Coming Off The Mountain Series

Homeschool Lessons

I’m glad that the disciples weren’t perfect, aren’t you? I like that they doubted and messed up because it makes it easier to relate to them. Jesus takes advantage of a teaching opportunity with them in verses 28-29: “And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’ And he said to them, ‘This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.’”

The saddest part of this encounter is not the condition of the boy, or the mocking of the scribes or the faltering faith of the father – it’s the powerlessness of the disciples. Tim Keller says: “they underestimated the power of evil in the world and in themselves.”

The disciples had just been going through the motions. They may have said the right words but they were powerless because they were prayerless. They had to learn that previous success is no guarantee of continued power because we must exhibit radical reliance in our present situations.

Prayer is the vital link between the power on the mountaintop and the desperate problems in the valley. Victory in the valley comes through praise and prayer.

We’ve said this before but it bears repeating: There’s no way to grow as a disciple without practicing the spiritual disciplines because spiritual growth is intentional, not automatic. One way we want to foster growth is by providing a Bible Reading Guide each month. This month our theme is “Walking by Faith” as we read through Romans, Galatians and Ephesians. You can find copies in the lobby or by going to our website through our mobile app.

God never turns an honest doubter away. I like what Hudson Taylor said: “God isn’t looking for people of great faith, but for individuals ready to follow Him.”

I’ll never forget a poster I saw over 35 years ago that showed a group of scholars and theologians arguing over a passage of Scripture. They were animated and obviously angry and some were pointing at others with menacing looks on their faces. On the other side of the poster people were hunched over as if carrying great burdens, walking toward a cliff. Some of them had fallen off and were headed to the gaping fires of hell, all while the “church people” were in their Christian cocoons debating theology.

We must meet with the Lord through spiritual disciplines but we must always come down the mountain to meet the needs of a dying and perishing world. I like what C.T. Studd said: “Some want to live within the sound of the church and chapel bell, but I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.”

This past week I read the first prayer in the classic book, The Valley of Vision. I’d like to pray it for us right now.

“Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly, thou hast brought me to the valley of vision, where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights; hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold thy glory. Let me learn by paradox that the way down is the way up, that to be low is to be high, that the broken heart is the healed heart, that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit, that the repenting soul is the victorious soul, that to have nothing is to possess all, that to bear the cross is to wear the crown, that to give is to receive, that the valley is the place of vision. Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells, and the deeper the wells the brighter thy stars shine; let me find thy light in my darkness, thy life in my death, thy joy in my sorrow, thy grace in my sin, thy riches in my poverty thy glory in my valley.”