My Evening Devotional

After calming the storm on the Sea and impressing upon the disciples His Lordship over both wind and sea (8:23-27), Jesus and those who followed Him came "into the country of the Gadarenes," The country was Gadara, but the region was Gerasa on the northeast shore of the Sea, in the Gentile area of the Decapolis. The demons that controlled the men had attacked them spiritually, physically, and mentally. The demoniacs lived among the tombs, a graveyard of sorts.They cut themselves with rocks—indicative of devil worship—and walked around naked (Luke 8:27) which was the epitome of shame in Israel (cf. Lev. 18:6-19).

The Sea of Galilee is known for sudden raging storms, and many of Jesus’ disciples were seasoned fishermen. So, it would seem the disciples would have been prepared. But things were happening beyond their control

Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” (Matthew 8:24-25).

when things come upon us suddenly, we find out what’s in our hearts.

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The New Testament records three of these resurrection miracles, including the raising of a widow's son, of Jairus' daughter, and of Lazarus

Luke the physician is the only one to record the raising of a widow's son

The widow's son lies in an open coffin on his way to his grave when Jesus performs the miracle

To give you some context, Jesus had just finished His Sermon on the Mount and was passing through Capernaum. Word must’ve gotten out that He was there because a Roman centurion sent Jewish leaders to find Jesus.

This man was Gentile and a Roman soldier. He should have been one of the last people to trust Jesus.

The centurion placed his trust into Jesus. He believed his servant would be healed.

In the Bible, the word leprosy is mentioned upwards of 40 times. Leprosy is a painful and infectious disease that is seen on the skin. The symptoms range from white patches on the skin to running sores to the loss of digits on the fingers and toes.A leper wasn’t allowed to come within six feet of any other human, including his own family. The disease was considered so revolting that the leper wasn’t permitted to come within 150 feet of anyone when the wind was blowing. Lepers lived in a community with other lepers until they either got better or died. This was the only way the people knew to contain the spread of the contagious forms of leprosy. Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed. 

Mark 1:30-31  Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they immediately told Jesus about her. Sohe went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left herand she began to wait on them.

Peter's wife's mother was sick with fever. In the Talmud, fever is described as a fire. The original Greek implies that she was seriously ill.  Just as Christ healed this faithful woman, he can heal us

Mark 1:23-28 Jesus was teaching on this occasion when He was suddenly and violently confronted by a demon-possessed man. The evil spirit immediately recognized Jesus as the Son of God, and, at the Savior's command, left his victim. This is the first of seven miracles where Jesus casts out evil spirits. This is the first of at least 3 occasions when evil spirits gave terrified testimony that Jesus was indeed God's Son

Luke 5:1-11 The Great Catch of Fish. Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch. Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done so, they caught such a large number offish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

The father was a nobleman, yet the son was sick. Honours and titles are no security from sickness and death. The greatest men must go themselves to God, must become beggars. The nobleman did not stop from his request till he prevailed. But at firsthe discovered the weakness of his faith in the power of Christ.

As found in the Gospels, here are miracles Jesus performed up to His Crucifixion and Resurrection. There are many miraculous works of Christ recorded in the Bible, as He continues to help mankind in heavenly ways today! Jesus changed water into wine The first recorded miracle in the New Testament