09/17/2019
Where do you turn for help with your children when you are out of answers yourself? When you are at the end of your rope, and hanging in the air, unable to save them, what do you do? Who do you call on? Whether we are talking about faith, physical sickness, addiction, or mental health, where do we go for assistance when every effort of our own has failed? Well, there is only one answer, and Jesus provides it!
“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."”
Mark 9:19 ESV
When the disciples were unable to cast a demon from a man’s son, he ordered them to bring the boy to him. The disciples had attempted to help the boy, but they had been unable, and the father was in great distress... this was his last resort. Have you ever been there? Listen...
“And he asked them, "What are you arguing about with them?" And someone from the crowd answered him, "Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. 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."”
Mark 9:16-18 ESV
Sometimes we can solve the problems our children encounter; we can speak the gospel to them regarding their faith, give them medicine, take them to a doctor, give them encouragement regarding an addiction, or treat them with psychological counseling regarding their mental health, but there are many times when all of our effort are for not. Then in this, our own moment of crisis, and when we are suffering for our child, we turn to Jesus, and ask Him to help us.
“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. And Jesus asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood. 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." And Jesus said to him, "'If you can'! All things are possible for one who believes." Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, "I believe; help my unbelief!"”
Mark 9:20-24 ESV
Does this sound familiar to you? I am not talking about this particular Bible story, but going to your prayer closet out of desperation regarding one of your children, or grandchildren. This story is very familiar to me, and in fact my children, and grandchildren, remain the subject of my most constant and fervent prayers. I call them out by name in my morning prayers, but it wasn’t always so; there was a time when I prayed for them as I did others in my life... only when I thought there was nowhere left to turn. Then, one of my children ran into rough times, and became addicted to pain medicine, and my wife and I did everything we knew to solve the situation, but nothing would work. Have you ever exhausted your ability to help one of your kids? What did you do? In our desperation we finally gave up trying to fix it ourselves, and turning to Jesus we said “Lord we have nothing left... we are handing this to you!”
“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." 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." But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.”
Mark 9:25-27 ESV
The Wednesday evening following our tearful handing over of our child to Jesus I went to Bible Study, and at the end of the night our Assistant Pastor who was teaching asked anyone who was ill to standup, and instructed those around them to lay hands on them and pray for them. I was sitting off to the side of the sanctuary, and didn’t stand because I wasn’t personally sick. Then, a good friend approached with another man and asked if he could pray for my child through me. I stood and these men began to pray. In a moment I felt the hands of others on my shoulders and back and it was an electric feeling as the hands touched me, lifted, and then touched me again. I couldn’t believe that all these people would come to where I was sitting and pray for my child. Then, when the two men had finished their prayers I thanked them, and turned to thank all the others that had been praying... but there was nobody there.
Within a couple of weeks my child was clean of drugs, a life had changed, and now many years later there is still freedom from addiction. Only when we had let go of our own attempts, and handed everything to Jesus were our prayers answered. The demon, that was drugs, had been cast out.
“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 ESV
Sometimes our best efforts are not enough, and even our eloquent or tearful prayers fall short because our faith still carries with it a taste of our own self-determination. But when we reach that place where we have nowhere left to turn and our desperate faith is all we have, then in our humility, brokenness, and a prayer that yields everything to Jesus we will learn the lesson asked for by the father in our Bible story... we will cry out “help my unbelief”, and Jesus will. In that moment there isn’t a shred of ourselves left in the prayer, just as when Jesus cast out the unclean spirit there wasn’t an ounce of Him in that action... only the Father.
“So Jesus said to them, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him."”
John 8:28-29 ESV
There were times in our ordeal when my wife and I asked why our prayers weren’t being answered, but the answer eventually came... the prayers we were praying were our prayers, concerning our will, and the heartbreak expressed was ours. However, once we let go, and those prayers became God’s will, and the heartbreak was His... then our child was miraculously healed. This is what it means to pray in the name of Jesus... total submission... total trust... total dependence on God, and yielding all glory to Him... it is yielding to Him our most prized treasure.
Do you recall the story of King Solomon, and the two prostitutes who were arguing over the baby? His solution was to cut the baby in half and give half to each of them. Do you remember the outcome?
“And the king said, "Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other." Then the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because her heart yearned for her son, "Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death." But the other said, "He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him." Then the king answered and said, "Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means put him to death; she is his mother."”
1 Kings 3:25-27 ESV
When we are willing to give everything to God; when we are willing to give up the baby, then in that moment we realize what love and faith truly are, and how we should pray... “take the child that it should live.”
How are we praying today? Are we asking that God’s will be done, and really meaning it? Are we asking Him to heal our child, and trusting in Him completely? Are we willing to hand over our dearest child to God even though we love it so? Are we praying this way in the realization that this is how Jesus prayed, and knowing that this is praying in His name?
Prayer:
Father, we thank you for hearing our prayers, and answering them in the name of your Son Jesus Christ. We thank you Holy Father for helping us in our unbelief, and in those moments when our faith is weak. Teach us to pray as Jesus prayed, and to yield ourselves, and all we have, to you as He did. When our children, who are our greatest prizes are in need of healing, or salvation, give us enough love for them that we would be willing to place them in your hands, and walk away. Help us to love and trust in you with all our heart, mind, and soul... and to place in your hands the greatest cares of our hearts without hesitation. When your will requires that ours be sacrificed then let it be so, because your will is perfect, and even though our heart might be broken on that day, we know that there will come a time when every teardrop will be dried, and our joy will find unbound measure. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who answers prayer, and lifts us up in our faith when we have fallen, and sorrow has overcome us. Great are you who loves us, and whose heart breaks even as ours does. Praised be your name for the goodness your hand brings when it is placed upon us. Worthy are you Father, and your Son Jesus. All glory is yours through your mercy and grace... now, and forevermore. Help us now in our unbelief, help us now to yield ourselves totally, and teach us to pray as we should.
“Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”
John 14:13-14 ESV
Rich Forbes