“For when I am weak, then I am strong.” — 2 Corinthians 12:10b
In Mark (Chapter 9), we see that Jesus took Peter, James and John to a mountain top. During their retreat, the nine remaining Disciples (who had been left on their own) were having a big problem! The father of a demon-possessed boy had come looking for Jesus and the Disciples were trying to help. But, they were failing miserably. To make things worse, the teachers of the Law were laughing and arguing with them.
When Jesus arrived, He found everyone arguing about how to heal the boy; no one could do it. Why? Why couldn’t anyone heal the tormented young man? The answer is, they were plugging into the wrong power source.
A few years ago, while traveling in Europe, I plugged my 110-volt electric phone charger into a 220-volt outlet. Guess what happened? Nothing … except a weird electrical smell. My charger was fried! I had plugged it into the WRONG outlet.
We can do the same thing when life gets hard and we need to get “recharged.” We can “plug into” the wrong power source. We do this by trusting in our religious piety or our good works. Both of these sources will fail us.
Power doesn’t come from within us. Religious devotion doesn’t protect us. The Pharisees had religion and knowledge, but no power. Good works won’t deliver us either. The Disciples had been with Jesus for three years, had performed miracles, and still had no power in and of themselves.
The pathway to power comes from recognizing our weakness and yielding to Jesus through prayer. Like the father in our story, we must admit our weaknesses and lack of faith. Then we must confess that saving power is only found in Christ!
Once we surrender to Jesus, and cry out to God in faith, we will discover three things (as I talked about in my teaching last weekend):
- Jesus is available and able; He took the initiative and healed the boy.
- Jesus is concerned and caring; He accepted the father, even with his lack of faith.
- Jesus can heal you completely; He heals physically, emotionally and spiritually.
Might we be men and women who find our strength in Jesus today!
Posted in A Word from the Pastor