Do you struggle with identity issues or knowing your worth? For the longest time, I wrestled with Adonai. I wanted to know who I was and what I was supposed to be doing. Many times I was confused by organized religions philosophies, the role of women, and the structure of “church” I would lament with ear-piercing cries, Abba, who am I? Little did I know He had been shaping and molding me since birth. As I struggled with my identity, I stumbled upon a compelling verse in Luke 8. Yeshua visits a man at a tomb. This man had lost his identity to a legion of spirits. Each spirit told him who he was and leaving him feeling bound and without worth. Spirits aren’t always entities. They can be false doctrines, hateful speech, and unloving actions- religious beliefs. I find it interesting that Yeshua doesn’t banish this legion to the abyss but sends them into a herd of swine to drown themselves. I wonder where legion went after this? I felt that i should do a quick search on the word legion. The Latin root for legion is Legere which means choose, levy. Now let’s ponder this: choosing is to approve, seek out, and accept. Levy has a deeper meaning than I expected. Levy means to raise or lift. However, the root word of levy is levis, and it means light! Did you read that? It’s funny that it’s the root word, and we are to always get to the root of the problem. Light always finds a way through. Going back to the Scripture
38 The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with Yeshua. But Yeshua sent him away, saying, 39 “Return to your home, and describe all that God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole town all that Yeshua had done for him. ~Luke 8:38-39~
This man recently set free from all the bondages of the legion is begging to go with Yeshua, yet Yeshua says something extraordinary. “Return to your home, and describe all that God has done for you.” Yeshua didn’t offer him ordination or tell him he had to attend school before speaking. No, Yeshua says something many in our culture don’t. He tells the man to go and share all that God has done for him! What if we are already equipped to do what Adonai has called you to do? Who are we to argue with Yeshua’s understanding of readiness? When God delivers a package, it doesn’t look like expected. It doesn’t even closely resemble anything that we have been taught, and I love this! As I meditated on this verse, I heard the woman at the well. I pondered her and all her life’s choices. I then thought about the man at the tomb. What was his childhood like? Did he have parents that taught him the way of Adonai? What happened to him and the Samaritan woman that would make them ostracized from society? Then I thought about myself. I feel for these two because I can relate to them. I am not packaged as many would like, yet Adonai is the God that births- El Chawl.
John 4 Yeshua is conversing with the Samaritan woman. She’s probably confused because the Jews in that time did not speak to the Samaritans. Not to mention she was a woman. Yet here Yeshua is breaking all the status quo of the day. Packaged differently, my friends. As the disciples approached:
28 So the woman left her water jar and went back to the town. She tells the people, 29 “Come see a man who told me everything I ever did! He couldn’t be the Messiah, could He?” 30 The people left the town and began coming to Him. John 4:28-30
The Samaritan woman was so filled with wonder and awe that the townspeople believed her words and left their town to see for themselves. I’m not sure what you have been taught about this woman, but I have heard she wasn’t the most loved in the town. Oh, the things we hear about others. Yet If we skip a few verses down, we read:
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town put their trust in Him because of the word of the woman testifying, “He told me everything I ever did!” 40 So when the Samaritans came to Him, they kept asking Him to stay with them. He stayed there two days, 41 and many more believed because of His word. 42 They kept telling the woman, “It’s no longer because of your words that we believe. We’ve heard for ourselves! Now we know that this really is the Savior of the world!” John 4:39-42
Would we have the excitement of this woman if Yeshua told us everything we ever did? I pray so. What do the man at the tomb and the woman at the well have in common? They didn’t fit the religious standards of the day. But that doesn’t matter to the King of Kings, now does it? Now I ask again, what if we are already equipped to do what we are called to do? There is no need for buildings or vast numbers to minister to the sick and broken. Ministry isn’t an address; it is wherever you put your feet. Ordination comes from heavenly hands. I pray we arise and do what we are called to do with tears in my eyes. Regardless of the packaging. Because many depend on us to do what Adonai has called us to do. We hold keys over death and the grave; Yeshua shows us how to use them.
Works cited:
Break Bread Co. 
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