29.04 | Only By Prayer
Mark 9:14-50
‘But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”’
Mark 9:27-29
The second half marathon I ever ran went badly. It was 2007, and I’d spent the summer between a voluntary project in Durban, and a little backpacking up to Cape Town and then Malawi. I’d had an incredible time, but there was one great omission from my summer plans:
Training.
Two days before the race, I put on my trainers, and tried a token five mile run to check I was in shape. Judging myself fit, I reached the race day relatively optimistic.
It didn’t take long to realise my error. It was a hot day. I was slow. My legs hurt. My stomach hurt. I felt light-headed. As those long miles wore on, it became more and more a battle of bitter endurance, my truly unfit body utterly unequipped for those long miles.
My issue was this: I’d focused on the race day. I’d totally overlooked the training. I’d focused on the event that was seen. I’d trivialised the fact that good runners know it is the months and months of unseen training that get them ready to soar on race day.
Jesus comes down the mountain of transfiguration with Peter, James and John today, to find his disciples struggling to cast out a demon. Jesus immediately drives it out. And then He gives them a single line of explanation as to why they were struggling.
This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.
What does He mean? Surely they were praying?
There’s a difference, in the training programme of Jesus, between the act of command and the act of prayer. The act of command is what Jesus told His followers to do when faced with sickness or the demonic or even the dead. It was a word of authority. Not a request of the Father, but a command into a new mode of being, done in the Name of Jesus.
Prayer, though, is different. Prayer is the unseen work, behind closed doors, of nurtured intimacy with the Father. Prayer is a lifestyle of depth and humility gradually deepened over time. Prayer is the activity that no one sees.
The disciples were trying to run a marathon without training.
Flipped back to their scenario: they wanted greater power. Jesus tells them to pursue greater intimacy.
My excuses list for not praying is pretty long. Busyness, sleepiness, and distraction are some of my most common. It feels hard. It feels fruitless. It feels unseen.
And yet, at the root of prayer, it isn’t hard work. It is an abiding place of rest with the Father. The distractions that come are less an issue, I think, to Him, than they are to us. Sure, they make us feel like our prayer times are less ‘productive’ than we wanted them to be. But true prayer isn’t about productivity. It isn’t about achieving a sense of spiritual mastery. It is about being with the Father. That is all. It is about daily, weekly, monthly, carving out those times when our diaries declare our priorities by making space for Him above all else.
Are you distracted? It’s ok. Turn back to His face. Gently put those distractions to one side, or turn them to prayer. Are you busy? Of course you are. But, if you’re truthful with your use of time, probably laying down even half the time that gets soaked up on Netflix and Instagram would build a prayer life that your grandkids would be talking aboutd. Are you tired? Tell your soul a new story. Prayer is not about coming to Him to work hard into exhaustion; it comes to Him who is your true resource, energy, life and breath in all things.
We need a generation to arise who will be able to walk up to the holding powers over our city and peers, to be mighty in intercession and words of command. Jesus is building this.
And His word to us today may be just this. Focus less on the success of what happens on race day. Find your secret place. Carve out the time. And get in the training programme of lifelong deepening friendship with the Father.
Because some darkness can only be driven out by prayer.
Reflect:
Take an honest look at your prayer life. When do you pray? How long? What do you pray about? What bothers you about it?
First step: push away guilt. Your prayer life will feel unimpressive. Join the club.
Second: Remind yourself that prayer is not about achievement, but intimacy.
Third: What would be a good next step for you in building a secret life of increased intimacy with the Father?
Pray:
Father,
I spend a lot of time wanting my prayer life to feel good.
I want it to feel mighty and focused and successful;
I want the buzz of feeling like I’m nailing it—
Leaving my times with you
With a glowing face and blazing zeal.
But I wonder, Lord,
If I’ve got this a little wrong,
And that the purpose of my time is not my feelings,
But my focus;
That my times with you are
For the gradual turning of my soul
To a life of endless intimacy—
A gentle and steady walking with my Father.
And so, Father, I ask you,
Untangle my foolish thoughts,
And show me the next step,
Because, I desire a life that journeys with you,
That my life may also be mighty in the advance of your cause.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen
Old Testament:
For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:
1 Samuel 7:3-10:16 | Psalm 55:20-23