We often think of great faith as
something that happens spontaneously so that we can be used for a miracle or
healing. However, the greatest faith of all, and the most effective, is to live
day by day trusting Him. It is trusting Him so much that we look at every
problem as an opportunity to see His work in our life. --Rick Joyner: ((born
1949: heads Morning Star Ministries in Jackson, Mississippi)
Gospel
Text: (MK 9:14-29)
As Jesus came down from the mountain
with Peter, James, John
and approached the other disciples,
they saw a large crowd around them and
scribes arguing with them.
Immediately on seeing him,
the whole crowd was utterly amazed.
They ran up to him and greeted him.
He asked them, "What are you
arguing about with them?"
Someone from the crowd answered him,
"Teacher, I have brought to you
my son possessed by a mute spirit.
Wherever it seizes him, it throws him
down;
he foams at the mouth, grinds his
teeth, and becomes rigid.
I asked your disciples to drive it
out, but they were unable to do so."
He said to them in reply,
"O faithless generation, how long
will I be with you?
How long will I endure you? Bring him
to me."
They brought the boy to him.
And when he saw him,
the spirit immediately threw the boy
into convulsions.
As he fell to the ground, he began to
roll around
and foam at the mouth.
Then he questioned his father,
"How long has this been happening
to him?"
He replied, "Since childhood.
It has often thrown him into fire and
into water to kill him.
But if you can do anything, have
compassion on us and help us."
Jesus said to him,
"'If you can!' Everything is
possible to one who has faith."
Then the boy's father cried out,
"I do believe, help my unbelief!"
Jesus, on seeing a crowd rapidly
gathering,
rebuked the unclean spirit and said to
it,
"Mute and deaf spirit, I command
you:
come out of him and never enter him
again!"
Shouting and throwing the boy into
convulsions, it came out.
He became like a corpse, which caused
many to say, "He is dead!"
But Jesus took him by the hand, raised
him, and he stood up.
When he entered the house, his
disciples asked him in private,
"Why could we not drive the
spirit out?"
He said to them, "This kind can
only come out through prayer."
In our Gospel reading today, the
disciples have failed in ministry, and the father of the possessed boy is wondering
if Jesus can grant his request. Both situations are good examples of why our
own faith wavers.
Like the disciples, we see failures as
reason to doubt our ability to do the works of God. Like the father, we wonder
if God really has enough power or enough compassion or even enough time to
notice us and answer our prayers.
In the father's response to Jesus, why
did he say "if"? How often do we pray with an "if"
attitude? Can Jesus help us whenever we ask him to? Of course he can -- if what
we seek is within God's will. Ahh, but there's another "if"! So let's
turn the "if" onto ourselves. IF we know God, we know his will (it's
clearly explained in the scriptures and Church teachings) and we only want what
he wants. Right?
Do we doubt Christ's compassion? Do we
think he's not kind and caring enough to answer our prayers? Of course he is:
God is Love, and no matter how undeserving we are, he is good to us. It's
impossible for him to be uncaring. Even his discipline is good for us, although
we might not think so at the time. Therefore, whenever we pray, we should say
to him: "Thank you for being so good to me. I do believe; help me to
overcome any unbelief that's still within me."
Whenever the "IF" word shows
up in our prayers, we should ask ourselves why. Are we focused on the evidence
of potential disaster or on the goodness of God? If our eyes are not on Jesus
and all the good that he's already done for us, our prayers will be answered in
unexpected ways and we won't realize what he's done. We'll miss his solutions
to our problems! Or at least we'll be miserable waiting for it to happen.
Understand what Jesus meant by:
"This kind of spirit you can only drive out by prayer." Surely the
disciples had prayed as they tried to cast out the demon. Even a simple
"Get out!" with the authority given to us by Jesus is a genuine
prayer. What did the disciples do wrong?
Our prayers are merely noise if we're
disbelieving that God truly cares. To prevent wavering between belief and
unbelief, our prayers must be more than words. Our prayers need to be a way of
life.
We cannot spend a few minutes a day
talking to God and then expect to feel his presence when a crisis hits. We have
to remain consciously aware, moment by moment, of his constant love, his
constant nearness, his constant guidance.
True prayer is a life lived connected
to Jesus, imitating Jesus, and being the presence of Jesus for others. In a
lifestyle of prayer, our hearts are constantly turning to God, even while our
thoughts are busy with the tasks of the day.
To develop this lifestyle, pray each
day: "Jesus, I do believe that you care about me; help me to keep my eyes
on you."
No comments:
Post a Comment