Lunatics

In Matthew 17, we find the story of a man with a lunatic son. This son falleth oft into the fire and into the water. He's bound by sin and Satan, unable to even control himself. Aren't people today in this very same condition? Not only can they not help themselves, they can't even tell they need help!

The Condition of the Sinner is Needy. He is bound by the devil and the spirit of Satan. "Do you really think there are people like this around us?" you ask. If they were around when God himself walked the earth, you can be sure they are around in this wicked generation.

They needed help then, and they still do. The place to find help has not changed over the centuries of time. The lunatics need Christ!! If we can get them to Jesus, he can do the rest.

The Committment of the Saints is Neglectful. They cannot heal him. When Christ does the healing work, the disciples are confused. What had they missed? Why couldn't they heal him? Jesus' answer was simple: "Because of your unbelief." "Ye faithless and perverse generation..." Wow! Me? Faithless and perverse? Notice Jesus never rebuked the boy, or even the father. The reason is simple; it's not the job of the world to know the answer. They don't have the answer. They come to you, Christian, to find the answer. Jesus was not mad at the ignorant for their ignorance, he was angry with the disciples, who had showed their lack of faith after walking with the Son of God and seeing the most amazing power ever displayed in history!

I know you've thought it. I have to. "This person will never come around!" "Why do we keep on giving, when they never even notice, only so they can spit in the faces of those who care about them?!" "Why won't they change?"

I've struggled with this as of late. And Jesus gave us the answer in this passage.

Believe.

That simple; that unprofound! We simply don't have faith in God. I know, because I've been in that dark musty hole of unbelief! Recently, too!

"God, move mountains? I just want them to be faithful to church, or act like they care for once!"
In the ministry of troubled youth, I think sometimes the more you give, the more they devour without thought of the sacrifice of others. Sometimes, the ministry is just that way.

Believe? Is that all?

Well, there is one more thing. It's the harder part: "This kind cometh not out but by prayer and fasting." Praying is almost non-existant in churches today. I know that. Need proof? Need the evidence? Power is almost non-existant. Power is the gauge of prayer; no prayer, no power! It's that simple. Christians think that their lack of prayer is something they can hide because no one sees whether or not they pray, when really their complete lack of power is like a bullhorn on the street corner screaming, "I DON'T PRAY!"

I know that hurts; it hurts me as I write it.

If you had an invitation to the White House, you would come without missing a beat! Yet God gives us an invitation to the Oval Office of the universe every day, with the potential of turning nations upside down, and most Christians never show up!

And fast.

Push away from the table. If you thought prayer was almost non-existant, can you imagine the state of fasting?

Listen, God says this is what works! There are most certainly lunatic spirits out there, driving us crazy with our inability to affect them with our ho-hum, run-of-the-mill spirituality. We can't just follow a routine, or follow some script, and expect miraculous results in hearts that are hardened by sin and the spirit of sin itself.

We need belief. Belief that God can heal. Wait!! Not just that he can heal. Faith is substance and evidence! Faith is not just saying God can; Faith is saying we believe God will!
He will heal, and he will help, and he will save, and he will sanctify.

He will!

If they did it once, what's wrong with it happening again? Have faith. Take heart. And know that great victories never were produced over puny foes! Great victories require great foes! And the greater the foe, the greater the potential for God's glory to be shown in victory, and the greater we can expect from God!

"God, we just need you to be God!! For the sake of our churches, for the sake of our homes, and for the sake of our nation, please...just be God once again! And give us the faith to trust you to just be who you've always been, and to be who you are."