These prayers are not written in the future tense! The
fullness of God that Paul prays for all believers is accessible to them right
now through Jesus Christ. But so many Christians in
Like the Ephesians we too can be bound by distractions, false teachings, and unbelief. We can lose sight of the true Gospel, which saved us from the fires of eternal hell. We can be saved but be crawling into heaven. Do you know anyone like that? Saved but still bound? Too often this can be the case with Christians. The enemy gains a foothold in their thinking and it robs them of the power of God in their lives. Within the story which our key verse comes from we see how unbelief impacts our ability to approach God correctly and also how to humble ourselves before God.
In examining this story, we see there was a man who had a son who was possessed by a demon his entire life. This demon would not let the boy talk, would throw him to the ground, make him foam at the mouth and gnash his teeth. The man admits in verse 17 that he was seeking Jesus to heal his son but then in verse 18 we are told that he brought his son to the disciples to cast the demon out but they could not.
The first thing we should take away from this is to never settle on anything less than Jesus. The Disciples were companions of Jesus they were with Him all the time. It may have been perfectly logical for this man to think that they could cast the demon out. But while they were close to God, they were not God. Today, we have a lot of well intended Christians who still make this poor assumption. They see the man of God and follow him instead of God Himself. The true man of God will direct you back to Jesus a lifetime relationship with Him. That is where the power of God lies. Not within parlor tricks designed to appear spiritual but lack the power of God. It is in Christ, not in gemstones and gold dust. It is in Christ, not in holy laughter and false prophets. This man was seeking Christ but initially settled for less.
We cannot settle for less in pursuit of all God has given us. That abundant life with the fullness of God is only found within Christ Himself. When the man tells Jesus that His disciples were unable to cast the demon out, Christ starts to diagnose the problem:
Jesus said to them, "You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me." Mark 9: 19 (NLT)
I can still see Him saying these words to us today as well. You faithless people. The second thing to take away is that no matter where you tried to bring the problem you face, it eventually must be brought to Jesus if you are to be delivered. "Bring the boy to me."
"Bring your addiction to me."
"Bring your marriage to me."
"Bring your pride to me"
