Daily Devotional

August 20, 2008

Withdraw for fresh supply

"Then the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities. So He Himself often was withdrawing into the wilderness and was praying." Luke 5:15-16

A marked feature of how the Lord spent time with the Father was that He practiced withdrawing into the wilderness to pray. The Lord not only rose up early in the morning to be with the Father, but also on many occasions during the day and night He withdrew from the crowds privately to pray. Luke 5:16-17 says, "So He Himself often was withdrawing into the wilderness and was praying. . . . And the power of the Lord was present to heal them." The repetition of the Greek imperfect tense (continuous action in past time), translated as "was," clearly shows that the Lord's power to heal was in direct proportion to the time He was spending withdrawing to pray. A paraphrase might help to grasp the sense of this passage: "He Himself was continuously withdrawing in the wilderness and was continuously praying, . . . and as a result, the power of the Lord was continuously with Him to heal."

The Lord's practice of withdrawing reveals how much He was actually dependent upon continuous supply to meet His present needs. Even the Lord Jesus Himself needed fresh supply, fresh infusion, and fresh energy imparted into His humanity in order to live a life expressing God. The way He received these fresh supplies was by His practice of withdrawing to spend time with the Father in prayer. By this we can see that the Lord did not live trusting in His divinity to carry Him through His human existence. In His humanity, He needed to withdraw to spend time with the Father for His daily life. If He as the very Son of God depended upon this time, how much more do we need to practice withdrawing in order to be continuously supplied by the divine life!

- Bill Freeman, The Supplied Life

Would you like to have the assurance that Jesus Christ lives in you?

Enjoyable Selections

Calling Upon the Name of the Lord Calling Upon the Name of the Lord

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Every believer needs to appreciate and understand the significance of the name of Jesus. God has highly exalted that deep name. It is more excellent than any other name. It is higher than the angels, higher than any other lord or dominion or rule. The name of Jesus is the highest name. It is the very name that imparts to us His life and nature. Indeed, He is rich to all who call upon His name. This book will fill you with faith to call upon His life-giving name. It is the practical handle to lay hold of Christ in daily life.

Books by Bill Freeman


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