14 And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16 So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.” 17 Then Jesus answered and said, “Oh unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” 18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. 21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
Matthew 17:14-21
We all want to move heaven. To see the power of God soften someone’s heart, open their mind, change their ways. To see God move in our life, to shape our destiny, to define our future.
Jesus wants to see that in us as well.
In this story we just read, we see the disciples have tried to cast out a demon and are unable. Afterward, they ask Jesus why. They are wondering what we do – Why can’t I help my son connect with Jesus? Why can’t I seem to crack an addiction? Why can’t I get my coworkers to come to church?
Jesus says something very interesting. He refers to this generation as unbelieving and perverse…Unbelieving disconnects you from God, perverse means to be consumed with the things of the world. Jesus’ remedy? Prayer and fasting. Prayer reconnects you to God… and fasting disconnects you from the world.
Over the next 40 days, we are going to pursue that as we move towards Easter.
The season of Lent is a practice in many church traditions. It’s when we give up something we do on a consistent basis in order to focus our hearts and prayers on God. This is called “fasting” – we give up a meal, a type of food, a beverage, or an activity – for 40 days. Then we use the thought of that said item to draw our attention towards God and pray.
So here’s what we are doing. We are going to fast FROM SOMETHING so we can be reminded to pray FOR SOMEONE.
So, what are you fasting from… and who are you praying for?
God, over these next 40 days, will you open _________ heart, and will you draw them to you?
Assuming that we give something up and pray “God, over these next 40 days will you open _____ heart and will you draw them to you? If nothing happens do we assume that God has other plans or isn’t ready to open their heart to him?
Great question David, a few years ago we did something similar with our staff, wrote four names on a post-it and just pray that God would draw them to him. We had a member of our team who did this and had an incredible story that involved nothing more than her praying at first. It wasn’t until a year later that that particular person actually came to Church and not at the invite of our staff member. We don’t always see the outcome or will be part of the story but we believe God is still working. It may not happen in 40 days, 40 weeks or 40 months but we continue to trust God. If you’re interested you can take a look at Diane’s story here – https://vimeo.com/549010250