Matthew 17:14-21 (NLT) When they arrived at the foot of the mountain, [this incident occurs right after Jesus and three of his apostles descended the Mount of Transfiguration] a huge crowd was waiting for them. A man came and knelt before Jesus and said, 15 "Lord, have mercy on my son, because he has seizures and suffers terribly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16 So I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn’t heal him."
17 Jesus replied, "You stubborn, faithless people! How long must I be with you until you believe? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me." 18 Then Jesus rebuked the demon in the boy, and it left him. From that moment the boy was well.
19 Afterward the disciples asked Jesus privately, "WHY COULDN’T WE CAST OUT THE DEMON?"
20 "You didn’t have enough faith," Jesus told them. "I assure you, even if you had faith as small as a mustard seed you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible."
21 "But this kind of demon won’t leave unless you have prayed and fasted."
We’re in the series dealing with the questions people asked Jesus. [The first four messages were delivered in March of 2003.] People asked Jesus questions because it was very apparent that He had answers! His preaching, teaching and miracle working ministry proved that He was not just an ordinary spiritual leader. His compassion made Him approachable. His wisdom and power made Him wonderful!
Problems are one of the things that make you hungrier to know God. They motivate you to seek His face.
You may have a problem as a parent, like this father – you’re concerned about something adversely affecting your child. You may have a problem in your personal life – like this young man who was being exploited by an evil spirit, which led to serious health problems. You may have a problem at work or a problem in a relationship. Someone may be difficult to get along with. You may face financial difficulties or emotional difficulties.
Whatever your problem, Christ offers all that you need - wisdom to understand your problems, power to overcome them, and love to help you get through them!
This week’s Scripture deals particularly with how to obtain the wisdom and power you need to understand and overcome your problems.
How can I understand and overcome my problems?
The apostles weren’t able to help this father and son with their problem. They thought they could - but as it turned out, they were powerless. So when they got Jesus off to Himself they asked Him, "Why couldn’t we do it? You did it – but we were ineffective. We tried everything that we knew how to do - but we failed. Why did we fail?"
You can sense in their question a certain level of frustration, discouragement and embarrassment.
Facing difficult obstacles in life without solutions can really demoralize you.
That’s why the answer to this question is very important. You need to know how to overcome your problems instead of letting your problems overcome you. And Christ’s answer to this question of His apostles tells you why you fail and how you can succeed.
Three Ways to Overcome Your Problems
1. Use the faith you have, even if it’s small.
Mt. 17:20 (NLT) "You didn’t have enough faith," Jesus told them. "I assure you, even if you had faith as small as a mustard seed you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible."
Jesus wasn’t trying to provoke them to further discouragement. He was trying to instruct and encourage them. This was a learning opportunity. Life’s obstacles provide great possibilities for your growth. He was giving them a great key to understanding. And what was that key?
Increase the use of your faith. Even if your faith is small – put whatever faith you have to use and see God respond by doing the impossible in your life!
Grasping and applying this truth is one of the most valuable elements of the Christian experience. If you don’t put your faith to use – you lack the ability to understand and overcome your problems.
The disciples had faith - but it was dormant.
We know the disciples had enough faith to cast demons out of people. Jesus had previously given them the ability to do so.
Matthew 10:1 (CEV) Jesus called together the twelve disciples. He gave them the power to force out evil spirits and to heal every kind of disease.
In another instance, Christ had given even a larger group of His disciples authority over demons.
Luke 10:17 (NIV) The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name."
The disciples had the faith, but Jesus was informing them that they had not used it. Even if their faith was as small as a mustard seed they could have solved this problem. The problem wasn’t that they didn’t have faith. The problem was that they weren’t utilizing the faith they did have!
There’s another Scripture that illustrates this point even more clearly.
Luke 17:5 (NLT) One day the apostles said to the Lord, "We need more faith; tell us how to get it."
6 "Even if you had faith as small as a mustard seed," the Lord answered, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May God uproot you and throw you into the sea,’ and it would obey you!"
Jesus didn’t tell them how to get more faith. Because that wasn’t the problem. Jesus’ answer once again indicates that the problem was that they weren’t using the faith they had.
This is very good news! You don’t have to be a giant in the faith to see your problems solved. You don’t have to be a Billy Graham or Mother Teresa. You can have mustard seed faith – small faith - and still see God do the impossible in your life!
The father in our Scripture text proves this very same point. Mark’s Good News account of this incident relates this exchange between Jesus and the father of the demon-possessed son:
Mark 9:23 (NKJV) Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!"
What honesty! What transparency! Here is a man who had honest doubts and still saw Jesus do the impossible! The point is – he wasn’t acting on his doubts when he brought his son to Jesus – he was acting on his faith – even if it was pocket-sized faith! He said "no" to his doubts and "yes" to his faith in Jesus! And that’s why the problem was solved.
James 2:26 (CEV) Anyone who doesn’t breathe is dead, and faith that doesn’t do anything is just as dead!
Don’t let your faith go unused! Do something with your faith – even if you have doubts – even if your faith is small. You’ll understand and overcome your problems if you’ll exercise faith in God.
The second way Jesus taught that you can understand and overcome your problems is to…
2. Increase your prayer.
That’s what this father did. He used the faith he had, even though it was modest, and brought his problem to Christ. That’s definitely one thing you can do to put your faith to work - you can pray! You can bring your problem to Christ. You need to pray about your problems. You don’t need to gripe about them. You don’t need to worry about them. Pray about them.
Tony Campolo, a Christian author from Philadelphia, was invited to speak at a college in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. He arrived before he was to speak and some of the men invited him in a back room to pray for him before his talk.
While these men were praying, one of them, just off the cuff, began praying, "And Lord, about Burt Harris. Lord, Burt Harris needs you. He lives in that trailer right down the street from here and he is considering leaving his wife and family. And Lord, if you could just get through to Burt Harris…that would be great." And then he went on with his prayer for the meeting.
Campolo thought, "That’s strange that he should pray that here."
After he spoke to the group he got in his car to drive home when he picked up a hitchhiker. He knew he wasn’t supposed to pick up hitchhikers but he thought, "being a preacher, anytime I can get a captive audience I’ll take advantage of it."
So he starts to the talk to the hitchhiker and he politely asks him what his name is and the man replies, "Burt Harris."
Campolo made a u-turn and immediately headed in the opposite direction. The man looked at him and asked, "What are you doing? Campolo said, "I am taking you back to your wife and family whom you are leaving." The man went silent. He just sat there while Campolo drove him straight to his trailer. When they pulled up in the driveway the man said, "How did you know where I live?" Campolo said, "God told me."
Campolo said, "I took this guy inside his home and the family and marriage was restored!"
What the sick boy’s father did is precisely what the disciples failed to do.
Mt. 17:19b (NLT) "Why couldn’t WE cast out that demon?"
Mt. 17:21 (NLT) "…this kind of demon won’t leave UNLESS YOU HAVE PRAYED and fasted."
It’s fascinating to think about how many problems we put up with, problems that defeat us and discourage us and sidetrack us – that could be whipped if we took them to God in prayer!
Were the nine disciples jealous because they had not been called to go to the mountaintop with Jesus? During the Lord’s absence did they grow lackadaisical over their spiritual responsibilities? Had they neglected prayer? Christ’s comments obviously suggest they had indeed neglected prayer for some reason.
When you go through life without prayer it’s like putting your power over problems on a shelf. It’s like putting it in a drawer and closing it up.
Deb has been doing some fall cleaning this week. She found things in closets I didn’t even know we had. That’s how prayer is. Put prayer to work and you’ll find resources for overcoming your problems you didn’t even know you had!
Mark 11:22 (CEV) Jesus told his disciples, "Have faith in God! 23 If you have faith in God and don’t doubt, you can tell this mountain to get up and jump into the sea, and it will. 24 Everything you ask for in prayer will be yours if you only have faith."
3. Increase your discipline.
Mt. 17:21 (NLT) "But this kind of demon won’t leave unless you have prayed AND FASTED."
Jesus tells them they can’t have the power without prayer and fasting.
Fasting is one of the ways to take your spirituality to the next level. Go without a meal when you face a problem, or go with out eating all day and spend that extra time in prayer. Go without watching TV for an evening or go without playing video games, etc.
Problem is, going without food and other things takes discipline.
You may have a bias against discipline. You don’t want to hear about how you need discipline in your finances or discipline in your conversation, or in your conduct. Discipline is a bad word to many people. It reminds you of things like homework, or dieting, or boot camp.
But life without discipline leaves you coming up short just as the disciples did in our text.
"One of life’s most painful moments comes when we must admit that we didn’t do our homework, that we are not prepared." [Quote by Merlin Olsen - Played every game of his fifteen year career in the NFL with the Los Angeles Rams (1962-1976); All American at Utah State, Outland Trophy Winner, Phi Beta Kappa, Leader of the "Fearsome Foursome" of the Rams’ defensive line, Rookie of the Year.] [Jonathan Garvey on Little House on the Prairie and Father Murphy]
The disciples were not prepared. It takes discipline to be prepared. Jesus was saying to His disciples, "Guys, you weren’t prepared. There are some problems that won’t be solved by ‘now I lay me down to sleep’ kind of praying. That kind of praying is okay for kids but not for adults. It takes the discipline of sometimes fasting with your praying."
David Yonggi Cho, pastor of the world’s largest church in Seoul, South Korea with 700,000 members, says that he and his staff rarely counsel people. If someone comes to them with a great problem or urgent need, their standard answer is, "Go to Prayer Mountain and fast and pray for three days." (The church purchased an entire mountain outside the city and installed thousands of prayer bunkers.) If they return with the problem still unmet, they tell them to go back and fast and pray for a week. (Then ten days / then forty days.) They don’t think it’s possible that a person would ever return to them again still having the problem!
Must be something to it. Thousands of people are on that mountain praying 24/7/365.
Joe McKeever, Director of the Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans, recently told about visiting one church where Hurricane Katrina and the resulting flooding literally tore the bricks off the church structure.
When several building contractors wondered how a storm could tear bricks away from a church like that, they discovered that the workers who constructed St. Bernard Church had not tied the masonry to the wood structure of the building. The metal ties were there, but it was a rare one that was fixed into the masonry. For years that little church sat there looking strong. When the storm came, it revealed a weakness in the construction no one had ever noticed.
Life’s storms do not cause the weaknesses; they reveal them. That’s why in the good times, when we’re well and the children are behaving and the bills are paid, this is the time to make sure of the solid foundation of our lives, our faith, our relationship with the Lord. Because sooner or later, the storm is coming. (Preaching Now, 10/10/05)
The discipline of fasting – and discipline in your life in general – can be a great fortification for the storms of life. When you’re facing a problem, or someone else is facing a problem, skip a meal or two, or three, and spend that time in prayer for that problem. Does that take self-discipline? Sure. Is it worth it? Without question!
One last Scripture concerning what Jesus taught about prayer and fasting.
Matthew 6:5 (NLT) "And now about prayer. When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I assure that is all the reward they will ever get. 6 But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father secretly. Then your Father, who knows all secrets, will reward you."
Matthew 6:16 (NLT) "And when you fast, don’t make it obvious as hypocrites do, who try to look pale and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I assure you that is all the reward they will ever get. 17 But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face. 18 Then no one will suspect you are fasting, except your Father, who knows what you do in secret. And your Father, who knows all secrets, will reward you."
If you want to understand and overcome your problems you’ve got to be honest with God in your secret life. These verses teach us that God already knows our secret lives so we might as well not try to pull the wool over God’s eyes.
In order to understand and overcome your problems:
1) Use the faith you have - even if it’s small - be honest with God as the father in our Scripture was. "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief." Don’t let your doubts keep your from defeating your difficulties.
2) Increase your prayer. others don’t have to see this - but be honest with God in your secret life. Take your problems to Him in prayer.
3) Increase your discipline. Whether it’s fasting or other areas of self-discipline, are you leading a disciplined life in private? You need to if you’re going to understand an overcome your problems.
Let’s pray.
