One day, Jesus and his disciples went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.  When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. "This is a remote place," they said, "and it's already very late. Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat."

But he answered, "You give them something to eat."
      They said to him, "That would take eight months of a man's wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?"

"How many loaves do you have?" he asked. "Go and see."
      When they found out, they said, "Five—and two fish."

Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.

Luke 11:14-28
Key Verse: 20

But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you.

     Passages about demons and exorcisms challenge me very much. I grew up in the modern world and originally believed that demons and spiritual things were just supersititious silliness. When I decided to trust Jesus and read about the demons he drove out, then I had to upgrade to the spiritual dimension. It is still uncomfortable for me to spend much time in the spiritual dimension though, especially when I think of evil spirits working around me. Evil spirits have a powerful influence on people. They plant many lies in our mind that provoke our natural pride and poke our human insecurities to lead us into many sins, and drive us into various conditions. Always the result of their influence is that humans become useless to God. What is more, when I consider the subtlety and huge influence that evil spirits have, it is clear there will always be the work of demons and the kingdom of God clashing and co-existing in society. Sometimes I thing the evil spirits are winning, but today's passage gave me great joy when I realized that the kingdom of God has come to me. "Your kingdom come" was a prayer topic in the last passage. So it is very encouraging to see the kingdom come with power as God's finger touches one man's demonic problem. Let's consider the passage and ask God to let the kingdom of God come to us.

One day, Jesus and his disciples went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.  When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. "This is a remote place," they said, "and it's already very late. Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat."

But he answered, "You give them something to eat."
      They said to him, "That would take eight months of a man's wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?"

"How many loaves do you have?" he asked. "Go and see."
      When they found out, they said, "Five—and two fish."

Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.