Daily Devotional

Pray with faith; pray with expectation; pray like Jarius and the woman with the issue of blood. Ensure that your actions before, during and after praying do not contradict your faith. The woman with the issue of blood backed her faith with action by touching the fringe of Jesus’ garment. Jarius, despite being a ruler in Israel, knelt before Jesus.

In his joy, Jesus presents a special invitation to everyone who may be troubled, disturbed, harassed and dejected like sheep without a shepherd (Cf. Matthew 10:36). What is this invitation? “Come to me, all who labour and are heavily laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me. (Matthew 11:28-29) Coming to Jesus implies learning from Him. We cannot say we have come to Jesus if we fail to learn from Him.

New wine is good. Old wine is also good. The problem is using old wineskins to store new wine or vice versa. This parable points to the importance of timing. Your plans may be perfect, but if it isn’t the right time, you will pour new wine into an old wineskin. For instance, Amos’ prophecy of a time of restoration for Israel came hundreds of years later in Jesus Christ. That was the right time, neither earlier nor later.