An Incredible Moment with a Demonized Boy (Luke 9:37-43a)

This father comes to Jesus asking Him to heal his son, if He can. How intriguing to me to see how his faith was shaken because of the disciples inability to cast the demon out. Jesus took the father's words of doubt, "If you can..." to show that the point was not His ability to heal the boy but the father's ability to trust in God who can do what is humanly impossible. For me, faith sets no limits on God's power and submits itself to His will.

Oh how the father's response is so familiar! "I do believe...Help my unbelief!" I used to struggle in this area...fear would raise its ugly head until one morning the Lord allowed me to sink into the pit...so far down that I could smell the sulfur. But, mercifully, He reached down and grabbed me out of that pit and I can say I have not been back in it. From that point on, I've had the gift of faith. Breaking from satan's power is like passing from death to life. To accomplish this once and for all, it necessitated the death and resurrection of Jesus Himself.

Because prayer is near and dear to my heart, I find the reason for the disciples failure to release the boy from the demon's hold because of lack of prayer (Mark 9:29) a strong reminder of the importance prayer is.

I was also moved by Gire's prayer. It touched several personal areas of my life. First off, I'm diabetic. Second, my younger brother was a Downs. I can remember an instance at Burger King where some people were staring at him. My feathers got ruffled and this young teen, who hates confrontation, [yes, I truly do, Jules] marched over there to give them a piece of my mind...fortunately, a friend walked in right then [God is so faithful] and saved me from doing or saying something I would later regret.

And, I saw my parents wonder what would happen to their son when they died. Of course, my sister and I would be there...but what if something were to happen to us...? They made arrangements for him to be cared for, if needed, until he were to die. God, in His infinite wisdom, called him home at 30 yrs of age. He was killed by an autistic, retarded young man at work. He didn't die right away, he lived in a coma for 27 days, then the Lord took him home.

Gire says, "Give them rest...both spiritually and physically. Heaven only knows how much they need it." Oh, Lord, I pray that I would lay my cares down at Your feet and NOT pick them back up again. That is when true rest comes. May I always remember that.