Matthew 12:22-28 A Broken House or Strong House?
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: March 24, 2019, Matthew 12:22-28
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
(Understanding the Text /Revelation of God) When the people ask if this was the Son of David, they were asking themselves if Jesus was the Messiah. We take it for granted with hindsight that they knew that Jesus was the Messiah, but Jesus never used that word for Himself, and during the first two years of His ministry, He avoided any situation that would place Him in the position of Messiah as leader of the Jewish people. Instead, He tried to give a new definition of Messiah to the people.
(Understanding the Text) The people were amazed because it was thought that a person could not cast out a demon without knowing its name. If the possessed person were mute, there was no way to learn the demon’s name to cast it out. However, Jesus cast out the demon as if it were simple to do.
The Jews of Jesus’ day were full of superstitions that He had to work around. We like to think that the Pharisees and Sadducees and the Jews in general were like us looking down on superstitions and that they had truth. This flies in the face of what the Bible tells us. Jesus was constantly fighting against the Pharisees’ blindness and superstition and bigotry. The people thought based on the teaching of their religious leaders that they were performing religious actions to ward off misfortune. They had allowed a lot of pagan superstitions to enter their belief system. This is an example of where they had done this and thus, their logic was skewed when it came to interpreting God’s actions. For the Pharisees, the only explanation for how Jesus could perform such a miracle was that He got the name from another source, and who else would know the name but another demon, i.e. Jesus was consorting with demons.
(Application) On the other hand, the people were amazed for the wrong reason. They thought that this miracle was somehow more and bigger than many of the other healings. In this case, their misconception may not have been a problem, but it was still a misconception that skewed their view of the world and caused them to not be in alignment with God’s view of the world. This is my problem too often when reading the scriptures, praying, or talking about God. My view of the world is so far from God’s that I cannot even begin to accurately communicate His ways, yet He asks me to again and again. I pray that I do not skew the message too much.
(Understanding the Text) Jesus is laying before the people a clear choice. They can believe the Pharisees, or they can believe that the representative of the Father is standing right there before them. Jesus gives clear logical reasons as to why the Pharisees are wrong. First, it does not make sense for the devil to fight against himself and to bring healing to the very ones he is attacking. Second, if the only way that Jesus could cast out the demon is with the help of a demon, then how are the religious leaders casting out demons? Then Jesus invites the people to look at what He has done and decide. He does not allow them the option of believing both. Either the Pharisees are right, and Jesus is from the devil, or Jesus is truly sent from God, and the people need to get on board with His teachings.
Jesus is telling the Pharisees that the kingdom that they claimed to belong to has come knocking at their door and that they need to enter into that kingdom. They can no longer sit on the sidelines claiming to serve God. They need to get up and actually accept the kingdom that has come to them and become part of it.
(Prayer) I pray that I will never reject the kingdom of heaven when You bring it to me, but that I will enter into the kingdom. I don’t totally know what You meant about the kingdom of heaven being here and now present with me, but I have a glimmering. I pray to let that kingdom in more and more so that it fills me. I pray to be amazed at You for the right reasons, not for skewed reasons. I pray to reflect Your purity clearly to others rather than in a distorted manner.