Begin with 2 minutes of silence and stillness before God.

"At that very hour, some Pharisees came and said to him, 'Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.' And he said to them, 'Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course.'" Luke 13:31-32

“You go tell that, fox!” Did you see that? Jesus said, “You go tell that, fox.” Wow! In the face of adversity and threats. Jesus not only still did the will of His Father, God. He straight up said I am not leaving until I'm finished.

I don’t know about you, but when I read the verses written in red, I get nervous, a little scared, but yet inspired. In Luke 13:31-34, Jesus was told by some of the teachers of the religious law to leave Jerusalem and go somewhere else, because Herod, was going to kill him. This is where we see Jesus pretty much say, “No, sorry. I’m not leaving, because I must complete the will of my Father.”

When I read that, it immediately causes me to ask myself if I have ever been that sure of anything that my Heavenly Father has placed in front of me to do. When I pray, I say, “Let your will be done.” But in the face of a severe warning like Jesus received, I can see my flesh taking over and saying, “Run!”

You may not have a problem in this area, but most times I can hear Jesus speaking to me as He did to Peter when Peter fell asleep. Jesus had asked him to keep watch while He prayed the night before His death. Jesus told Peter, “Your spirit is willing, but your flesh is weak.” From the strongest to weakest, I believe we can all relate to a time in our life when that statement could have been spoken to us, too.

What I have learned is that Jesus knows the battle that we face when it comes to the war between us feeding our flesh or feeding our spirit. He gets it! He knows the pain, the temptation, the competition of fleshly desire or seeking spiritual fruit. This is why Jesus can easily celebrate and praise acts of faith like the woman who gave her most precious perfume in what the disciples thought was a waste. He saw her faith! Her faith was in things unseen. She could see the Kingdom Jesus was referring to when He described the Heavenly Kingdom as the mustard tree that provides for all the needs of those around it and how vast it is compared to the seed that it came from. She saw that what this world was providing her could never compare to what she will receive from Jesus.

This I believe is our everyday challenge, to put our hope in the unseen and faith in the truth based on the story of Jesus Christ. I know it can be crazy to think this way, but Jesus tells us that greater is the faith of those who have not seen; that is us! We are responding to the story, the gospel of Jesus, shared with us typically through someone else's experience, story, or better yet, through reading or listening to God’s inspired book, the Bible. This is the starting point of surrender: acceptance of the unconditional love of Jesus. Then, the Holy Spirit that we receive helps us to follow Jesus. Like the woman who gave of her most prized possession, we too will be compelled to do the will of our Father, as did Jesus.

Reflection:

• In Luke 13, Jesus is telling us story after story. These stories point us to our Heavenly Home as well as show us how we can live an abundant life following Him. Where have you seen God move in your life? Is there a story where you have been in awe of God? We all have a story, and we are all on a journey designed by God. I have found that sharing our story not only reminds us of God’s presence in our life, but it allows us to connect with each other as well.
• If you would like to share your story with us, check out the Share Your Story portion of the Venture App. Your story is important, and God can use it to change lives! If you want to keep it private, that’s an option too, but take time to write your story today.
• Prayer: Father, help us to grow more and more in love with You! Father let Your will be done in our lives! Help us to keep things simple when it comes to following You. Help us to understand that You are God, and we are not. Teach us that following You doesn’t mean pursuing perfection, but striving for righteousness which is simply following Jesus. Please, God, guard us against the temptations and distractions that this world may bring and lead us not into evil, but show us, daily, the hope of eternity with You!

Take 2 minutes to reflect in silence.

Family Application: Luke 13

By: Kelly Lambert

As a family, we have all types of experiences. Some are great and some are not so great! In Luke 13, Jesus was faced with lots of stuff and was given lots of warnings to stop or else. I find it comforting to know that Jesus experienced some good days, some bad days, and some really bad days.

This tells me two things:

1) Jesus understands and can relate when I have a bad day.

2) He gives me a lens to look through when experiencing a bad day.

That is a hope-filled lens of eternity with Him. I know that may not take away the pain immediately, but it gives me something to look toward that is much greater than the bad I’m facing at the moment.

This hope is what Jesus is pointing us to when He states, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door.” He knows it’s hard when times are tough and keeping our faith is difficult. He knows it is all worth it, and what’s even cooler is that Jesus knows that we are worth it!

• Today as a family, ask each person to share the best part of the day and the not-so-good part of the day. Give time for everyone to think and try not to pressure anyone to share if they do not want to. Giving ourselves time and space to share our days with the people we can trust allows us to stop, breathe, see each other, listen to each other, and help each other hold tight to the hope that Jesus is with us in the good days and bad.
• Prayer: Father, we are blown away by You and how amazing You are! Thank You, God, for sending Jesus so that we can know, love, and follow Him. Without Jesus we would have never really grasped how much You want to understand us, help us, and most of all, love us. Help us to hold tight to the hope we have in You! Help us to share You with our friends by how we live out Your love each day!