The Word of God for wisdom:
Proverbs 5:12-14 (NLT)
12 You will say, "How I hated discipline! If only I had not ignored all the warnings!
13 Oh, why didn't I listen to my teachers? Why didn't I pay attention to my instructors?
14 I have come to the brink of utter ruin, and now I must face public disgrace."
The Word of God for inspiration:
Psalm 22:14-15 (NLT)
14 My life is poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax, melting within me.
15 My strength has dried up like sunbaked clay. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You have laid me in the dust and left me for dead.
John 19:28 (NLT)
28 Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill Scripture he said, "I am thirsty."
The Word of God for encouragement:
Matthew 17:14-21 (HCSB)
14 When they reached the crowd, a man approached and knelt down before Him.
15 "Lord," he said, "have mercy on my son, because he has seizures and suffers severely. He often falls into the fire and often into the water.
16 I brought him to Your disciples, but they couldn't heal him."
17 Jesus replied, "You unbelieving and rebellious generation! How long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him here to Me."
18 Then Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and from that moment the boy was healed.
19 Then the disciples approached Jesus privately and said, "Why couldn't we drive it out?"
20 "Because of your little faith," He told them. "For I assure you: If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. [21 However, this kind does not come out except by prayer and fasting.]"
My observation:
In our focal passage from Matthew the scene is of Jesus and the disciples coming down from the mountain. This reminds us that we cannot stay on the mountain; life is lived in the valley. It takes faith, prayer and fasting to engage with people and the problems they have in living in this fallen world.
We can't stay on the mountain and bask in the glory and majesty of those mountaintop experiences. We must come down to where the people are because there are needy people who require the help of the Lord, and His people.
We need a motto similar to one that a cement company I heard about. Their motto was, "Find a hole and fill it". Our motto should be, "Find a need and meet it". We can't but God can, and He will, if we trust in Him.
My prayer:
Father God, my dear Father, I pray that you will give to me the measure of faith that I need to meet the problems in the valley of the hurting that are disguised as mission impossible. Father, with that faith, I will look up to You, and with You nothing is impossible when we fully trust in the Lord with our whole heart. Father, help me to see problems, when placed in your hands, as raw materials for a miracle.
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1 Peter 2:2-3 (ESV)
2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
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