Deepening your faith through prayer and fasting

Mark 9:29 (The Message)

He answered, "There is no way to get rid of this kind of demon except by prayer."

Jesus was asked why they could not cast out the evil spirit in the convulsing boy.  This was His answer.  Some translations add at the end, “….and fasting”.

The story of the curing of the convulsing boy teaches on the development of true faith.  The boy’s father admitted that he had some faith, but not enough (Mark 9:24).  Apparently at that time, the disciplines faith was not that strong and powerful either.  Real faith results from your determination to

1.   immerse your mind in God’s Word (Romans 10:17)

2.   act on God’s Word (James 2:26), and

3.   pray to God and listen for His answer (Mark 9:29). 

It takes all three of these disciplines.  You likely will never have to pray for an evil spirit to be removed from a loved one or a friend in your life, but you will always have satanic-like attacks in your own life and the only way you can remove them is through the discipline of practicing these three disciplines. 

Satan attacks you in many different ways.  He attacks you through your flesh such that you feel strong lusts of some kind or another.  He attacks you through worldly desires such as materialism and putting what the world values ahead of what God values.  And, perhaps the most long-lasting and potentially devastating attack, you lose the sense of self-worth, you experience depression over such realities as aging, loss, and loneliness, and you sense that your faith is not as strong as it used to be.  Note that these attacks involve your body, your mind, and your spirit, respectively. 

When you feel attacked like this, you must react by (1) quoting Scripture as Jesus did when He was tempted in the desert in Matthew 4, (2) make sure that you are doing all you can to be involved with others’ lives so that you are not so focused on yourself only, and (3) you are to pray and ask for God’s help. 

Keep in mind, too, when you are praying for God’s help in overcoming satanic attacks, especially depression that is not clinically-related, that there is nothing in your life that might be hindering your prayers.  These include unconfessed sin (Isa 59:2, Psalm 66:18), family problems that you have not corrected (I Peter 3:7, Matt 5:23-24), wrong motives (James 4:2-3) and doubt (James 1:6-8). 

Fasting is a lost discipline that Jesus teaches that His followers should practice (Matt 6:16-18).  You will be amazed how much more effective your prayers seem to be if you skip a meal and pray while hungry.  That’s because fasting enables you to focus on God where you are relying on His strength, provision and wisdom.  Someone once said that when you pray and fast that you see right and wrong more clearly and you understand better the difference between God’s commandments and man’s commandments.   Basically you discern better the good and evil in your life and can do something about keeping in the good and kicking out the evil.   

What are demons in your life where now you know that they can be removed through prayer and fasting?  May you experience success and may your faith deepen even more.

The word of the cross--wisdom or foolishness?

I Corinthians 1:18 (NASB)

For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Whenever I hear or read about someone bashing Christianity, I think of this verse as well as succeeding verses (1:19-31).  The Lord knows that unbelievers will think of the cross as foolishness.  Can you remember the very first time that you heard about the cross, how Jesus was crucified for the sins of the world?  Did you not recoil in horror and wanted nothing to do with such nonsense?  That’s a natural human reaction to the realities of the cross.  Yet those who continue to view the cross as foolish are those who are perishing. 

The wisdom of God is an enemy to the wisdom of the world.  The wisdom of God is foolishness to the wisdom of the world.   Indeed everything about God is foolishness to the world.  His power through the word of the cross is considered a great weakness by the world.  The world wants nothing to do with the cross because it is considered so repulsive.

What is the “word of the cross”?  “Word” is “logos”, meaning “a word uttered by a living voice”.  The word of the cross is God speaking to the world.  The cross represents sin on which Christ suffered and died to pay the price for the sins of mankind.  If Paul was thinking of a single word to describe the cross, what do you think that word would be?  Salvation?  Forgiveness?  Love?  What about the words that Christ spoke while suffering on the cross?  Are these “the word of the cross” that is foolishness to those who are perishing, but the power of God to those who are being saved?

Statement	Verses	Main Teaching	Principle
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do	Luke 23:34	Forgiveness	Main principles on forgiveness taught in Matt 18:21-35
Truly, I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise	Luke 23:43	Salvation	Assurance of salvation (see I John 5:11-13).  We need to share His plan of salvation with others
Woman, behold your son. Behold, your mother	John 19:26-27	Provision	We must provide for our loved ones (I Tim 5:8) and love them sacrificially (Eph 5, 6)
My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?	Matt 27:46 Mark 15:34	Questioning	We should not hesitate to pour out our hearts to God and ask for His help (Rom 8:18-28)
I am thirsty	John 19:26	Thirsting	Express to God how you thirst to know Him, how you thirst to have Him meet your deepest needs and the needs of your loved ones (Psalm 42:1-2, Heb 4:15-16)
It is finished	John 19:30	Purpose	Ask God to clarify His purpose for your life and to live your life in a focused way (Prov 16:3)
Father, into Thy Hands I commit My Spirit	Luke 23:46	Surrender	Surrender everything in your life and lifestyle to Him (Psalm 31, Col 3:17)

     

God is not a God of hate, but a God of love and the love of God was demonstrated by His plan to sacrifice His Son as a substitute for sacrificing man on the cross for the forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22). Such sacrificial love, as Paul writes in I Cor 1:23 is “ to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness”.  Yet, Paul then writes in I Cor 1:24 that the cross is “the power of God and the wisdom of God”, but only those who are willing to respond to the call of God believe this.  Indeed, verse 30 says that Christ Jesus is the wisdom from God and only those who believe in Him believe in the love and wisdom of God through Him.  Faith is the foundation of believing and following the Lord Jesus and without such faith, people will perish because to them the message of God through the cross of Christ is utter foolishness.   

So, what is the word of the cross to you?  Foolishness or the power of God?  If you think that it is foolishness, that may be normal thinking when you initially think about it, but let the wisdom of God sink in deeply within your soul and then you will see that the cross is truly the power of God to save souls from eternal separation from God to eternal life with him in heaven as well as the rest of your life on earth.  

Praying that you may prosper and be in good health

III John 2

Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers. 

Many years ago when I moved to Indiana from Tennessee, a colleague gave me a going-away gift with this verse inscribed.  I had never seen the verse before, but really liked its message.  Ever since, I have used this verse as a closing prayer in cards and messages to friends/colleagues who were making some kind of major life transition (e.g. changing jobs, moving away, new responsibility, etc).

III John is the shortest book in the New Testament.  John is writing to his beloved fellow believer, Gaius.  Gaius must not have been healthy when John wrote this letter as verse 2 mentions health and John is referring to physical health.  Health is our autobiography.  I know that when I am in good physical health I am a much better Christian with respect to having energy to help others, being productive in Christian service and having the energy to study the Scriptures and praying.  When I am feeling unhealthy, I have little desire to be spiritual.  So John wishes good health and vigor upon his friend just as much as he wishes spiritual health and vitality.

John prays for Gaius to prosper both in his physical well-being and his spiritual state.  The Bible teaches on prosperity in many places—Genesis 39:3, 23, Joshua 1:8, Psalm 1:3, Proverbs 28:25, Luke 6:38.  Unfortunately, some pastors and teachers have corrupted these teachings to justify materialism and pursue extravagance.  John is not praying for wealth and physical prosperity alone or he would not have added the last phrase about the soul prospering. 

The word translated "soul" (psyche) refers to the whole being of a person.  So many people take better care of their bodies than their whole persons.  F.B. Meyer wrote: “It would not be desirable to express the wish of III John 2 to all our friends because if their bodies where to correspond to the condition of their souls, they would suddenly fall into ill health”.  In Gaius’ case, his soul was prospering since the verb tense is present.  Apparently his physical prosperity was not as good.  This verse also contradicts the beliefs of some that physical illness is a result of sin or a sinful life.  Gaius was not leading a sinful life as you can read in III John 5-8.

May you be prospering both physically and spiritually.  What are you doing in your life that enables your soul to prosper?      
 

Biblical meaning of success

Joshua 1:8-9 (NLT)

Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. 

Who do you view as successful in life?  Do you see yourself as successful?  Is your business or church successful?  What is success?

Everyone desires and hopes to be successful in life.  Every business, church, team, program, event, etc hope to be successful.  We typically define success as winning, meeting/exceeding goals, possessing wealth, position, and power.  Is an all-pro football player a success in life?  Is a Fortune 500 CEO, or any CEO, for that matter, viewed as successful?  Is a church with 10,000 members viewed as a successful church?  Is a business that keeps climbing the profit ladder seen as successful?  Is a person who accumulates wealth and status admired by others for all his/her success?

Yet, what is common about all these examples of success? 

1.     They are defined by human viewpoints, not God’s view through His Word.

2.     They are based on worldly values, not the values of God. 

3.     They are temporal measures and achievements, not eternal. 

What does the Bible mean by success?  Well, look at the above passage (as well as study Psalm 1:1-3, Proverbs 3:5-10, and Proverbs 22:4).  Verse 1:8 says “Only then…….”  The words “only” and “then” are keys.  There is one specific thing that must be accomplished…..referred to as “only”…..and such accomplishment precedes (referred to as “then”) prosperity and success.  So what is the key to success in life, not only this life, but the life to come?  Being obedient to God.  And what helps you to be obedient to Him?  Studying His Word continually and meditating on it day and night.         

The keys to success are simple to remember, but difficult to practice.  OK, sure, spend quality time in God’s Word and think about it as much as you can.  Sure, that’s easy to remember.  However, it is so much more difficult to practice these disciplines day after day for the rest of your life.  Yet, being successful in God’s view involves your efforts to be faithful and obedient regardless of the cost.  You will be successful in His view because by studying and meditating and obeying His Word, you will be accomplishing His purposes for you while on this earth.  And, indeed, His purposes for you in this life could very well be achieving great things in the athletic and/or business world as well as in ministry and/or other endeavors He has planned for you to accomplish.  Yet these accomplishments are following His ways, not your own. 

You will be both prosperous and successful in all that you do in and with your life if you stay close to the Word of God.  Prosperity means being rich and could include being rich financially, but it mostly means being rich in your enjoyment of your life.  Prosperity includes being content, being at peace with God and others, being genuinely happy with what goes on with your life everyday.  Of course, events happen that challenge your contentment, peace and happiness, events such as illness, family problems, job problems, loss, disappointments, failures, etc.  However, your overall attitude toward whatever is happening in your life is balanced and controlled by your deep faith in the Word of God and all His promises to take care of you and all your needs.  You must believe this to enjoy a life of prosperity and success.  Do you? 

“Success is a journey, not a destination” --- Unknown