NOTE: I will have limited access to internet for the next two weeks. Be assured, however, that even if I don’t post here I am keeping up the 49 Week Bible Challenge. I encourage you to join me in this discipline. I am using the YouVersion 49 Week Bible Challenge for these devotions. Today’s readings are Mark 9; Isaiah 66; Leviticus 2; Numbers 11.
Mark 9:14-29
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.”
As I’ve worked with churches in the Call Process I’ve urged the call committee and church members to make prayer a high priority as they gather information, consider various candidates, interview, and ultimately choose a pastor to call to be their pastor. Several call committees have gone so far as to have a group text every evening as a reminder to pray. Most of these group texts are a simple simple “Amen” text by the members of the group. One call committee leader also wrote a prayer every night and sent it to the group. So our “Amen,” was united in the more specific matters listed in her prayer.
We’ve taken this very personally as well. Diane and I are part of a LIVE group at our St. John, in Cypress. Every afternoon at sometime around 3:10 we text our amens to each other in our group chat. Our particular time is linked to Zechariah 3:10, and a reminder to pray for our neighbors that we would have good conversations across the fences and on the porches of our homes. Sometimes our prayers are a bit more robust than others. We pray for one another as we experience illness, family, or job challenges. Prayer has become ever more focused and intentional through these practices.
Jesus, however, takes prayer to a new level. He has the world in his heart. He knows the battle he must face. He recognizes the lostness of people, and is moved with compassion when he sees them as sheep without a shepherd. So he prays regularly. Jesus would often go by himself to pray (cf. Luke 5:16). So when he comes upon the young man who is severely oppressed by a demon, he is ready.
Jesus will do battle with Satan’s minions. And he will win. Better yet the demon-oppressed man and his troubled father will win. Best of all, we win when we call upon God in faith and anticipation. It may be that our prayer life is best understood not only as a call to relief – or even praise, and adoration – but as a reminder of our need for God. Our prayers can bolster our faith for those times when we meet opposition, challenge, and temptation. So…Let us pray!
David Bahn - Reflections 
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