He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
~ Revelation 2:29
As a pastor, God has led me to preach a certain way with certain motives for the Glory of God. While God leads, sometimes He does things to make us look up. As I write this post, I believe that God spoke to the Mountain View Baptist Church, the church that I pastor. It was a scary thing, and I’ll admit that I was afraid. I almost wanted to quit after what took place. One thing I also find amazing is that I just wrote an article about “The High Cost Of Revival“. It was as if God tested me and our church to see if we are serious. So, what happened?
Last Wednesday night we had church on our property. We have the adults in a mobile home on our property, and the children go to our house after the 1st song in our service. Upon dismissal, I began to make announcements, only to be disrupted with a nightmare.
“HELP! HELP!” was all we heard as the children had just been dismissed. We ran out to see what happened and to our distress our Wed. night teacher came running with a 3 year old boy in her arms. Blood dripping from a 4 inch gash across his forehead, we immediately rushed him to the hospital. Our neighbors horse broke down the gate and came into our driveway, and kicked the child on the head.
As the family rushed to our little hospital in Taos, NM, the few people that were left ran back into the house. We fell upon our knees and began to cry out to God on behalf of this little boy. After several rounds of prayer, we went to the hospital. To our amazement, the child never went unconscious, nor did he show any signs of broke bones or head trauma. The hand of God was upon him. We prayed several times while the doctors figured out what to do. The boy laid there, acting NORMAL, and the doctors were completely amazed how “little” damage the child actually received after being kicked by a full grown horse.
As our people continued to pray, I began to call every pastor I knew. I am thankful there are still churches that still have old-fashioned midweek prayer meetings. We literally had churches from Texas all the way to California praying for this little boy. One of the churches was a “larger” church with about 2,000 people in attendance, as well as a 10,000 audience via live video feed. It can be said that there were a few thousand people praying at the same time for this child. One thing that was amazing was the fact that several churches stopped their church service just to pray specifically for this child, even though it wasn’t in the “schedule”. I am truly thankful for the preacher friends I have in the ministry and their heart to help others.
I am glad to say that at 10 PM that evening, I walked out with the little boy and his family. He walked out with 16 stitches and NOTHING MORE! Praise the Lord. God came through! He heard the prayer of His people! Through all of this, I was in complete amazement as to how the Hand of God was in every bit of the situation. I give full credit to Jesus Christ, God Almighty for His intersession.
Well it has been two days since this took place. Now, as a pastor, I must tend to the needs of our flock. The counseling began yesterday as I went to several of our members homes to talk, share Scripture, and pray with them. As we discussed the event, people began to express that is was a “wake up call”, and God dealt with them in specific areas concerning their walk with God and their life in general. I personally believe that God came through and He is doing a work in our church to draw us closer to Him and have His power.
As I ministered unto several members of our church, I left them with this promise:
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
~ Romans 8:26-28
So, is God speaking to you? What has he allowed in your life to draw you closer to Him? Sometimes these events happen so we can learn to pray. Several of our people expressed that they knew their prayer wouldn’t have been heard because they were not right with God, therefore they got right. Has God allowed something in your life that is BIG so you can cleanse your heart and draw nigh unto God?
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
~ James 4:7-10
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Dear Estevan,
I love this post that I read via the smart passive income blog.
I like to share a post on my blog with you. This concerns a day when I also had to consider what Jesus actually commanded us, and not my personal opinion or preference.
During 2000 the Lord called my wife to start a prayer ministry to help the families having a loved one involved with the occult and/or addiction to drugs or something else. We guide and empower the parents to intercede for their own and other children in the same predicament. During the years we witnessed many miracles of deliverance and healing.
One day a father came to me and asked: “Herman, what type of fasting should I do and for how long in order to have my son delivered from demons? In Mark 9:29 Jesus says:’ This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.’ Will a Daniel fast be sufficient? I am a diabetic and may not follow a complete fast.”
My NIV Bible mentions only prayer.
At once the direct words of Jesus became paramount. Did Jesus command fasting as precondition to accompany prayer, or is fasting optional for driving out demons?
It is not about my personal preference, or what I would like to prescribe; nor that of some pious monk somewhere in the past. I had to discern what exactly Jesus commanded.
What would you answer?
As source I went to the Greek New Testament of the United Bible Societies where all variations in the manuscripts are recorded. A table is available at: http://www.bibledifferences.com/?p=594
Superfluously seen, the inclusion of this precondition should be included. Yet why would the United Bible Societies with an A-rating be convinced that Jesus had not said these words?
The manuscript evidence for seeing Mat.17:21 as an interpolation from Mark 9:29 is even stronger. Therefore I will only consider the question as seen in Mark, and apply it also to Matthew.
One manuscript that immediately calls for our attention is the Diatessaron of Titan, the Syrian. Around 170 A.D. he compiled a document combining all four Gospels into one narrative, including and discarding whatever he deemed necessary. His document had been quite popular and spread over much of the known world. Bear in mind that the canon had not yet been decided. When the Gospels had been duplicated separately, many of Tatian’s variations were included. Therefore those manuscripts that escaped the influence of the Diatessaron is of paramount importance for the establishment of the very words of the original autograph.
Another norm to consider is a scribe would rather include words of which he is uncertain, than leave out something that Jesus might have said. We experience the same urge!
A third habit of scribes to consider is the addition of religious duties into manuscripts. It is common knowledge that fasting and chastising of the body was common practice in the monasteries, the very place where most duplicating of manuscripts were done.
Do you consider it a possibility that fasting could have been deliberately or by mistake included following the example as recorded in Acts 13:2 and Acts 14:23?
The above criteria have to do with the manuscripts and the duplication process. A next norm to consider with great care, is the delicate process to evaluate intrinsic criteria. Here we ask what Jesus typically would have said, by taking into account His very words and deeds as recorded in the Gospels.
1. Jesus spoke about fasting only thrice. The first was to warn against seeking attention or adoration. Fasting should be a private matter between the believer and God. (Mat.6:16-18) The second time was concerning the fact that His disciples did not fast like those of John the Baptist or of the Pharisees. How could they fast while the Bridegroom is with them? (Mat.9:14-15, Mar.2:18-20, Luke 5:33-35) In Luke 18:12 Jesus tells of the Pharisee who boasted in prayer about how good he was and how often he fasted. These three instances do not bring us nearer to an answer concerning question at hand.
2. Jesus fasted Himself, but the gospels tell only of the time at the beginning of His ministry when He was tempted by Satan. (Mat.4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, Luke 4:1-13.) Not once is it recorded that Jesus fasted Himself, before driving out demons!
3. Except for the instance under discussion prayer and fasting are never handled together. Not even in Luke 18 where perseverance is discussed did Jesus stress fasting when it seemed as though God would not answer prayer.
4. When Jesus sent out His disciples, He gave them clear instructions. Inter alia He gave them power to drive out demons. Yet fasting had not been given as a prerequisite – it had not even been mentioned! (Mat.10:5-15, Mark 6:7-13, Luke 9:1-6)
When you look at Jesus’ own conduct and statements in the Gospels, do you consider it would be typical for Jesus to mention fasting as a requirement for driving out demons?
Now looking at both the extern as well as the intrinsic criteria, do you consider “fasting” as authentic from Jesus?
What would you answer the parent if he requested an answer from you?
God bless
Herman.
Powerful story Pastor. I truley believe in the power of Prayer and since I am the first to blog trust me I will not be the last to read this wonderful testimony! Gods people are coming into place for the what is and will take place these days so continue to blog and continue to post regarless of the traffic… Trust me the people will come and this type of revelation will be needed most.
Thanks for your kind words and being the first to post a comment. Your encouragement is a blessing.
Thanks for following my blog from Smart Passive Income. His site has been a true help to me and my online adventures.
You have put a lot of study into this area in regard to textual issues. I personally believe that Jesus said “prayer and fasting”. One thing that we may differ on is our position on how we look at the Bible. I am a King James Bible believer. I believe that all other versions have a root in the corrupt Alexandrian texts. I believe the KJB comes from a line of texts known as the Textus Receptus (TR). As one studies the line of the TR, they will find that fasting is mentioned as early as AD 300. This may be a different topic all together, but looking at the line of Inspiration and Preservation in the TR, one finds that it is the most rich and has uncontradicting doctrine. Most of what Christianity today believes in regard to doctrine has its roots in the TR line, which leads to the KJB. Upon the arrival of new versions based on the Alexandrian texts, we have seen more heresy in the churches with a false spirit that contradicts the Bible. Therefore, I reject other versions. Not only that, but the equivalent to 1st & 2nd Peter are missing from the average Corrupt Text versions (just as you noted that fasting was missing in your NIV). God said that we are not to take away from His Word.