Daily Bread 8-23-17

Matthew 17:14-20

14 And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying,

15 Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatic, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft in the water.

16 And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.

17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.

18 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured that very hour.

19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could we not cast him out?

20 And Jesus said unto them, O faithless and perverse generation how long shall I be with you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

ref. - Lk 9:37 - And it came to pass, that on the next day, when they were come down from the hill, much people met him.

Mk 9:23 - Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

Lk 17:6 - And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.

There will always be people showing up with needs. There will be carnal needs and Spiritual needs. In this story we need not just to focus on the great and wonderful miracle that Jesus performed on the man's son, but the instruction that the disciples received as they could not perform the miracles themselves. They had been already told that they had the power, in faith, to cast out demons and heal bodies, but they could not. What Jesus told them was, and it may have been his intention in the first place, that they needed to increase in faith. They were not ready to be left alone yet. In our time we need the same tune up as people of God, followers of Christ, disciples. We may think that we have the "Tiger by the tail" as things are going pretty good for us, but there will always be challenges that we are not ready to face. There will always be things that cross our paths that cast doubts and fears into us where faith once dwelt. We could decide that we were going to believe and just start going out and trying to convince the world that we have the gift, but it is not given us the way that man will teach in carnal terms. We can't just decide that this is the way it will be. Let me use an example; A man goes to the chiropractor to have a pain that has been bothering him for years worked on. The chiropractor adjust his joints and he feels like everything is in order. He leaves and by the morning the same problem exists. Even though the man set his mind to the fact that he was cured, his body returned to the position that it had been in for years. It would not improve unless he went back to the chiropractor. It took many appointments and many adjustments to straighten what had been out of shape for so long. And it also took someone who knew how the body operated. This just being a story, let us get real and into the spiritual. We have lacked faith from birth and have only lived in carnal fashion. We found Christ and determined ourselves that we were healed but the thoughts and feelings that had us in sin still keep coming back. Instead of just saying, no, I will not have these feelings and thoughts we must go to the master and ask him to remove them from us. It may take one prayer or it may take a thousand, but for sure, it will take prayer. The word of God tells us as disciples that the reason that we do not have the gifts to help others is because we still have unbelief in us. But instead of humbling ourselves and allowing our hearts to be contrite, we just decide that we are going to control something that we never have controlled before, and things will change. In turn we do not find anything permanent but temporary. We must go to the one who created the Spirit and the soul. Someone who knows how to change it. We must just trust a little bit, enough to pray and fast. And our help will come. You see, when we do it, it will last for awhile, but when Jesus does it, it is as long as we will believe that we will possess what he gives us. These disciples were good men who had just gotten off track a bit, and so are we. We must seek for God's help in our faith and plead with him to strengthen our faith. This way when the time comes, and it is coming, we will be able to perform the things that we have been called to perform. The final verse should be etched in our minds forever; Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. We have been offered the gifts, we have been given the opportunity, and we have been told how to achieve it. Now who of us will actually do it? The choice is up to us, and the gifts are up to him! Pray always!! Siempre Orad! Have a great day!!