The past few weeks have been particularly difficult. With increased appointments and obligations,
I have struggled to keep a sense of balance and maintain calmness. I know this may sound like the norm for most
moms but life has been, to say the least, CRAZY!!! I have struggled to get into prayer and have
fought to be able to focus long enough to study and meditate on God’s
word. It has truly been a battle and one
that I’m sure all of us fight at some point or another. Whether it’s kids and situations that arise
from raising children, or work, or projects we are engulfed in, there is always
something pulling on our time and sometimes we can feel like we’re drowning in
it all.
That’s how I have felt the past few weeks. I have three children (twin 6 year olds and
an 11 year old with special needs who often requires extra doctor visits) who are
home-schooled and involved in scouts and the YMCA. I teach Speech and French in a home-school
coop. Within the coop I also help with
fundraisers and am working on our 2015 trip to France. I am in school, studying to finish my
degree. I am involved in leadership
in our church and teach a small, home-based Bible study on Friday nights. I also write and love to read whenever I
can.
I didn’t say all that to complain. In fact, I LOVE being a part of every single thing and am blessed by each area I am involved in! I listed the condensed version of my schedule to show you that I truly know what it means to be overwhelmed at times.
So in the midst of all this, I have been seeking God for direction and wisdom. I began to study Mark 9 and the story of the father who brought his possessed and sick son to Jesus. (The story can be found in Matthew 17:14-20).
Here we see that the disciples have begun to work under the
direction of Jesus and a man whose son was possessed. He has attempted to commit suicide by being
thrown into the fire or the water. By
the way, this is just another example of the enemy seeking to steal, kill, and
destroy! So, the father, being at the
end of his rope, takes the boy to the disciples to see if there’s anything they
can do. Surprise! They can’t!
There comes some discussion about it and a crowd is coming to see what’s
going on. Everyone seems to want to find
the latest and biggest scandal to stand and watch. But I love that Jesus comes to put it all to
rest with a simple display of love and who He is! Jesus comes up and says, in verse 16, “What
are you discussing with them?” The
father steps forward and tells Him that his son is possessed and he came to
them for help but they couldn’t do anything for his son.
*** What happens next has been a huge mystery to me until
this week. The whole purpose for writing
tonight is because of this revelation and understanding of God’s word! ***
Jesus stops and looks at the disciples. He says in verse 19, “O faithless generation,
how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you?” In Matthew, we hear Jesus say “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall
I be with you? How long shall I bear with you?”
These were HIS disciples and He was calling them faithless and
perverse!
As I prayed over this statement and the serious spanking the
disciples just got from Jesus, I started asking God to show me why. It bothered me that He would say this to
them. Jesus used the word faithless. The original Greek word is apistos, which
means disobedient, untrustworthy, or unbelieving. As the Holy Spirit began to open my
understanding to what Jesus was saying, I started realizing that they were
imperfect too. It was not because of
their imperfection though. It was
because they allowed the muck of the world to distort, and pervert the truth
and purity of what Jesus was giving them!
They had been brought out of the world but were still covered in the
filth of the world.
I picture it like driving
through all of the snow and muck of winter!
We’ve gotten some pretty heavy snowfall this year and the roads are
covered in the nasty sand and salt that they use to keep the roads clear. You can see it in the horrid shade of brown
snow on the sides of the road! I wouldn’t
dare eat it much less touch it. It is
NASTY snow! However, when it’s all over
and the snow is gone, we have to wash the muck and grime away and off the
cars. Why? Because it will begin to eat at the paint and
erode the body causing rust and decay.
Eventually it breaks down the integrity of the body of the car!
Imagine that. They
were covered in the stuff they were driving through. The grime, the muck and the stuff that is
supposed to get rid of the clean white blanket that covers everything and makes
it white as… snow! They were set free
from it when they chose to follow Jesus but it still covered them and was
causing disbelief and disobedience.
So now we have Jesus dealing directly with the father of the
possessed boy. He just witnessed the
rebuke of the disciples and probably is a bit humbled by it. Jesus asks him how long the boy has been like
this. I believe Jesus knew. He knew everything about this man and his
son! This was a divine set up! The father tells him and then says “IF you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” He had lost hope and had no trust in
God. He had been let down time and time
before and hurt by each and every disappointment. Disappointments led to him not being able to trust anyone and doubt every claim put before him. BUT, this is Jesus!
Jesus says to him in Mark 9:23, “If you can believe, all
things are possible to him who believes.”
He threw that IF right back out and reminded the father, and everyone
around, who He is! I believe this also
reminded the demon who He is, as Jesus asserted His authority!
This is the turning point in the story! The Father repents saying, “Lord, I believe;
help my unbelief!” This has also caused
me some confusion in the past because how can someone believe and not believe
all at the same time? However these are
two different words in original Greek that it was written in. The word belief
is actually the word pisteuo, which
means trust or have faith in – to submit to authority, agree with or yield
to. The first thing the father does is
put his trust in Jesus and submit to his authority as God The Son! Then he asks Jesus to “…help my unbelief!” Here again we see the word, apistos, (the word Jesus used when rebuking the disciples) which is disobedience or
unfaithfulness. After submitting to
Jesus, he is now repenting for disobedience!
This marks the invitation for divine intervention into their lives! THEY GOT SAVED!
Once Jesus revealed Himself to the father and the father
understood the greatness of who was standing before Him, the father repented
and now the way was made for Jesus to intervene. That’s when the boy began to convulse. The devil will never let go without throwing
some kind of a temper tantrum and putting on a show! That never stops Jesus though!
***Just a side note for the “church folk” out there. Jesus didn’t have a conversation with the
demon. He didn’t stop to find out what
his name was or become familiar with it.
He didn’t take a week to study up on it and pray about it! Anything you ask it would be a lie anyway
because satan is the father of lies and nothing of truth can come from him so
why ask? Jesus didn’t put on a show, HE
ENDED THE SHOW!***
In verse 25 it says, “When Jesus saw that the people came
running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come
out of him and enter him no more!””
Jesus put an end to the show! He
abruptly stopped the attempts at attention and the self glorification! Why? Because He came to seek and save the
lost for the glory of God The Father!
It was finished and the boy was free. They were saved and went about their
way. Having seen all of this, the
disciples took Jesus aside and asked Him why they couldn’t do what He did. Jesus replied, ““This kind can come out by
nothing but prayer and fasting.” (v. 29) That is profound to me because Jesus was
saying, that you have to be constantly in prayer and fasting. Does that mean never eating and always
praying? No. It means having the lifestyle of prayer and
fasting. Regularly going to God and
regularly surrendering to Him so that the flesh decreases and the spirit
increases! It means that when we get
dirty in the sludge we have to get cleaned up so that we don’t start to erode
and the integrity of “the Body” (of Christ) isn’t compromised by perversion or
distortion from all the grime and muck!
He told them that in order to walk in this power, we must be in an
intimate relationship with God the Father… Just as He is. The awesome part about that is, we CAN be in an intimate relationship with
God the Father!
Today, I pray that you come to realize that it isn’t about
the show. We can get busy with all the
stuff going on around us and the muck and grime that we have to plow through. However, as His children of God, we need to stop and seek His face and live a life a prayer and fasting in an intimate
relationship with God! As we do that,
the power to face our challenges will come through the power of the Holy Spirit
being active in our lives. It all stems
from the love we have with Christ! He
died for us, not so that we could put on a good show, but so that we could be set free from the
things that bind us and enter into a trusting, loving relationship with Him.
You may know who His is by now, but do you truly know
Him? Do you speak with Him regularly and
have an intimate relationship with Him?
He wants you to! He promises in
Jeremiah 29:13, “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with
all your heart.” If you seek Him
earnestly and sincerely, ask Him to show Himself to you because He promises
that He will! He loves you so much that He wants to
put an end to the drama and the show so that you can live free in Him!
I challenge you to allow God to show Himself to you and
bring you into a true relationship with Him!
It takes faith and surrender! That’s it!
It’s a free gift so believe the gift is for you and receive it!
I pray that God blesses you as you continue to seek and
serve Him!
No comments:
Post a Comment