Praying and Fasting

“So He said to them, ‘This kind can only come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.’” Mark 9:29

I remember sharing this verse in my previous sermon, but I wanted to share this verse as I spent some time reading on this story once again. These days I can’t help but to emphasize the importance of prayer. The reason I say this is because I realize more than ever that I cannot do anything on my own.

Before Jesus tells the disciples to ‘pray and fast,’ the text tells us about this father who desperately wanted his son to be healed from this mute spirit. Jesus tells the father, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” (verse 23)

The father sensed there is nothing he can do but to put his faith in what Jesus said. Thus his response, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (verse 24) The father did two things here: 1) He admitted of his state of unbelief, 2) and he now decides to believe in Jesus and what He can do for him.

But it wasn’t the case for the disciples that tried to heal the boy. They didn’t feel helpless. Remembering their past experience of healing the demon-possessed people, they believed in themselves, not in Jesus. That’s why Jesus told the disciples, “O faithless generation!” (verse 19)

The remedy for the disciples was a quite simple one, to ‘pray and fast.’ I read the following quote from this certain blog. Ellen White writes, “The greatest blessing that God can give to man is the spirit of earnest prayer. All heaven is open before the man of prayer. The prayers offered in humble faith will be heard” (The Review & Herald, Oct. 20, 1896, par. 15).

Wow, isn’t that powerful? Let us ask God today that we have the heart to pray to God. That is what we really need.

Touch

“And as many as touched Him were made well.” Mark 6:56

When Asians think of Americans, one of the things that come to mind is that Americans are very private people. It seems to Asians that Americans consider privacy very important. While that may seem true, I have also noticed that Americans are very ‘touchy’ people. Americans like to ‘touch.’ When greeting one another, people will shake hands, give a hug, or even a light kiss on the cheek. While shaking hands may be very common in Korea, we are mostly used to bowing our head when it comes to greeting, and therefore, there is not much of touching involved. And so many Asians find it awkward at first to receive a hug when being greeted.

But ‘touch’ is important. As one of the five senses, to touch means to relate to one another. It is a means of sharing feelings, or welcoming one another. There is intimacy in a touch. There is bonding in a touch. When I come home from work, I love to hug and kiss my wife and my baby girl. There is comfort and happiness in it.

Remember that story when Jesus went with Jairus to heal his daughter? Remember that moment Jesus was delayed by this certain woman on the way? Well, this woman who was suffering from a flow of blood for 12 years. She wanted to be healed and when the opportunity came in the midst of that crowd, she ‘touched’ Jesus. She was instantly healed.

Interesting thing is that she wasn’t the only person that touched Jesus. In the book of Mark, after Jesus walked on the water they came to the land of Gennesaret. As soon as Jesus and the disciples landed on the shore, sick people approached Jesus and they touched Jesus. They were all made well.

You know, I want to touch Jesus, too. As I have mentioned earlier, there is something special about a touch. And so I want to touch Jesus. I want to be healed of my sins as I touch Him and I want to be at His side.

How to pray

“Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.

Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.”

Psalm 37:3-5

This week I was giving a Bible study on the topic of ‘prayer.’ I was using a Bible study material to give the study and there were many verses given for us to read together. And the verse above was one of them. I used this Bible study material many times in the past. But for some reason when we were studying this time, this verse took my attention.

When I was reading the given verse, each verse started with a verb: trust, delight, and commit. (Well, you can find two more verbs, such as ‘dwell’ and ‘trust,’ but I just want to focus on the verbs that are at the beginning of each verse.) Verb is ‘a word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence, forming the main part of the predicate of a sentence.’

When we pray, it requires a verb, an action. Too many times we only pray when we are only in need, or just simply as a routine before a meal or before going to pray. And when we do pray, we just ‘ask’ God what we need, then quickly finish off with a small ‘amen.’

This Psalm teaches us that there is more to prayer than our practice of prayer. When we pray, we must ‘TRUST’ in the Lord, ‘DELIGHT’ ourselves in the Lord, and ‘COMMIT’ our way to the Lord. These words require our voluntary actions. When we do so, the psalm promises us of His awesome response. God is always faithful to us and He does not fail us. Let us continue to pray to God every moment as God is desiring to speak with us.

Testimonies for the Church, volume 6, pp. 66,67

But He “so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. Why are not all who claim to love God seeking to enlighten their neighbors and their associates, that they may not longer neglect this great salvation?

Christ gave Himself to a shameful, agonizing death, showing His great travail of soul to save the perishing. Oh, Christ is able, Christ is willing, Christ is longing, to save all who will come unto Him! Talk to souls in peril and get them to behold Jesus upon the cross, dying to make it possible for Him to pardon. Talk to the sinner with your own heart overflowing with the tender, pitying love of Christ. Let there be deep earnestness; but not a harsh, loud note should be heard from the one who is trying to win the soul to look and live. First have your own soul consecrated to God. As you look upon our Intercessor in heaven, let your heart be broken. Then, softened and subdued, you can address repenting sinners as one who realizes the power of redeeming love. Pray with these souls, by faith bringing them to the foot of the cross; carry their minds up with your mind, and fix the eye of faith where you look, upon Jesus the Sin Bearer. Get them to look away from their poor, sinful selves to the Saviour, and the victory is won. They behold for themselves the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. They see the Way, the Truth, the Life. The Sun of Righteousness sheds its bright beams into the heart. The strong tide of redeeming love pours into the parched and thirsty soul, and the sinner is saved to Jesus Christ. 

Christ crucified—talk it, pray it, sing it, and it will break and win hearts. This is the power and wisdom of God to gather souls for Christ. Formal, set phrases, the presentation of merely argumentative subjects, is productive of little good. The melting love of God in the hearts of the workers will be recognized by those for whom they labor. Souls are thirsting for the waters of life. Do not be empty cisterns. If you reveal the love of Christ to them, you may lead the hungering, thirsting ones to Jesus, and He will give them the bread of life and the water of salvation.

Simplicity of following Jesus

“Then Jesus said to them, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.’ They immediately left their nets and followed Him.” Mark 1:17,18

The word that I notice as I read this verse is ‘immediately.’ It really shows the genuineness and the simplicity of following Jesus. Mark chapter 1 describes the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in a speedy manner but this scene of Jesus calling disciples seem really simple. I mean, think about it. Jesus was walking by the lake, he sees fishermen working. Jesus simply calls them to follow, then boom! There they follow ‘immediately.’

I remember when we made the decision to come here over a year ago. After making our decision, we didn’t come here immediately. I had to notify my former church of our decision, call the moving company to make arrangements, let the apartment housing know, call the internet company, and the power company. Not only that, it was series of farewell dinners with our friends we’ve made in the area. I thought we had done all that moving process in a short moment, but in reality it took us a few weeks to do all of that. It was nothing close to ‘immediate’ as the disciples did to follow Jesus as they made their commitment.

The disciples teach me what it takes to follow Jesus. To be exact, they teach me what I have to give up. Everything. In the same chapter, prior to these verses, Mark briefly describes John the Baptist: “Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.” (verse 6) This verse also shows the simple life of the one committed to making way for Jesus. It seems like there was nothing attached to him that when he’d be called for another task, he can go ‘immediately’ for his next mission.

Can we do the same? To follow Jesus ‘immediately?’ Wouldn’t it be awesome for us to be fishers of men and stack up our treasures in heaven?