The Good Samaritan!

30 Jesus replied and said, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. 31 "And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 "Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 "But a Samaritan, R497 who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, 34 and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 "On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, `Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.'

Perhaps you recognize yourself as being the one along the Jericho road? The devil has stolen your joy, stripped you of your dignity and beat you more often then not. You're thirsty for living water and hungry for his presence. Religion isn't going to get you where you're going and tradition will only take you around the same mountain again.

We know that the enemy has come to steal, kill and destroy from us. But, he, Jesus, has come so that we will have life more abundantly. (John 10:10). We sometimes put our trust in other things, before we put our trust in Him. We end up wounded, stripped and beaten. We come to Jesus and He bandages our wounds of offense. He pours out his oil and will give us a cup of his new wine. He gets us to a place where we can rest and be refreshed in his presence. Jesus is our Good Samaritan. He comes along and has compassion for us. We are the apple of his eye! He wants us to come willingly and humbly so he can help us.

He will woo us and draws us to closer to him so he can draw us into the secret place. It is there that he will give us rest. We will be refreshed and recharged and ready to continue our travel down the Jericho road. The Jericho Road is our road to our destiny. We may stumble and fall and make some wrong choices along the way. Jesus is right there waiting to pick us up and help us along the way. All of heaven will be cheering us on, as we finish our race. Don't wait, run to him and be refreshed in his presence and changed by his love.

Prayer: Oh Lord, we have become weak and weary and are in need of your strength. We ask you to bind up our wounds and pour in the new wine. Give us a place of rest and recharge our batteries so we can keep going. We will trust you and you alone, for you know what we need. We thank you Lord, In Jesus Name.