And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” (Mark 9:28-29)
This is one of those hit-the-bull’s-eye arrows of God’s word that left my cringing and smiling at the same time.
The cringe part is the conviction that prayer is one of the most heart-exposing callings of our walk with God.
The smile part is to realize that this is why I was so blessed with the realization that God telling his disciples to “listen” to Jesus meant with an intention of obeying what he said. That he said there is a kind of demon that can only come out by prayer means he expects his church to pray for people’s freedom in Christ until they are free.
My biggest difficulty with a “pray without ceasing” kind of everyday living is the nagging influence of discouragement. Sometimes that comes because a prayer has not been answered my way. Other times it comes because other believers have lost the heart for prayer so persevering becomes more difficult.
I often find myself recognizing that I am on a “this time through” a passage of scripture. I can’t camp in how God spoke to me last time I visited that text. My quest is to know what he is speaking to me about this time, and how he wants this to apply to anything I am going through.
So, this time through this account of the disciples’ failure to drive out a demon, with the “listen to him” now filtering my understanding, I see this as God addressing that I must repent of any ways I give up too easily in prayer, or in praying for certain people and their needs. Discouragement is sometimes just self-centered childishness that thinks I am the center of the universe and if things aren’t going my way, I don’t have to do what I’m told.
But this is also the “correcting” side of Scripture that shows me what God is calling me to put into practice. It isn’t something that only applied to those apostles. It is a lesson to us when the things we are doing in ministry aren’t working but the needs are still staring us in the face. Some things can only be done through prayer because that is how God tests us to make sure we are trusting him and not ourselves.
The universal application to all believers is that we are told to address everything in prayer. That includes every need, but it also includes every ministry opportunity, no matter how impossible they appear to us. The instruction of our Savior (through Paul) we all must listen to in “the obedience of faith” is:
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4-7)
Let’s not say we didn’t just “hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches”. Instead, let’s admit we heard our Savior’s voice, and follow him where he leads in applying this to our lives and anyone who needs our ministry.
© 2024 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8
Email: in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)
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