Living Out the Gospel

Here’s one of the most frustrating passages of scripture for me: “Behold, a man from the crowd cried out, ‘Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. And behold, a spirit seizes him…. And I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.’ Jesus answered, ‘O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.’ While he was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. And all were astonished at the majesty of God” (Luke 9:38-43, ESV).

When I read that passage, I feel it in my heart. The words “they could not” resonate with me. I see a person in need of real intercessory prayer, and I sometimes feel like I can’t help them with prayer because the doubtful question “What happens if it doesn’t work?” comes to me along with fear, unbelief and all kinds of things in my heart. I wrestle with this.

I wanted to tell you because this mentality, this fear, is something we all have to contend with in prayer. I hope that you’re not content to leave that fear unchallenged, that you won’t be satisfied with dry religion and tradition. We should want to live differently in a way that really makes us depend on God and trust him, and that means living out the gospel. This means believing and acting as if the Bible isn’t just a book to read, study and get sermons from or a self-help guide.

We want to press into heaven and believe scripture when it says, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death” (Revelation 12:10-11).

There’s power in the blood of Jesus! There is power in the Word of God.