Word of the Week

2/13/10

And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. But when Jesus saw her, He called her to him, and said to her, "Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity." And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. "So ought not this woman, …whom Satan has bound…for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond…?" Luke 13:11-13, 16 (NKJV)

This woman had a physical weakness/defect that had kept her in bondage, bent over, and bound by Satan for eighteen years, nearly a generation. At this point she was so bound that there was no way she could raise herself up by her own efforts. Only Jesus’ power over sin and Satan could set her free. Jesus was the One who saw her, the One who called her to Him, and the One who spoke hope and healing into her hopelessness. When He touched her, she was immediately and completely set free and made whole. She was no longer bent under the weight of sin. She was made straight. Now she was not subject to physical weakness, and her spirit was free to glorify God.

When we yield to physical temptations that feed our selfish lusts and desires, we become ensnared by sin. We allow Satan an entrance into our lives. He then binds us as we become more and more crippled by the sins we once embraced. Sometimes actual demons attach to or indwell people. But one way or another Satan begins to rule us until we are no longer able to free ourselves by our own efforts. Death and destruction are ours until and unless Jesus through a sovereign act of His will sets us free. On that day we are truly healed so our lives may glorify God.

PRAYER: Jesus, help me to quickly turn to You at Satan’s first words so that I do not become ensnared and bound by Satan in any area of my life. As you see me crippled and bound by sins of the flesh, please call me to You, speak words of power and healing to me, touch me, and set me free so I can glorify God.