When Jesus, Peter, James, and John came back down from the mountain, they saw a large crowd around the other nine disciples. The teachers of the Law were arguing with the nine. (Mark 9:14, paraphrase mine)
In Sunday's sermon, Pastor Richie noted that at times we seek God for the wrong purpose: rather than seeking to do His will, we seek for Him to "co-sign" on our own desires. Our pastor shared that, in such moments, it is not surprising that God ties our hands behind our backs. Or, to say it another way, God arranges our circumstances so that we are incapable of contributing to our perceived solution for the problem at hand. To paraphrase our pastor, In such moments, God makes sure that all we can do is pray.
We see this in the life of the nine disciples who attempted to bring healing and deliverance to a young man. Their attempts failed, and instead of being instruments of healing they became embroiled in an argument with local religious leaders. When Jesus came onto the scene, His rebuke was leveled not at the sick person, nor at the leaders, but at His disciples. Jesus's rebuke revealed the reasons for their failure to heal:
A lack of faith. Although the nine disciples were engaged in the ministry of deliverance, they did so in a spirit of unbelief. They did not carry in themselves the faith necessary to engage the task. (see Mark 9:19)
A lack of prayer. Jesus, in saying "This kind can only come out by prayer" (see Mark 9:29), indicated that the nine disciples had not prayed prior to engaging in ministry.
Well, that was then, and this is now. Where do we stand in our Christian walk? Are we people of faith? Are we people of prayer? The Mark 9 narrative serves as a warning to us: simply following Jesus without following His ministry strategies will set us up for failure.
It is God's will that we pray. Let us pray.
It is God's will that we have faith. Let us have faith.
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