Beloved, I call your spirit forward to listen and take courage in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who
at that very hour, rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said,
“I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things
from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.
Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.
(Luke 10:21)
Then he turned to his disciples and said privately,
“Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.
For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it,
and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”
(Luke 10:23-24)
Beloved, Luke 10:1-24 recounts Jesus’ sending out of the seventy1 during His earthly ministry. In spirit, they were children, newborns in the faith of those who believed Jesus was the Son of God. Pairs were dispatched to go ahead of Him to every town and place He Himself was going to come. Scores of sermons have been preached from the discourse of instruction Jesus gave to those He appointed to precede His visitation. Covering the basics, He assured their being cared for where they were received.
Jesus did not leave them ill-equipped according to the mind of God. No money belt, no bag, no shoes would not leave them in want. There would be cities and houses of peace that would receive them. In being received, they were to accept what was offered while they gave out that for which they were sent.
The residents were unaware that healing was coming to them. But from those who were received, the power of Holy Spirit, who accompanied them, was joyfully released as the Kingdom of God came near.
On the surface, it was a blatant setup of using the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.2 Jesus told them He was sending them as lambs in the midst of wolves during His earthly time of harvest.
There He was – the Lamb of God on His journey to the Cross, collecting into His fold lambs of little children3 along the way. The reward in their lifetime would be to see and hear the Kingdom as it functioned in real time – subduing unclean spirits and healing the bodily, emotionally, and morally sick.4
It’s no different in our earthly time of harvest. Father has never gone back to the drawing board because His original plan failed. In His time, He introduced faith into the world, for faith works the works of God.5
The heart of the Father, to whom Jesus’ heartbeat was calibrated, would see to it that what was needed would be available to those who, in having come to Him, were now sent out. Do not miss, beloved, that He sent out the seventy before the Cross as a dry run of conquering an already defeated foe.
How much more 6 beyond the Cross, are we the recipients of Christ’s power and strength for our time, through faith in the way He already paved. Faith that steps out on His Word, in His Name, as He commissions.
At the same time, Jesus, fully God and fully man, did not live in denial. He, being Love itself, was headed to Calvary to cover with His human lifeblood the multitude of sin. Before he appointed and sent out the seventy, he had gathered, empowered, and sent out the Twelve (Luke 9:1). And before that, He himself had undertaken living out His ministry of the seen and unseen before those who had eyes to see and ears to hear (Luke 8:1).
No one was more aware than He that there would be those who would not receive these ones He was sending out two by two. The two-sided pattern has not changed through the millennia. In every generation, there are those who, with the working faith of a child of God, have had enhanced vision.
The Deceiver was a loser from the Beginning; nevertheless, these seventy needed to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves in their dealings. Therefore, Jesus told them before they set out what to do and say if they were not welcomed in a certain town. And rather than get caught in the minutiae of the moment, the resulting word they were to deliver remained the same: “Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near.” As near to the non-receivers as to the ones who received, were cleansed, and healed.
Spirit, I bless you with enhanced vision that comes through faithful engagement in Christ’s appointment. Clarity follows childlike certainty that One commands your life and orders your steps. Even the young’s spiritual eyes alight with simplicity of faith are entrusted with things revealed. Such is the Father’s good pleasure. And such is the cycle of growth for mustard-seed faith patterned after Christ and not the world.
Spirit, each time you ping off from the childlike trust in God you have chosen, guarded, and refused to put away from you, there is set in operation the unmatched power of the Holy Spirit. Yes, even unclean spirits will be subdued and subordinated to Him who dwells within your vessel. But none of the outward command of evil situations, Jesus says, is to be rejoiced in. Rather, rejoice that your name – the carriage of your authority given by God and the character you have allowed Him to develop – is engraved in His eternal Gospel.7
Spirit, for every act born of faith – your realm; and going when sent, with trust in His provision – the soul’s realm, Father proves that He does not work according to the mind and will of man. Many are the souls that agitate over that which does not operate according to well-thought out plans or reasoning. Though loved by God, the soul left to itself reasons and plans in ways and with thought processes that are not like His. His ways and thoughts are always higher and simpler, because His way works. The operation of the Kingdom of God is revealed as clouds of obscurity are blown away by His Spirit.
I bless you, spirit, that having come when called, how much more you will rejoice like Jesus did – full of joy in the Holy Spirit – that the will of the Father has been, is being, and will be done.
Spirit, I bless you with enhanced vision that sees in the Kingdom of God the footprints of where Christ has already been; where even now He is near; and where His visitation is yet to come. I bless you, spirit, as in your generation, you precede His appearance, making ready with your life the way of the Lord Jesus Christ.
~ Nancy
1 some manuscripts read seventy-two 2 I Corinthians 1:27
3 also identified as spiritual newborns or those with babe-like hearts – see Matthew 19:14; Psalm 22:9-10 – for more, read Psalm 22 – Jesus’ Death Song
4 Hebrews 11:6; Strong’s Concordance strengthless G772 5 James 2:14-26
6 Luke 11:13, 12:24, 12:28; I Corinthians 6:3; Hebrews 9:1-4 7 Strong’s Concordance heaven G3772
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