. I really believe that God wants us to notice Him daily, to take the time and see Him, in everything around us. God desires to be seen through us and to us in our daily interactions & intimately see Him in our lives.

This week, we see JESUS, the Miracle Worker in these scriptures:

John 9:1-41; John 3:16-21; Matthew 4:12-16;  Acts 26:12-18; John 1:1-18

The segments/subtitles in The Divine Ophthalmologist are the following:

"Spiritual Blindness" * "What Did He Do to Deserve This?" John 9:2-3 "Believing is Seeing" "Receive What Jesus Has" John 9:8,10 "Conceive Who Jesus Is" John 9:35-38,11,17,31-33)

* "... If you don't have Jesus, you are living in spiritual darkness." ...  (maybe you have) perfect 20/20 vision but (are) spiritually blind...
"People who refuse to believe in Jesus Christ don't have a physical problem, they have a spiritual problem." 
 It is my personal opinion that sadly there are Christians, right now that are spiritually blind to JESUS & being true followers. They seem to be wearing "blinders" like race horses. The purpose for the race horses is to keep the horse focused on what is in front of them, encouraging them to pay attention to the race and not be distracted by the crowds of people or be spooked. Blinders reduce their field of vision. Horses rely on their instincts to take flight when they perceive a threat. Horses survive this way, and believe to avoid harm depends on their ability to put distance between themselves and perceived dangers; seems similar to some Christians with unfounded fears being stoked in our current society with many "lies" being pushed unnecessarily & put into motion to instill a defensiveness. Blinded by the real truths, deceived by the father of lies, they seek to divide to conquer & seem to have lost sight - blinded rather than focused on JESUS & running a good race {and my how we all need to focus to run a good race & avoid the many distractions} too many are distracted by the crowds & spook easily; unwilling to seek unity & compassion for others different from them; they no longer listen and are quick to bullying in words & actions, triggered to attack, confront & oppose with violence. Definitely, this is a spiritual problem in our nation caused by spiritual blindness and in much need of spiritual warfare to pull down all spiritual principalities waging war and not extending the peace of JESUS to others. Their spiritual vision has been reduced to very one-sided and at times - purely selfish for their own goals; not those of JESUS at all. They might profess that they believe in Jesus Christ but their fear causes their actions & words to do the exact opposite of what JESUS came to teach us & show us, which has now spiraled into an outrage of evil and injustices against 'others' & done in the name of JESUS (falsely). Perhaps you might have been caught up in this, take off your spiritual blinders & ask JESUS to reveal His truth, His will, His way to resolve & bridge the enormous gap evolving.
There are good YV plans that touch on this & "How to Love People You Disagree With" (in case you read my opinion above & happen to disagree with me), "Culture Wars", "How Not To Save the World" and some others ...
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JESUSis theMIRACLE WORKERwho is in the business of healing still
Blind eyes & Deaf earsare opened by the One who sees usour true color and motivesneed to line up with HisMay He open yoursheart, eyes, ears & mind!

"Oh, El Roi, You are the God who sees me. When I feel ushered to the sidelines or forgotten by friends, family, or coworkers, I know You’re working behind the scenes. God, as I review over past weeks, even years, I’ve witnessed You working in miraculous ways. I know You have seen me in the past, when no one else did. And so I can fully trust that You will continue to care for me, even when I’ve entered the darkest valley." Lord Jesus, I am desperate for You. Shine Your light in my heart so that I may shine as a witness that You are the Light of the world {a world filled more & more with such darkness, that needs You to penetrate the darkness and breakthrough with Your Light; a world that needs to cry out for Your mercy & grace, forgiveness & power to overcome evil; pierce the darkness with Your Light; & heal the sight of Your people to see You & only hear You as the Savior of this world. Deliver us & fill us with Spirit of love & compassion.}

God gives us eyes to see Him!
Let us see God in our neighbors throughout our nation!
God created ALL in His Image!
Take off whatever is blocking your vision of truly SEEING this in others.
JESUS
"GIVE ME YOUR EYES"Brandon Heath
...Give me Your eyes for just one second
Give me Your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missin'
Give me Your love for humanity
Give me Your arms for the broken-hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me Your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me Your eyes so I can see...
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EYES
filled with
COMPASSION
for one another
(certainly not the hate and fear I see)
It's time to get your eyes checked by
The Divine Ophthalmologist
to surgically remove what's hindering them
from seeing
JESUS
in
others
and
preventing others from seeing
JESUS
in
YOU
but
just as important
blocking your vision of God
Day by Day
SEEING HIM MORE CLEARLY
LOVING - MORE DEARLY
FOLLOWING HIM
MORE NEARLY
🕈
TURN YOUR EYES
UPON
JESUS
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Wishing a heavenward sent Anniversary wish to my Mom & Dad on this day!