On This Day: The Word Who Amazes with His Words

  And he went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the Sabbath, and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority. And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, “Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm. And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region. (Luke 4:31-37)

   As I look back over my six decades since knowing God was watching over me, it is clear that God’s grace has enabled me to hear his “Word” and his “word” as his word. 

   In fact, whenever I hear the professional skeptics claiming they have proved the Bible is not God’s word, I see a group of blind people trying to convince me that what I see doesn’t exist. It makes me sad for them, but I have never once heard anything that disqualifies God’s word from being God’s word, or disqualifies Jesus Christ as “the Word” who “became flesh and dwelt among us”. 

   In my current journey through Luke’s detailed account of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, I am on heightened alert for things he says that could have been tested for their truthfulness. With this radar-on mindset, the things that stand out are impacting me deeply. 

   What’s the point for you and me? That we are being given a witness to Jesus’ authority. He was “the Word” who “was with God, and the Word was God.” He was “the Word” through whom “all things were made”. In fact, “without him was not any thing made that was made.” In Jesus as the Word “was life, and that life was the light of men” (John 1:1-5). 

   Knowing that Jesus is “the Word” makes it stand out all the more meaningfully that “his word” impacted people with a sense of authority. He spoke like he had the authority to tell people what was true and how to live by that truth. And my sense is that, if the people knew that about him in person, it is no wonder that it feels that way to me when I read what God’s word says about his word! 

   I have shared this many times, that in 1992 I went from thinking of my morning time of reading the Bible as “my devotions” to considering it as “spending time with God”. My mind changed from me looking for what I could get out of Scripture to me listening for what God was saying to me. Once I knew that God was speaking through his word, whatever I read, whatever I learned, whatever stood out as God’s teaching to my heart, had authority over me. Even if I was the only one who knew it, I would be measured that day by whether I was receiving and obeying what God spoke to me about, or neglecting and rejecting God’s word.

   This morning was another reminder that, in the same way the people who heard Jesus in person recognized the authority of “his word”, we are to come to the Bible as “the word of Christ” and “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3:16). 

   If I added up all my negative experiences in the church, they could all be categorized as scenarios where church folk acted as the authority over God’s word. The toddlers and teens of the church (in maturity, not age) acted like they knew everything so that even what was written in Scripture had no authority over what they did or said. 

   On the other hand, my very best memories of life with God’s people have been when people were sharing with joy what they were learning from God’s word, and everyone was testifying to the grace of God in how he was working those things into our lives.

   Today reminds me that God’s word through his Son has authority over us all. We can either use God’s word for our own selfish purposes as Satan did in tempting Jesus, or we can imitate Jesus and “live by every word that comes from the mouth of God”. There is a day of reckoning and rewarding on its way. Jesus himself said so in his own words. As it is written, “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near” (Revelation 1:3).

© 2025 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

On This Day: When the Messiah is Not Welcome Home

   And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph's son?” And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘“Physician, heal yourself.” What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’” And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, he went away. (Luke 4:22-30)

   The difference between the people of Nazareth who wouldn’t even ask Jesus questions because they were already convinced they were right and he was wrong, and the Bereans who “received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Acts 17:11), helps me with something simple but not easy: Jesus’ disciples must keep “speaking the truth in love” because people need to hear “the good news of great joy”. How people respond to the good news is not up to us. 

   From childhood, I have had to think through what I believed in a home filled with conflict about everything. For some divine reason, God kept calling me to notice what he said. I came to love what is written in the Scriptures and to be in awe of the fact that the Creator has made certain that we could have his breathed-out words available in every language under the sun. 

   Today’s ministry to me was the reminder that it is no surprise when people want to kill someone (literally or relationally) for telling them the truth about Jesus. And this issue of self-justifying “unteachable” pride is such a theme in history that the fact it happened even with Jesus himself encourages me to keep looking for lost sheep no matter how many goats are offended by the good news.

   As I write this, I am suddenly reminded of God’s grace towards me, that for decades of reading, studying, and meditating on God’s word in the Bible, whenever I have come to something “familiar” in the Scriptures, I have always learned something new simply because I ask God to teach me. It really makes me wonder what would have happened in Jesus’ hometown if someone had asked him some honest questions. 

   While we can only imagine that outcome, we do have a say in what we do with Jesus. Are we stuck on ourselves that God couldn’t possibly teach us things about his Son we don’t already know? Or are we “more noble” like the Bereans so that we must search the word of God to know what is true? 

   What we do know for certain is that no one in Nazareth at the time of Jesus’ return visit believed in him and so no one received eternal life. On the other hand, in Berea, “Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men” (Acts 17:12). And there was great rejoicing in heaven over each of those sinners who repented and trusted in Jesus Christ (see Luke 15). 

   Don’t let anyone tell you what to believe about Jesus without checking it out for yourself. And when you do check Jesus out for yourself, take full responsibility for what you do with him. Each of us will give account to God for our response to his Son.

© 2025 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

On This Day: That Time When Time Gave Birth to a Son

   “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
    and recovering of sight to the blind,
    to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)

   I marvel at the wisdom of God in deciding when it was time for Jesus to come into the world. We know this was planned before time was created. Peter writes that “He was foreknown before the foundation of the world” (I Peter 1:20). In Ephesians 1:3-10, Paul goes into great detail about how the things Jesus had accomplished were ordained before time began. 

   Now that I have this new thought in my mind (Jesus proclaiming that it was the favorable time for all the prophecies about the Messiah’s first coming to be fulfilled), I am mesmerized by his concluding statement, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” The prophecy that the Messiah would announce the favorable timing of his own appearing was fulfilled right at that time, in that place, with those people, and all the conflicting thoughts that had to be processed. Jesus had just proclaimed to them that it was time.

   There is a way in which my last few decades of spending time with God in his word each morning have given me a sense of receiving each day what was the favorable time for me to learn something. In fact, the way God opened my eyes and ears to how he speaks through his word in May of 1992 was the favorable time for me to learn to relate to God like this before something hugely heartbreaking broke upon the shores of my heart, so to speak. And ever since, the things I have learned from God’s word each day have felt like the favorable time to learn them and put them into practice. 

   Today it really stands out to me what Paul wrote, 

“For he says, ‘In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). 

This was Paul writing about something God said and did in the past to tell people in his present about what God was doing for them at that time, and it was recorded in God’s word in the past so it would stretch into the future and make every day the “favorable time” in the present for people to receive “the good news of great joy” that we now have a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

   However, as I shared yesterday, the emphasis is on Jesus as “the Word” sharing from the Scriptures as “the word” that he would “proclaim” this good news throughout the ages, but it would only benefit those who received him and believed in his name. 

   Jesus is speaking these words of hope to us again today, inviting us all to come to the Father through faith in the Christ and experience what has been so perfectly timed to speak to us today. 

© 2025 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

On This Day: The Breakdown of Setting People Free

   “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
    and recovering of sight to the blind,
    to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)

      It is so interesting to revisit Luke 4 and consider afresh what it was like for Jesus to read Isaiah 61 in the synagogue of his hometown. Because I know how the visit went, it makes me consider what Jesus was doing and how Isaiah’s prophecy was “fulfilled in your hearing” (vs 21). 

   What is so notable today is how Jesus could do everything Isaiah prophesied the Messiah would do even when people would try to kill him for it. He still “proclaimed” the good news for the poor in spirit, he still “proclaimed” liberty to the captives, he still “proclaimed” the recovering of sight for the blind, and he still “set at” liberty the people who were oppressed.

   To “set at” means to send someone in a particular direction. Anyone who went where Jesus directed them would experience what was prophesied. He was sending people to liberty, to what we call “freedom in Christ”, and anyone who would go there, who would follow him into the Promised Land (so to speak), would experience exactly what was promised. 

   However, what I noticed today as the clincher was that the liberty Jesus was sending people to experience was for “those who are oppressed”. Which would mean that only those willing to admit they “are oppressed” would be open to his direction.

   And yes, that is where everything breaks down. The religious elite never experienced what Jesus came to give because their arrogance and pride resisted admitting there was anything wrong with them (narcissists in the Bible!). The prostitutes and tax collectors who came to Christ weren’t any more oppressed than the religious elite; they simply knew they were captive to sin while the religious hypocrites could never admit to such a thing. 

   I can see why God has me on this present focus of honestly evaluating how much I have experienced what Jesus came to give. The “freely you have received; freely give” work of God breaks down if I don’t freely receive for myself first! And that means freely admitting that I am just as oppressed and crushed in spirit by sin as anyone else. 

   I can still see the situation when I was twelve years old and I felt my need to receive Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. But I can also see numerous times throughout my life where I felt utterly brokenhearted over my soul-condition and had to receive Jesus’ ministry more deeply than ever. And that’s what I encourage everyone to see, that we must admit anything in our lives that fits the description of oppressed. It applies to all of us in our sinfulness. But it can apply to each of us uniquely with ways sin has damaged us on the inside.

   Whatever the case, please learn from the negative way the people of Jesus’ hometown rejected him that it is time for us to admit our oppression so we will receive Jesus as the one who leads us to freedom. His work is still being fulfilled in the world as people make Jesus known to everyone. The breakdown of this opportunity is when people can’t admit they need him. But the poor in spirit will experience freedom in Christ no matter what deliverance is required.

© 2025 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

On This Day: To See or Not to See, That is the Question

   “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
    and recovering of sight to the blind,
    to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)

   My focus on the above paragraph of Scripture is to attach to Jesus Christ my Savior about how well I have experienced what he came to do. If he came to proclaim good news to the poor, I want my impoverished heart to rejoice in the good news. If he came to proclaim liberty for this captive, I want to be as “free indeed” as Jesus intended. And if he came to proclaim sight to replace my blindness, I want to see as clearly as is possible this side of heaven.

   Jesus’ physical miracles were not the primary focus of his ministry. What he did with physical healings was to reveal his greater intention of giving his people freedom from all the ravages of sin. So, his focus on giving sight to the blind speaks to the spiritual blindness of the world, that people must be given restoration of sight to be able to see what God has given us in Jesus Christ our Lord.

   When I suddenly saw this through the filter of past, present, and future, it made so much sense of why there is an awareness of seeing that goes back to receiving Jesus as my Lord and Savior, an awareness that there is coming a day when I will see without any hindrances whatsoever, but also that this present life is a journey of maturing in our sight.

   But this also makes so much sense when we picture Jesus as “the light”. Having blind eyes opened to see is not an end in itself, but the means to the end of knowing God. We must have spiritual sight of Jesus to know him and only those who want to know him have their eyes opened.

   Even in church life, some folks have that “hunger and thirst for righteousness” that makes them keep getting to know God better than they have ever known him before. At the same time, others are quite content to carry their life-insurance-policy salvation as they build their lives with “wood, hay, and straw” instead of the richness of their salvation if they were building with “gold, silver and precious stones” (I Corinthians 3:12-13). 

   My encouragement to everyone today is let yourself travel the Beatitudinal Journey in this paragraph of God’s word. Luke’s record is Scripture. What Jesus was reading from Isaiah 61 is Scripture. All Scripture is breathed-out by God (II Timothy 3:16-17) so we can “live by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). 

   So, we are blessed when we hear that Jesus came to restore sight to the blind and we feel poverty of spirit as we realize we don’t see as well as we could. We are blessed when we mourn any deficiencies in our spiritual eyesight, and when we meekly surrender to the authority of Jesus Christ to give us far better sight than we are experiencing. We are blessed when we let ourselves hunger and thirst for whatever righteousness of seeing is lacking in our lives. God promises to satisfy that hunger and thirst for all who surrender to the Beatitudinal blessings (based on Matthew 5:1-12).

   For me, to simply break down Jesus’ work into the past, present, and future gives me confidence that Jesus has already given me sight, gives me hope that my sight will one day be perfected, and gives me faith that I can keep growing in my eyesight “from one degree of glory to another” (II Corinthians 3:18) as I submit to whatever the Spirit is saying and doing in my life each day. 

    Today’s, “To see or not to see” question is ours to answer. The light has come into the world. Let us receive him with eyes-wide-open and keep in step with whatever he is doing in us, through us, and around us. 

© 2025 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

On This Day: Proclaiming Liberty for POW’s of Sin

   “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
    and recovering of sight to the blind,
    to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)

   As I continue to examine how Jesus has done in my life the things he announced in his ministry, today’s focus is on how much I have experienced him proclaiming liberty to me from any kind of captivity. 

   Along with this is a fairly new understanding (in relation to my age) of how we can only mature through honesty. Pretending to be a good person doesn’t help us grow up. It stagnates our real growth by wasting time role-playing. Wearing masks to cover up our real soul-condition means nothing is being done to free our souls to mature. 

   But when I factor Jesus’ words into the three dimensions of our salvation, I see how the justification of my past (the day I was saved) gives me the reality of life in Christ by which I am free to experience freedom every day in my sanctification in the constant hope of the complete and absolute freedom that is coming in my glorification. 

   For those who have been saved, who have been born again by grace through faith, we are liberated from sin as a corpse is liberated from death to live again. We are freed from the imprisonment of our spiritually dead condition to live in newness of life. 

   But where the church really let me down has been in the area of what is often referred to as “freedom in Christ”. The church should be a place where we help one another experience freedom from the ball-and-chain experiences of sin and its consequences. Whether that be a long-standing struggle with a weakness, or the fear of facing the hidden wounds of trauma, or even just the nebulous feeling that something is wrong with us, Jesus came to proclaim liberty over whatever holds us captive. 

   Today I simply share my testimony of asking God to show me how much I have (or have not) experienced what Jesus came to do in this area of him proclaiming liberty for the captives. I do not want to confine what I’m willing to admit is still like a ball-and-chain to me, and neither do I want to miss out on what Jesus would do to liberate me if I confessed my POW status. 

   Bottom line: if Jesus came to proclaim liberty over my captivity, I don’t want to miss what he would do in me today if I were honest about how I am doing and trust him with how he is working. I’m the kid in the picture. I get hurt in life. I make bad choices. I suck at staying focused. But that makes me even more aware of what Jesus came to do for me! 

   And I hope that encourages you to be honest about your true soul-condition so you can answer Jesus’ call, 

   “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

© 2025 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

On This Day: What Good Has the Good News Done?

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
    and recovering of sight to the blind,
    to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)

   There came a time in my “institutional church” experience when I understood something as a pattern. It was the realization that so many people I was supposed to be caring for in a pastoral way had never had a personal experience of God doing anything for them in their “inner being”. 

   Instead, everything was described in terms of externals. People could give details of when, where, and how they were “saved”, often followed by a testimony of how they were quickly ushered into helping with some kind of program in the church. 

   In the last institutional church I was pastoring, I was leading an evening of discipleship training and asked everyone to describe the best experience they ever had of someone ministering to them. As we completed our testimonies around the circle, something stood out in glaring revelation: Not one person talked about something that happened while attending a program! Every story of ministry happened in personal relationship in whatever circumstances people were going through at the time. And yet here they were convinced they had to run more programs than were possible with our number of people! 

   It doesn’t matter if we are kept busy with constantly changing expectations, or the routine of doing the same old job in the same old church program, taking care of others has a way of numbing us to how we are doing. And, since how well we are doing in fellowship or ministry to others comes from how well we are abiding in Jesus as branches attached to the vine, we must regularly take a look inside to see if the “good news of great joy” that was announced at Jesus’ birth (Luke 2) is stirring us with good news in a world of bad and filling us with a sense of great joy to be a recipient of God’s gift of salvation.

   Paul prayed for believers, “that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being” (Ephesians 3:16). If that is not what we have, we must consider it a “blessed are the poor in spirit” experience. Why? Because God always begins blessing us by showing us what we are missing. Hungry? He has bread of life for that. Thirsty? He has living water for that. Lost? He has a shepherd for that. Dead in sin? He presents “the Resurrection and the Life” in his Son. Blind? Jesus came to give sight. Oppressed? Jesus came to declare the “Year of Jubilee” over you. 

   My point is simply that we need to always admit the true condition of our souls in our inner being so we can then let ourselves “hunger and thirst for righteousness” knowing God is blessing us with that hunger and thirst so he can satisfy us where it counts.

   Jesus did come to proclaim good news to the poor. Anyone who is poor in spirit qualifies (even if they are rich in worldly goods). With all the bad news around us, I really want to feel the good news of God inside me, and I will settle for nothing less than the “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17) that was in my Savior during his ministry and is my birthright today. 

© 2025 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

On This Day: The Unique and Universal of the Spirit

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
    and recovering of sight to the blind,
    to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)

   The apostle Paul gave us the picture of the church as “a holy temple in the Lord… a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:21-22). He also clarified that the church is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone” (vs 20). 

   This means we have three distinct parts. Jesus is the cornerstone that makes the structure true. The apostles and prophets are the foundation, uniquely attached to Jesus for their foundational work. The “household of God” (vs 19) is built on what was laid down by Jesus and the apostles. 

   Peter gives a synonymous picture of this when he writes, 

“As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (I Peter 2:4-5).

Believers are “living stones” in the building of God.

   I clarify this distinction because, when we look at the Holy Spirit in Jesus that relationship is unique to him in his cornerstone ministry and work. At the same time, it gives us amazing illustrations of what it looks like for a human being to be filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit, albeit never with the same calling as the Savior.

   When we look at the apostles, there are also clear aspects of their assignment that were unique to them. At the same time, so much of what they did is still exemplary of the Spirit-filled life for all believers even to this day.

   However, once we come to the “living stones” who make up the “holy temple in the Lord,” we must see the necessity of accepting the uniqueness of each person’s spiritual gifts along with the universal calling for us to all use our gifts as fully as they are given. 

   I know God is applying this very personally as I explore how to understand my spiritual gifts and to be filled with the Spirit when I serve God’s people in love. It is a relational way of life for the church because it is in the image of the Triune God. As “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me” prophesied the triunity of God in the ministry of the Messiah, we must grow in unity and harmony as we follow our Savior’s unique example in our universal applications of ministry in the body of Christ.

© 2025 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

On This Day: Growing in Mutual Mindstate with Jesus

   And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. (Luke 4:16)

   I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1–2).

   

   Here’s why I love brain science. Our brains are the physical means by which our minds can express themselves in the material world. So, the amazing things we learn about our brains often illustrate what God wants for us in our minds.

   When I learned that God designed our brains for this mutual mindstate experience, I realized how that relational dynamic mirrors what we see in Scripture of God’s desire to have a relationship with us that is patterned after the relationship dynamics within the Triunity of God. 

   When I began in the verse from Luke above, I found myself trying to enter into mutual mindstate with Jesus about what it was like for him to go to synagogue gatherings “as was his custom”. Prior to this day when he went into the synagogue to reveal himself as the Messiah, what was it like for him to attend the meetings? What did he think and feel as he listened to the Pharisees read and teach scripture when he already knew they were hypocrites who did not put his words into practice? 

   But then I moved from specific ponderings about that text to the gift of mutual mindstate with Jesus. I began to feel the wonder of being able to attain that attachment to some extent in this world, and even more at what will happen “when he appears” because “we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (I John 3:2). I’m starting to get that. When we see Jesus as he is our minds will enter such a mutual mindstate with him that “we shall be like him”. Mind boggling!!!

   When I ended up in Romans 12:1-2, I realized that we need to make a very significant clarification. So many people treat “the renewal of your mind” as a verb instead of a noun. When we think of it is a verb, we interpret it as something we are to do. We perceive that this is an action we must engage in of “renewing” our minds. But that’s not what it says. It isn’t a verb! It isn’t the action we are called to express.

   Instead, “renewal” is a noun. It is a thing. It is something that has already happened to the believer by the time we hear Paul’s words. It is something that is ours. If we are in Christ, we already have this “renewal” of our minds.

   The verb, or the action word, is “be transformed”. This is present, meaning it is to be a continual state of focus, and it is passive, meaning it is what we submit to that is coming from the “renewal” that is already in play. 

   What this looks like then is that we attach to the mutual mindstate Paul called “the mind of Christ” so that our new minds, our new hearts, can daily be transformed into the likeness of our Savior “from one degree of glory to another” (I Corinthians 3:18). 

   So, when Jesus said, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” And then promised, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:31-32,36), he was describing the ultimate in mutual mindstate. We become like whomever we bond with. If we bond with Jesus through his word we come to have mutual mindstate about the truth, and that experience of the truth sets us free. 

   Does this whet your appetite for mutual mindstate with Jesus? Then “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3:16) because there is no mindstate like that anywhere in the world.

© 2025 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

On This Day: The Spirit in History and Life Experience

   And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. (Luke 4:1-2)

   And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. (Luke 4:14-15)

   Luke records that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit led him into the wilderness and that when he returned to Galilee to begin his ministry he was doing everything in the power of the Spirit. If this was the first time we were hearing these things, we wouldn’t know anything more than that this is the history of Jesus’ life and ministry.

   The question of whether the historical account of Jesus’ experience of the Holy Spirit was unique to him, or also applicable to us today, must be answered by looking at what Jesus and the apostles taught on the matter. 

   Jesus’ introduction to the role of the Holy Spirit in the church focuses on the night before his arrest and crucifixion. In John 13-16 Jesus prepares his disciples for what was about to happen by telling them what to expect and that the Holy Spirit would be their Helper. 

   After the Holy Spirit came on the church (Acts 2), the apostles expanded on Jesus’ teaching by giving instructions about our relationship to the third person of the Trinity. It helps to look at this through the filter of left-brain/right-brain experience. 

   The left-brain side of things is the information the Scriptures tell us about the Spirit. These include instructions to “be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18), that we are “led by the Spirit” (Romans 8:14), we must “walk by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16), and “If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25). 

   Paul shows how serious this is by clarifying, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace” (Romans 8:5-6).  

   The right-brain side of this is how it is working in our bonding with God. For this we must ask ourselves honest relational questions. For example, “How much am I hindered from being filled with the Spirit because I’m already full of myself?” “What would I need to confess, renounce and forsake to make room for the Holy Spirit to fill me?” “How do I feel when I consider being attached to the Holy Spirit as the person God has sent to guide me into all truth and to lead me to walk in the ‘obedience of faith’?”

   Those are just suggestions. The point is that to be filled with the Spirit takes more than a left-brain acknowledgment of the facts of Scripture. It requires us to focus on a right-brain attachment to the Spirit including whatever house-cleaning is required to make room in the inn, so to speak. 

   Today, I am encouraged that God’s command to “be filled with the Spirit” is mine to obey in faith. I plan to repent of anything the Spirit shows me is taking up space in my heart, soul or mind that keeps him from filling me to the full, and I plan to put my faith in Jesus in whatever ways his Spirit calls me to trust him, no matter how relationally scary that may feel. 

   Yes, Jesus walked in the Spirit in ways unique to him. The wonder of Jesus’ human relationship to the Father and the Spirit while he himself was “God with us” is mind-boggling. But the Spirit-filled life is expected of all the sons of God, and we must let Jesus’ uniqueness in this help us with the universal way of life of all those who follow him. 

© 2025 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

On This Day: Deception By the Book

   And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written,
   “‘He will command his angels concerning you,
    to guard you,’
   and
   “‘On their hands they will bear you up,
    lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
   And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. (Luke 4:9-13)

   I just want to focus on the fill-in-the-blanks statement, “If you are _______, do this _______ because it is written _______.” While it appears to have three parts, there are really four.  

   Part 2: “If you are ____”. This focuses on something legitimate about who we are in Christ. For Jesus, it was “If you are the Son of God…” Yes, he was the Son of God. Yes, there are many things Satan can attach to that are who we really are in Jesus Christ our Lord.

   Part 3: “do this ___”. In Jesus’ case, the “do this” was, “throw yourself down from here”. This is totally fabricated. It focuses on something we would do to defend who we are, or to prove who we are, but in a totally made-up way that does not come from God’s word.

   Part 4: “because it is written ___”. The “do this” fabrication is sandwiched between a legitimate statement of who we are in Christ and legitimate Scriptures that really say something that almost sound like they fit the made-up challenge. 

   For Jesus, the “for it is written” was two promises of God regarding protecting his children. For us, it could be anything that is a legitimate promise of God in Scripture. The point is in Part 1 of this scene.

   Part 1: Satan is urging Jesus to treat him as the authority over what Jesus should do next rather than Jesus continuing to live under his Father’s authority. 

   The reason I made this last point Part 1 is because it is the thing we should always address first: Who is the authority in this scene? Where am I being directed to put my faith? Who am I being asked to trust right now? However we say it, the first part in anyone telling us anything we should do is to address who is the authority. 

   A good pastor/teacher will be a man who does what Paul told Titus, “But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine” (Titus 2:1). Paul had just outlined some ways that false teachers were seeking to lead people astray. He then gives this instruction that applies to every man who presents himself as a teacher of God’s people. Whatever we teach must “accord with sound doctrine”. 

   In other words, as we test the teachers we listen to, the issue isn’t how much Scripture they quote. Satan used Scripture when he tried to lure Jesus into sin. The issue is whether they keep directing us to live under the authority of God’s word as we can read and understand it plainly, or whether they keep telling us to trust them that the scriptures mean something different than what we can see for ourselves.  

   No, this is not easy, as our daily struggles with sin testify. However, that is why we are told to “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (I Peter 5:8). When Satan first asked, “Did God actually say…?” Eve’s answer should have been, “Adam, is that what God said?” (which it wasn’t). If they had waited for God to come in the cool of the day and join the conversation, we would have had quite a different story. 

  We certainly can’t change what happened in that garden. However, maybe we can change someone’s story today by turning from Satan and his servants who are challenging the authority of God’s word and once again seek to live by every word that comes from the mouth of God. 

© 2025 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

On This Day: To Live the ‘More Than Conquerors’ Life

   And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written,
   “‘You shall worship the Lord your God,
    and him only shall you serve.’”
   And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written,
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
    to guard you,’
and
“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
    lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
   And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. (Luke 4:1-13)

   The thought that Jesus giving in to temptation would have turned this world into a nightmare of completely unrestrained evil pierces my heart to consider how often my failures have shut down something that could have happened to the glory of God and the good of others. 

   Jesus’ victory over sin, death, hell, and condemnation has given me the salvation by which all my sins are forgiven and God is constantly purifying me from unrighteousness (I John 1:9). It also gives me the “more than conquerors” life by which I can “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might” (Ephesians 6:10). That is, if I resist temptation and walk in “the obedience of faith”. 

   To make this work, God has given us “the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil” (vs 11). We can “take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm” (vs 13). 

   When the apostle Paul wrote, “…in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37), he meant that we who have received “the newness of life” from Christ are to live in his victory over sin by resisting temptation just like our Savior did. 

   The apostle John made clear how we do this when he wrote, “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 John 5:4). 

   Luke describes Jesus’ victory over Satan’s temptations in the wilderness so we can appreciate why we have our great salvation (because Jesus never sinned and always did the Father’s will), and how we must “be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:1-2).

   While I could say much more to encourage us in these things, today’s focus is to get down to business with God. Confess every sin he brings to mind, worship God for his forgiveness and cleansing from sin, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:7-8), and watch how others benefit from our victory over sin by our faith in Jesus’ victory over sin. 

© 2025 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

On This Day: A Father’s Pleasure in His Son

   Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:21-22)

   Before I could write anything about this, I did a lot of introspective prayer about how father issues have affected me. Asking God to show me what to bring to him became a fresh discovery of my need to know him. But it also reinforced how clearly God reveals his desire for all believers to know we are the beloved children of God who are welcomed into God’s kingdom with joy.

   The biggest thing I can hope to accomplish by this sharing is that someone who has been turning away from God as Father because of dad-wounds would realize that he is the Father “in heaven” who heals our wounds from fathers “on earth”.    

   So, while others try to recreate a god in their own image to soothe the devastating effects of abusive dads, I want to shout from the rooftops that “our Father in heaven” is the person we must run to and know for who he is. It is the ultimate Father who heals our father-wounds. 

   When we do humble ourselves to run to God for help, we not only find out what he is like as the perfect Father, but we discover that what he said to Jesus at his baptism (and again at his transfiguration) was not only how he felt about his son, but what he was calling people into as his children. 

   Yes, a comprehensive understanding of Scripture shows us a God who adopts sinners as his “beloved children” and welcomes them with joy. One of the most beautiful prophecies of what God would do through the coming of Jesus Christ his Son is described like this, “The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing” (Zephaniah 3:17).

   Jesus is “God with us”. He has proven himself mighty to save us out of the domain of darkness and bring us into his kingdom. He rejoices to find his lost sheep and bring us home. He quiets us with his love. And he tells us the things he breathed-out into his word, “that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11). 

   It doesn’t matter whether New Year’s Day 2025 means anything to us or whether it’s just the same-old stuff. But God’s joyful love for his Son invites us to know his joy and love for us as we walk with Jesus Christ in faith.

© 2025 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)