A Report of The Failed Attempt of The Disciples!
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Text Mark 9:17,18,19,21,25,29
This man actually came to Jesus but He was unavoidably absent in the physical terms but he met the disciples of Jesus. Yes, the man felt that should be sufficient enough, because they have been together all along when they were performing similar miracles and they should be able to do something about it. Alas they failed.
How many times have we failed in representing Christ well in our community? Some people looked up to us as adequate representation of Christ in every facet but alas we disappointed them and our master that appointed us.
And the Lord will want me to address some people who had made attempt at things, project, vision, ministry, examinations etc and you have failed. The Lord has a word for you in your failure.
Coming back to the response of Jesus: in verse 18, 19, 21, 25, 29
This kind
Let me quickly address this, there are different kind of issues and battles in the life of a man. You don’t use the strategy that won your last battle or the one that helped your neighbour to attempt to conquer the next battle. You need to be sure of the way God intends to handle the new one for the glorification of His name.
The Case of Jericho and Ai is a case study. The Case of David with the Philistine is 2 Sam 5:17-25 is another. The crossing of the Red sea and that of River Jordan is another.
2 Samuel 5:18-19,22-24 NKJV
The Philistines also went and deployed themselves in the Valley of Rephaim. [19] So David inquired of the LORD, saying, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand?” And the LORD said to David, “Go up, for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into your hand.” [22] Then the Philistines went up once again and deployed themselves in the Valley of Rephaim. [23] Therefore David inquired of the LORD, and He said, “You shall not go up; circle around behind them, and come upon them in front of the mulberry trees. [24] And it shall be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then you shall advance quickly. For then the LORD will go out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines.”
You don’t use the strategy that won the last battle to conquer the new one without checking back from the Captain of the Host.
Now to the failed ministry outing of the Apostles. Why did they fail?
They were not prepared for that kind of battle – As at this time they were still sleepers and eaters. They have not been fasting and they have not been doing all night prayers with Jesus. How prepared are we for what the Lord is expecting us to do? Someone said it is criminal for you not to be prepared when the day of your opportunity comes. I will be talking more about fasting and prayer in part three.
They were not expecting that challenge – They must have been shocked by the man making a demand for them to do something about it. Maybe they would have expected the man to say he will come back when Jesus is around or will wait for Jesus to come but he threw the challenge to them to do something about it. Sometimes, God brings challenges our way for you to know how much equipped you are.
They were of little faith – The subject of faith is more than I can brush over in this teaching, however, faith is key to our walk with God and receiving anything from Him. Jesus said they are of little faith; how little was their faith? Because Jesus later said faith small as mustard is enough, does that mean their faith is smaller than the mustard seed? It is a food for thought. Their faith hangs on Jesus being with them but Jesus said for how long is He going to be with them. We need to be confident in the ability of God to handle every issue of life and destiny. We need to build our faith by constant feeding on the word of God and praying in the Holy Ghost. I heard testimony of a woman diagnosed with cancer and she decided to start studying all the healing miracles Jesus performed until she was full of faith. Months later when she went for checkup, they could not find any trace of cancer in her body again. There was no dramatic move, no special prayer by anybody but she built her faith and that was it. Faith is the strongest currency to transact business with the heaven.
They want to make a show – The way we propagate miracles in our generation leaves one to wonder who is the object of worship in our ministries. Miracles happening have become litmus test to know somebody that is called of God or not. We have turned ministries to a reality show. Our advertisement reduced the miracle worker Himself to just a line or a statement “Jesus is Lord”. Where we have given so much accolade to the set man of the ministry/church. Our sharing of testimonies has lost track of Jesus who is behind the scene, we can only tell the story of what the man of God did, how he waved his hand, or the way he commanded or the way he appeared to us in the dream and just spoke and the miracle was done. The only aspect we left to real person doing the miracle is just “Praise the Lord”. Again, what is your motive for attempting or embarking on the project? What is behind the scene in your mind over that vision? Is to get fame, to make riches, to boast in your ability to do it or make a show? Could that not have been the reason why you failed because you have no divine backing because of your motive.
James 4:2-3 NKJV
“You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. [3] You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.”
The Bible said when Jesus saw the crowd started gathering, He immediately healed the boy and closed the page on that to leave the scene. A number of miracles Jesus did, he either tells them not to make noise about it or go and show yourself to the priest who will certify them healed. Why do we refuse to resemble him in our approach? Do you know one other thing that amazed me in the healings performed by Jesus, any of it that happens as a result of the faith of the individual that wanted the miracle, Jesus will not do any laying of hands or command anything, He will only confirm to say your faith has made you whole. Jesus shifted the focus from Him and encouraged the person, that it was you not me YOUR FAITH made you whole, that is instructive for the church to learn from.
Today’s teaching is to reassess our life, pursuit and ministries. In what ways have we failed to represent Jesus well, we need to come to repentance. In what way have we operated in little faith? In what way have we turned the show to be about us and not about Christ? In what way do we have ulterior motive in what we are doing? How thorough is our preparation to take on the challenge of delivering the people from the affliction of the devil?
Are you here today and you want to repent of your motive and intention for starting that work, that project or the ministry? Then repent and take guidance on the next line of direction. And are you here today, that you need to ask Jesus to increase your faith in order to transact business with the heaven, then go for it, look unto Him and study the word of God.
I have mandate to pray for some people today.
Your faith is down
You have failed once or more and you have not been able to come back
Lord I pray for these ones, that you will reawaken their faith. You will ignite courage to start all over again. Your come back will be greater than your vision. Your success will swallow your failures and you will yet praise Him again.
JESUS SAVES! JESUS SAVES!! JESUS SAVES!!!
The Revd Bamidele Oni
deleoni2002@yahoo.com
You can watch this teaching on Facebook and YouTube (https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10157161010032617&id=681342616, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWTnQRt_YlY)
Treasure Land 