Prayer Works Morning Devotion April 1, 2026

A Chapter By Chapter Study Of The Gospels:

Luke Chapter 9

4While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: 5“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up. 6Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. 8Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”

When he said this, he called out, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

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Good morning, family. Welcome to the Prayer Works Morning Devotion. I pray that you all have had a restful and peaceful night, uninterrupted sleep, and that you've woken this morning refreshed, revitalized, and ready to take on the challenges that will certainly come this day.

I pray for your faith to be strengthened and God continue to walk ahead of you and make your crooked roads straight. Let us go to the throne of grace. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day.

We thank you for your grace and mercy in our lives this day that you have woken us and that you have taken us from yesterday into this new day with new grace and new mercies which we will claim and walk in according to your will for our lives.

Give us the strength and the faith and the courage to meet the challenges today. Give us your undivided attention, Father, as you always do, keeping us, protecting us, and guarding our lives jealously.

We thank you, Father, that you have walked with us all of our lives, and you've blessed us and shown us and pruned us as we walk this path of righteousness. We ask Your blessing this day now, and we pray for the Word that You have given to me.

And I pray that You help this Word to be brought across Your way. Remove from me anything, Father, that would detract from this Word, touching the hearts and minds of those that You want it to touch and just plant a seed.

I pray, Father, that I will not get in the way. I pray that only your word will get in the way and that your word will lead us according to your will. So I thank you now and ask your blessing as we come together to give you our devotion this day.

And it's in Jesus name we pray, Amen. So good morning, family. Obviously, Pastor Zee is not on today, but has asked me to step in for him. And so I am going to take the mantle this morning and as God rests upon me to speak and bring this word to you.

I pray that you will get what God wants you to get out of it. So today, family, we are in Luke 8. And as Pastor Zee often does, it starts off and says, After this, right? So after this, after what?

Yesterday, we learned about John the Baptist. We learned about the faith of the Roman centurion, which that was a big deal in the time Jesus had mentioned that he had not found such great faith.

Even in Israel, because this man felt so lowly in his request for Jesus to speak a word, that he didn't even want Jesus to come into his home, but recognize Jesus for who he was and this was huge.

And also we learned that Jesus raised the dead, that there was a young man who died and left his mother a widow and that Jesus had compassion for him and he raised him from the dead and gave him back to his mother.

And then also through all these things John the Baptist who at the time was in prison sent word to his, through his uh disciples to Jesus to ask if Jesus was the one or if there was another one to come after him and if you recall Jesus uh said to uh those messengers.

Um that um tell John that What you have seen and heard is that the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, and the deaf hear and the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.

Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me and then of course he goes on to address the crowd and say the question is what did you go out into the wilderness to see a read swayed by the wind if not, what did you go out to see?

A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear expensive clothes and indulge in luxury are in palaces. But what did you go out to see? A prophet. Yes, and I tell you that more than a prophet.

This is the one whom it is written, I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you. I tell you, those born of women, of those born of women, there is no one greater than John, yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.

And finally it ends with, all the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus words, acknowledged that God's way was right, because they had been baptized by John, but the Pharisees and the experts in the law rejected God's purposes for themselves because they had not been baptized by John.

So, in chapter 8, After all these things, it goes on to say, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases.

Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had come out, Joanna, the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod's household, Susanna, and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.

So why does Luke go into such detail about these? And the other thing is, notice that it says the twelve were with him. Why is this even mentioned? Well, it seems as though, if you reflect back on after Jesus baptism and his being in the wilderness and being tempted, it says that he went off and started his ministry.

So, at that time, the first time, he didn't have the disciples with him. He hadn't chosen those twelve. And so, this now begins the second, as you would say, the second tour of his ministry, but this time he had the twelve with him.

And the other question here is, why is this a big deal about women being mentioned? Luke especially he identifies these women who followed Jesus uh specifically because it was unusual for women to even be recognized at this time.

Because of the attitude that were against women by the religious leaders and teachers of that day and you know it goes on to say in the research that I did for this, the rabbis then refused to teach women and genuinely assigned them a very inferior place.

So it's interesting when you look at this through a lens of humanity that all of the four gospels point to Jesus's enemies as being men. So it specifically goes into Mary being called Mary Magdalene.

Mary had been demon possessed until Jesus freed her. And many also assume that she was given over to immorality. But we don't see this in Bible text. But this is the assumption.

Mostly seeing her as a beautiful woman who Jesus had saved from an immoral life, there is nothing whatever in the Bible to indicate that she lived an immoral life. But we know that she was freed from a demon-possessed life.

The scripture also points to Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward. And we know that being close to Herod, it seems to me that, and this is just my opinion, if you work for an evil man, you tend to become evil.

But something in Chuza, I mean, something in Joanna, must have struck her to the core that when she heard the words of Jesus and heard about Jesus, that she was driven to be with Jesus, even though she was a steward for Herod.

It goes on to say that while a large crowd was gathering and people were coming, to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable. It goes on to say, A farmer went out to show his seed, to sow his seed, rather, and he was scattering the seed.

Some fell along the path, it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up. Some fell on the rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among the thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants.

Still, other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop a hundred times more than was sown. When he said this, he called out, whoever has ears to hear, let them hear. His disciples asked him what this parable meant.

And he said, the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God have been given to you, but to others I speak in parables so that through seeing they may not see, through hearing they may not understand.

This is the meaning of the parable. The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear and then the devil comes and takes away the sword from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.

Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a little while, but in the time of testing, they fall away.

The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way, they are choked by life's worries, riches, and pleasures, and they do not mature.

But the seed on the good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart who hear the word, retain it, and by preserving, or by rather persevering, produce a crop. And so, understanding that these are three types of people, if you will.

And we can understand today, you know, it seems to us who have been given this word, this knowledge, the secrets that to us, we get it. We understand. Why?

Because God has cultivated in our hearts what he wants us to know in order to serve him faithfully and to trust in him. But to those that don't know God, to those that have no knowledge of who God is, then the secrets are still secrets.

And so it doesn't make sense to them. This is why in our conversations sometimes when we talk to folks that don't believe, they're quick to dismiss and or even ridicule what it is we're saying because to them it doesn't make sense.

Remember, the kingdom has come and flipped this world on its head. You know, here, kings rule. In heaven, servants are the most highest position. So just from that alone, you can understand why people find it very hard to be a Christian.

People find it very hard to believe in God at all because in their minds, they just don't see. the practicality of the things that God has placed in our hearts to teach them.

Then it goes on to say, A lamp on a stand. No one lights a lamp and hides it in a clay jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, they put it on a stand so that those who come in can see the light.

For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known, or brought out into the open. Therefore, consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more.

Whoever does not have, even what they think they have, will be taken from them. And, you know, today we can see things that are going on in the world. And of course, we're concerned with Israel and the war and Iran.

And there are things that are going on behind closed doors that we have no knowledge of. We can only assume. And to know these things, it's not for us. I mean, God knows. God sits on the throne.

God sees everything that's going on. For us, God calls us to be a light. And a light, again, as this parable brings out, isn't something that is put under a bed or covered, but it's put on a lampstand.

It's put high above so that it sheds light and can guide those that come in from the darkness. And so this is what we are called to do. We are called to be lampstands or candles, if you will, or lights in a lamp stand, if you will.

We are called to just be the light that can guide according to God's will for us and for the people that come in from the dark. It goes on to say that nothing hidden will not be disclosed.

So all of the things that are going on today, everything that we see and that we can think of that we see, even what we don't know won't be concealed forever that it says that what's done in the dark will be brought to the light.

It will be known it will be brought to the open and so it says consider how you listen. You know we may think that we have in abundance. Maybe, I don't know, I can't speak for everyone on this call, but you may think that you have something.

Maybe you have 401k, maybe you have a house. Maybe you have money in the bank that, you know, you feel comfortable and, you know, you're resting on, you know, but this scripture kind of points to something that we all need to pay attention to, how fragile this system of things is.

Because it says, whoever has will be given more. Whoever does not have even what they think they have will be taken from them. So this could be spirituality.

If you think you know it all and then you find yourself not knowing anything and being taken down because of maybe pride. If you have an abundance of money, maybe you think that that is what you need to carry you through these perilous times.

But God is saying that even what you think you have will be taken. So it's something that we really need to pay close attention to. Yes, he says whoever has will be given more.

Well, you know, we also know that if you were called by God to preach a word, if you were called by God to lead, to be a pastor. Sometimes God gives you more depending on how you handle what he has given you.

So again, whoever has will be given more. So just pay attention to these words and how they are written because God uses those who are humble, who, as it said earlier, the least in the kingdom meaning servant if you are willing to be a servant God can use you.

If you are too proud, God can't use you. And sometimes he has to cut you down. So again, we get to the place where if you think about what this scripture says, that what you think you have will be taken from you.

Well, God can cut you down, if you are not willing to humble yourself and come to him and cry out to him so that he can use you. It goes on to say, Jesus mother and brothers.

Now Jesus mother and brothers came to see him, but they were not able to get near him because of the crowd. Someone told him, your mother and brothers are standing outside wanting to see you.

And he replied, my mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put them into practice. How profound that Jesus would recognize that even those in this world that men and women tend to put above everyone else.

And in most cases it would be what we do for our mothers, our close immediate family. Here, God is laying down a rule that, you know, yeah.

You may have physical mothers and brothers and family, but his and ours as being in the body must be those that hear God's word and puts it into practice. Those are your true brothers and sisters in the body.

And then it goes on to show where Jesus calms the storm. And this was a day that Jesus was speaking to a crowd, and he told the disciples, let's go over to the other side of the lake. So they got in the boat, they set out, they sailed, and Jesus fell asleep.

While he was sleeping, a squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. The disciples went and woke him, saying, Master, Master, we're going down.

He got up, he rebuked the wind and the raging waters, and the storms subsided and all was calm. And he asked, where is your faith? In fear and amazement, they asked one another, who is this?

He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him. And see, at this point, the disciples had no full understanding of the magnitude of Jesus's power and who he actually was.

But it also shows us that in the midst of great turmoil, such as what we're seeing today, that God, Jesus, has peace in his heart. And we know later on, he goes on to say as he's leaving his disciples that that peace that he has, he leaves with us.

So this is an example of the peace that Jesus had that in spite of the raging seas and the waters and the storm that was going on that brought fear to the hearts of the disciples.

Jesus wasn't concerned and was able to rest until they awoke him to tell him what was going on and all he did was say a word and everything was calm again. So this is how we too need to be living.

We can see all these things going on around us, but nothing should make us fearful. Nothing should make us anxious. Why? Because we are sons and daughters of the most high and Jesus left his peace with us through Holy Spirit.

It goes on one more to say, Jesus restores a demon possessed man. And they sailed, it says, to the region of Gerasenes, I'm sorry, I may have mispronounced that, which is across from the lake of Galilee.

When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time, this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice.

What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don't torture me. For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man.

Many times it had seized him, and though he had been chained, hand and foot, and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demons into solitary places.

So Jesus asked him, what is your name? Legion, he replied, because many demons had gone into him. And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss. A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside.

The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission. When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened.

When they came to Jesus, they found the man whom the demons had gone out sitting at Jesus feet, dressed in his right mind, and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people how the demon possessed man had been cured.

Then all the people of the region of Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left.

The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus said to him, away, saying, sent him away, saying, return home and tell how much God has done for you. So that man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.

And this, this is a powerful story right here, I tell you, because it, it shows, first of all, without a doubt, the power that Jesus had. Second, it shows the ignorance through fear that people have.

Now, I would question if this man had been chained and broken his chains constantly, no one could control him, wouldn't wear clothes. And you come upon this man now, sitting in his right mind, and he is not chained, not carrying on.

And you're told the reason is because Jesus pushed the demons out of him, that you would then turn around and say, Jesus, you know, can you, can you go away? Because, you know, first of all, we lost our livelihood.

Secondly, you know, we're just afraid of your power. How ignorant and, you know, I can say that because we have the scriptures and we're reading this now. I don't know if we were in that time.

We would have the same way of thinking, but I can almost say for myself that it is something that I would have been in awe of knowing how many people had been paralyzed by demon possession at that time to see this man have his demons and not demon demons removed from him.

And that they went into the pigs. Now the big thing about the pigs is that this was something that the Jews were not supposed to be involved with. Pigs were considered to be nasty and unclean creatures.

And so, through the Mosaic Law, these were commanded to stay clear, but these Jews were raising pigs, I'm sure eating pigs, and so the loss of their livelihood was more important to them than salvation.

And by example, the chasing out of the demons that kept this man in these tombs most of his life. So again, we see that we can be proud, we can be anxious, we can doubt.

And all these things come into play when you look at this story and understand that after all that Jesus had done here, these folk decided that they didn't want him around. Sad to say, really sad to say.

And finally, here Jesus um, raises a dead girl and heals a sick woman. And so we get to this place now where, again, um, we know how the, uh, religious folk feel about women.

And again, Luke makes sure in his book that, in his writings, that he speaks about, women. And so it goes on to say, Now Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, and they were all expecting him.

Then a man named Jairus, a synagogue leader, came and fell at Jesus' feet, pleading with him to come to his house, because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying. And Jesus was on his way, and the crowds almost crushed him.

And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years. Notice the young girl is 12, and the woman who was bleeding. She had been bleeding for 12 years. Just wanted to point that out.

But no one here, no one could heal her. She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. Jesus asked, who touched me?

When they all denied it, Peter said, Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you, but Jesus said, someone touched me, and I know that power has gone out from me.

Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling at the feet of Jesus. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him, and how she had been instantly here.

Then he said to her, daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace. While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. Your daughter is dead, he said.

Don't bother the teacher anymore. Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, don't be afraid. Just believe and she will be healed. When he arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in except Peter, John, and James, and the child's father and mother.

Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. Stop wailing, Jesus said. She is not dead, but asleep. They laughed at him, knowing she was dead. But he took her by the hand and said, my child, get up.

Her spirit returned and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat. Her parents were astonished, but ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.

And why wouldn't you want others to know? Because they don't believe. They just don't believe. Remember, they were outside laughing after Jesus said she's not dead, but asleep. So they had no faith.

So you have little faith. How can you believe? How can you accept the fact that this is God incarnate, that he has the power of life and death. Again, we talk about women at this time. So the woman with the issue of blood, you know, she was considered unclean.

And for her to risk being stoned to touch Jesus' garment, says something about her faith. This is why Jesus says, daughter, your faith has been healed, because He knows what she went up against in order to get into His presence, let alone touch His garment.

So we too need to have this kind of faith. We need to know that in all that we're seeing today, everything that is going on, both in secret and what we think we see in the public eye, not to worry.

You know, Jesus says in Matthew, when you see these things, look up. Your redemption is near. And so this is the time, family, that we need to be looking up and paying attention to the coming of Jesus and not the coming of the destruction and the things that are taking place currently.

Because these things too will pass. Jesus says that heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. And so, family, we need to stand firm in our faith and believe the words that are written in Scripture because God never breaks his promises.

He's not a man that he should lie, we know this. So believe and trust and you will be saved. No harm will come to you. Just believe. Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, we come before you again to give you thanks for your word, your mighty word, your word that comforts us and guides us and gives us the peace that surpasses all understanding.

We know, Father, that you are the author of our lives. We know that you've known us before we knew you. We know that before we were even created, before the foundation of the world, you already had a plan in place for each and every one of our lives.

And so now as we are here walking out faith and the journey of faith, we continue to look to you. We pray to you. We give you all honor and glory and praise because you alone are worthy. You are the creator of heaven and earth.

So, thank you, Father, for your grace and mercy this day. Thank you for just getting us up this day. We pray, Father, for you to go before us and make our crooked roads straight. We pray, Father, that you level the mountains and even the valleys in our lives.

Help us, Father, to walk by faith and not by sight. Help us to look up and not look down. Help us to not be distracted by the world's events. But help us to focus on you and put our heart and our trust and our mind in you and give you your due grace.

Your due mercy, your due love and understanding. And just cover us in the blood, Father. Cover us and keep us. Change us from within. Even if we are doubtful, change us. Protect us.

Keep us, guide us. Show us the way, Father. Help us to find you and seek you now while you can still be found. I pray for all of those, Father, that are on the call. I pray for healing of minds, bodies, and spirits.

I pray, Father, that your will is done in each of our lives this day and in the coming days. Show us what we need to do. Prune us where we need to be pruned and help us to shine the light that you have placed in us.

Put us on the lampstand that shows in the darkness for those that you send to us. Help them to find you through us, Father. Help us to be your representatives here on earth and that your will is done on earth as it is in heaven.

I thank you now and ask your blessing as we go forth in this day that as we leave this call, we don't leave your presence and that you lead us not into temptation and that you deliver us from the evil one.

For yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever and ever in Jesus name we pray, Amen and Amen. Thank you family. I pray you have a blessed day. Go in peace.

Know that God goes before you and makes your crooked road straight. And there is nothing, absolutely nothing that you will go through this day or the days to come that God doesn't know and God doesn't make a way for you to go through.

Some would say if I'm going through hell, well, don't stop. Keep going, keep going. Because on the other side, that is where you get peace and God gets glory. God bless you. Have a wonderful day.