Prayer Journal
Saturday, July 1, 2000
Reason #5 why people don't pray: "We don't believe prayer works!"
God tells us that He can bring wayward children home and put broken marriages back together. With promises like those, you'd think we'd do whatever God said in order to claim such victories.
But, if you have such a need in your life today and you believe God is able to do such things, how much time have you spent in prayer today? If you're like me, you'll probably answer with head lowered, "Not very much".
Jesus' disciples weren't able to help the man. His son was horribly possessed by an evil spirit. A crowd gathered around them and soon they began to get unruly. It seemed the people were arguing with the disciples, possibly questioning their authority. Then, Jesus approached with Peter, James and John. Jesus asked the crowd what they were arguing about, as if He didn't know.
The father spoke up and told Jesus that had he brought his son to him. But, not finding him, he pressed Jesus' disciples to help him, but to no avail. The father begged Jesus;
"'If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.' 'If you can? said Jesus. Everything is possible for him who believes.' Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, 'I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!'" Mark 9:22b-24
Because of the father's faith, Jesus healed his son. Some time later, while Jesus and his disciples were alone and behind closed doors, his disciples asked Jesus, "Why couldn't we drive the demon out of the boy?" Jesus told them, "This kind can come out ONLY BY PRAYER".
Jesus might as well have been speaking to us today when he said, "Are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak." (Mark 14:37,38)
(1) Scripture comes from the Holy Bible, New International Version; (c)1978 by New York International Bible Society
(2) The images used herein were obtained from the Learning Company's ClickArt Christian Graphics Deluxe product, (c)1999 The Learning Company, Inc and its subsidiaries, 88 Roland Way, Novato, CA 94945 USA. All Rights Reserved.
