There
are many of us who are weary; we have tremendous burdens that wear down our
souls and we are tired of all the difficulties we face. Not everyone is like this. Some are cheery and pleased beyond measure
with their lives. All the "breaks"
seem to fall their way and nothing much troubles them. There is though, a great number of us who are
going through the motions at work, just trying to get by at home, trudging
through mud at school and we need more than just a pat on the back; we need the
supernatural hand of God upon us. Thomas
the disciple lived in such a gloom that even the good news of his fellow
disciples that Jesus was alive could not shake him out of it. Only Jesus Christ Himself could lift the
despair of his heart. Our age is one of
disbelief; that there are no devils tormenting souls, no satanic power working
amongst us. It is just the
circumstances, broken relationships and troubled pasts that we have in the
middle of our darkness. Amateur and
professional counselors alike do their best to try to "get at the root of
our issues" and after years of probing and manipulating and prescribing,
the "terror of the night" is still there. The misery and torment so many of us suffer
is real and it cannot all be explained by our experiences; the wise must take
into account the very real presence of unseen evil forces in our world. Perhaps you have tried your best to get at
what is wrong with someone you love dearly and you have gotten nowhere. You are at the end of your rope with this
person and you don't know what more could be done. God may never show you what is causing the
"jangling of nerves" and anguish but maybe if you would give the Holy
Spirit space, Jesus Christ could be brought in contact with the broken soul and
do what was done for Mary Magdalene. Are
you willing to intercede with desperate determination for the weary souls you
know and by God's grace, bring Jesus Christ to them through your praying? Remember that Jesus told His disciples that
some people could only be helped through prayer! Prayer was not in Jesus' mind the feeble
alternative of weak and unsophisticated minds; it was the great blast of
dynamite that alone could break loose certain people from their despair and
turmoil when the "wise and skilled" come up against those cases too
big for them to handle.
After
Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, "Why couldn't
we drive it out?" He replied,
"This kind can come out only by prayer." Mark 9:28-29 NIV
