“Jesus walked throughout the region, in all the towns and villages, with the joyful message of God’s kingdom realm. He taught in their meeting houses, and wherever he went he demonstrated God’s power by healing every kind of disease and illness.”
–Matthew 9:35 (The Passion Translation)
As I write this devotional I am in the middle of a time of rest, giving space to process the year that has gone and prepare for the year ahead. One of my all-time favorite things to do for rest is setting out on daily unhurried walks in the frosty, quiet, and stunningly beautiful lower Highlands of Scotland, just above Glasgow.
It’s on these walks that I’m struck with the significance of what it means to walk, one foot after the other, as a child of God: carrying the authority, anointing, freedom, and joy of Jesus wherever we go. Remembering to enjoy the journey itself—to lift our heads up every so often and digest the beauty that is always surrounding us.
2022 was quite the year. Our family and team out here, like many, went through what felt like years’ worth of transition in a short amount of time. And that had an effect on my perspective. I would often find that I was head down, hoping I wouldn't get stuck in a bog. From a weary head-down posture I found it hard to remember and see the impact we have as children of God just by merely continuing to walk on.
I realized that, for me, stopping has become an act of sacrificial worship, just as much as working hard. I was able to give up any pretense of pride, obligation, and guilt; instead surrendering myself fully to Jesus again. In this place I met with the Lord as he intentionally took me on a journey of remembrance. In doing so my head was lifted up and my heart was joined again to the big-picture vision of Jesus’s master plan of redemption, that we all play a crucial role in.
And that brings me to this beautifully poignant passage above. “Jesus walked…with the joyful message of God’s kingdom realm” and so should we—this should be our posture as we look forward with hope and expectation for what the Lord can and will do through us.
There is nothing you can do to change the fact that, wherever you walk, you take with you the joyful message of God’s Kingdom realm. Not only that—Jesus is walking with you, ready to give this joy away to whoever you happen to come alongside as it overflows out of you. This is our Kingdom reality, and should be our expectation day-by-day.
And what is this joyful Kingdom message? It’s not one of just talk, but of power too—of love in action. “Wherever he went he demonstrated God’s power by healing every kind of disease and illness.” Jesus couldn’t help but heal everyone he encountered who was in need, because he was literally the walking love of God. That love goes beyond what we could ever think, ask or imagine; it stoops lower than we would ever expect, and multiplies beyond even our wildest dreams to draw close to those most in need.
Jesus used supernatural healing as a sign-post to the greater miracle of salvation freely on offer. So should we.
As the hands, feet, eyes, and mouth of Christ, we should walk in expectation for God to move supernaturally through us as we too walk toward those most in need, giving away what we ourselves carry in abundance.
So today I want to invite you to simply stop. Stop and rest in the loving embrace of Jesus and experience for yourself the joy, love, healing, care, compassion, and power on offer to you as his beloved child.
Attached to this devotional is a contemplative choral piece of music written by Arvo Pärt, called the Deer’s Cry. The words are from St Patrick’s Breastplate blessing—a part of our spiritual heritage from over here in the UK. I want to invite you to spend a few minutes right now and sit with the Lord as you listen to this. I pray in Jesus’s name that you will encounter him, so that you too may walk in the fullness of his love and power. Amen.
VOCES8: The Deer's Cry - Arvo Pärt
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Adam Penketh and his wife Charlotte, along with their two children Arielle and Asher, live in Glasgow, Scotland UK. Adam and Charlotte co-lead The Gathering Network—a community of small, missional, microchurches based in and around Glasgow.