The Power of Prayer-Thoughts from 11/20/05

SCRIPTURE:
Mark 9:14-29 (ESV)
14 And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. 15 And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. 16 And he asked them, ‘What are you arguing about with them?’ 17 And someone from the crowd answered him, ‘Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. 18 And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.’ 19 And he answered them, ‘O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.’ 20 And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. 21 And Jesus asked his father, ‘How long has this been happening to him?’ And he said, ‘From childhood. 22 And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.’ 23 And Jesus said to him, ‘If you can! All things are possible for one who believes.’ 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, ‘I believe; help my unbelief!’ 25 And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, ‘You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.’ 26 And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, ‘He is dead.’ 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. 28 And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’ 29 And he said to them, ‘This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.’

Here is an instance where the power of faith in God is demonstrated.
vs. 23- 'All things are possible for one who believes'

We are to have faith in God. This faith is base on our Hope. Our Hope is in the believed in future: that the Lords will will be done and that He will be glorified in all things. On a smaller level he will be glorified in our lives, in the lives of our friends, family, our nation, and furthermore in all things. Our faith is based on the knowledge that his will will be done in our lives despite our sinful nature.

By grace he gives us strength to save us from our unbelief (vs. 24). We need to boast in the Lord and not in ourselves.

It isn’t our actual prayer that makes the difference. The act of praying is a demonstration of our faith. Our faith that the Lords will will be done. That faith therefore includes the possibility that His will is different than our desires, and we can have hope in this because we know that his will will glorify him. We have a radical reliance upon the infinite authority of God. Therefore we pray because we have faith.