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Mark 9:14 - 29
Special Prayer

The incident before us today is about prayer. But it's not ordinary prayer – it's very special prayer.  We all need to exercise the prayer of faith continuously and unsparingly, but sometimes even that isn't enough. Try to see, as you read about this wonderful incident, if you might need to pray in a new and special way.

When our Lord and the three disciples who were with Him came down from the mount of transfiguration, they came upon a familiar scene: the scribes were giving the rest of the disciples a hard time. It was usual for either the scribes or the Pharisees or both to always be seeking ways to discredit Jesus or His disciples. On this occasion, when the disciples weren't able to cast out an evil spirit, they thought they had an opportunity.

The crowd didn't feel the same way. In fact, like crowds everywhere, they enjoyed seeing "important people" brought down to the common level. So they enjoyed battles between Jesus and the scribes. But Jesus was absent, and only some of His disciples were present, so it seemed as though the scribes were going to have the upper hand. Imagine the excitement of the crowd, then, when the Master Himself appeared! The whole crowd ran up to see what He would do!

Immediately, of course, Jesus wanted to know what the arguement was about. But before either the scribes or disciples could answer, a man out of the crowd spoke up. He was the forgotten man, the man who had ignited the entire dispute in the first place by bringing his demon-possessed boy for deliverance! By the time Jesus came, the scribes and the rest of the disciples occupied center ring, and they'd forgotten about this poor man – and his boy!

When Jesus had heard the the boy's case history, and when He had heard that His disciples had been unable to deliver the boy, He indulged in a poignant display of His human emotion.  He said,"O faithless generation! How long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you?" Then, since His complaint wasn't directed toward the boy or his father, and because of His compassion, He added, "Bring him here to Me."

We might well ask who Jesus was complaining about? Was He talking about His disciples, because they hadn't been able to deliver the boy? Was He talking about that entire generation of Jews, who didn't seem to be able to keep their God in view when dealing with problems of this kind? Or was He complaining about the scribes, who when Jesus arrived were disputing with the disciples instead of dealing with the problem?

We can't know of course, but the fact that Jesus had to explain their failure to the disciples tells us that they were at least part of the problem. They'd been with Him day after day. They'd watched Him communicate with the Father continuously. They were even aware that He often prayed the entire night. Yet they seemed to be unaware of the importance of prayer!

They'd probably commanded the demon to leave. Failing, they didn't know what to do. No one in the crowd knew. The scribes didn't know. Jesus got more than a little emotional in view of this ignorance. It's at least understandable in regard to His own disciples. He'd been teaching them for months by word and by example, and He hoped that He might have brought them to a better relationship with His gracious, loving Father, a Father Who hears prayer. Upon observing this failure of faith, He must have felt as though His attempt to restore their relationship to His Father was hopeless.

"O faithless generation!" just equals, "O hopeless generation!" "How long shall I be with you?" just equals, "I won't be around forever to tell you what to do! Can't you ever learn for yourselves?" "How long shall I put up with you?" just equals, "How much more of this frustration do I have to endure?"

But while we're observing the faithlessness of the disciples, we need to look into our own hearts. How about us? Have we come into such a blessed, trusting relationship with God that the first thing we think of when we're in need is our privilege of prayer to a Father Who loves us and wants us to pray? Or do we first try to solve problems our own way, and then, having failed, would we rather complain than pray?

Our exalted Lord is not frustrated, because He can and will sovereignly bring our salvation to a successful conclusion. But I can't help believeing that He still sorrows over our faithlessness! And we ought to sorrow with Him. And it ought to be a godly sorrow that leads to repentance. At the very least We ought to pray more than we do, and our first prayer should be for such a strong, active, living relationship to Him that we won't fail to pray in every circumstance.

But our Lord is so gracious and so patient! When His disciples asked Him why they had failed, He didn't bawl them out - He simply told them what they needed to know. He said, "This kind cannot be expelled except by prayer and fasting." They shouldn't have needed that information, considering how carefully He had taught them, but in His patient love He once again gave them the answers. We need the same advice for many of our problems, and we ought to be thankful that we have the same patient Lord.

We need to think for a moment about what our Lord meant by "prayer and fasting." A good example of it is described in Acts 13:2. There some prophets and teachers of the church at Antioch were "ministering to the Lord." During this time of service, the men gave no time to eating. It's likely that their time of service to the Lord continued well past normal eating times, but, desiring to continue in prayer, praise, adoration, communion, etc., they simply didn't stop.

Then, while they were communing with each other and with the Lord, it became evident that their Lord wanted them to send Saul and Barnabus out from their midst for missionary work. But in order to send them they needed even more time in prayer. And it was extrememly important to spend the time. God had impressed all of them with the need for the mission, with the qualifications of the two men, and with an overwhelming desire to send them to reach the lost in the Roman world. So it was necessary to again continue in prayer without stopping for even normal times of eating. So they were "fasting" - they were setting aside activities that were not wrong in themselves for the sake of things of greater importance.

That's the way it should have been for the disciples when they were confronted with the demon-possessed boy. Our Lord is just telling them that whatever time it took, however much prayer was required, even if it meant neglect of normal eating times - that's what they should have done in order to properly minister to this boy. He's telling them that such deliverance needed such instensity.

There's a good lesson in all this for us as well. We need to ask ourselves – for how many of us is fifteen minutes a very long time to continue in prayer? How many of us know how a longer time could even be well used? What does one do during such a time? After all, we're warned against "meaningless repetitions" and any attempt to be heard because of much speaking (Matt. 6:7). So what do we do during an extensive prayer time?

The Psalms are a wonderful resource for learning about it. In fact, they're ideal examples of it. Without trying to look at all 150 psalms, we can at least briefly look at a few items.

One thing the Psalms - and our own prayers - always include is petition. The Psalmist said, "Hear a just cause, O Lord, give heed to my cry; give ear to my prayer, which is not from deceitful lips." (Ps. 17:1) He's petitioning the Lord. Sometimes petition is all there is to prayer. But sometimes there should be much, much more.

The same psalmist, David, also said, "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; whom shall I dread?" (Ps. 27:1) Here, he's just reflecting on something that fills him with joy - the fact that his Lord helps him to understand things, saves him, and defends him from his enemies. David really enjoyed expressing what the Lord meant to him. That, too, is prayer.

Still another time, David said, "Against Thee, Thee only, I have sinned, and done what is evil in Thy sight, so that Thou art justified when Thou dost speak, and blameless when Thou dost judge." (Ps. 51:4) Sometimes we need to say things like that to our Lord. The apostle said, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 Jn. 1:9) Confession, too, is prayer.

Praise is an important part of prayer. David said, "I sought the Lord, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and rescues them." (Ps. 34:4-7) Praise is just telling God and others how good He's been. Many hours could well be occupied with this aspect of prayer!
As an illustration from our everyday lives, suppose a christian man has a wife who is desparately ill. Obviously, when he prays, his prayer will include petition - he's going to ask His Lord for healing and comfort for his wife. But he may also be moved to consider whether he or his wife have sinned, and if this sickness is a visitation of correction or judgement. With that in mind, he may well meditate upon his own life, as well as upon that of his wife. In the process of such meditation, he may simply "talk it over" with the Lord. He may admit to Him that he hasn't been a very good husband and doesn't deserve the blessing of a good wife. He may well go into detail about his shortcomings, naming to the Lord his specific sins. Such meditation and confession may lead him to consider how good his Lord has been to him, and he may specifically mention many blessings he has received. He may realize how unthankful he has been, and that consideration may lead to thanksgiving for great numbers of specific blessings.

All these things are prayer. They could occupy many hours. Prayer like that could result in deliberately missing meals in order to continue. Fasting, after all, isn't some special, meritorious act because of which God has to give us the thing we ask of Him. It's much more simple. It's just an exclamation point to the seriousness of prayer. If prayer needs to occupy the time normally spent eating, then fasting is in order. When our Lord told His disciples that prayer and fasting were needed for their deliverance ministry, He was telling them that they needed to spend all the time and effort necessary, no matter what sacrifice had to be made.

Maybe, just maybe, we need to do that sometimes, too! Maybe we need to realize that prayer is hard work! Maybe we need to experience, too, that it's also wonderful communion with our Lord - valuable just because of the blessing of coming into His presence. Maybe we need to begin to realize that prayer is direct communion with the living God, communion that can revolutionize our lives!

Yep!
I know that I for one, need a revolution, my prayer life is far from inspiring either God or me!