Power

This morning I am at my desk in our bedroom for my quiet time for two reasons: the kids are up and about which distracts me if I'm in my spot on the couch (my timing is off this morning...their routine is as always) and also my sciatic nerve is killing me. One too many boxes moved in the basement...I've been paying dearly for lifting one box in particular, and as a result must avoid the cushy furniture!

And so, since my laptop is also on the desk...who can resist? A wee note on today's study.

In Mark 9:14-18, directly following the transfiguration, Jesus comes back with Peter, James and John to find the other disciples in an argument with the scribes amidst a crowd of people.

One pattern I'm noticing as I step back and study the *whole* in my classes is that it was the established religious group that were so against the movement of God through Jesus. God had something new planned, which was, actually, the fulfillment of everything old. The establishment just kept clinging to the old, to tradition, to the known. The "religious" people were the ones who continually stirred up the trouble. Interesting.

The disciples had told a man that they could not heal his demon possessed son. In Luke 9:1, before the transfiguration recorded in Luke 9:28, Jesus had indeed given the disciples the power to heal. Jesus doesn't seem too pleased when in Mark 9: 19 He states, "O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you?" Was He unhappy with the clamoring crowd? Or with the bewildered disciples?

I find it interesting that the disciples had less faith than the boy's father. Likely they experienced fear, and perhaps intimidation. With Jesus and the favored three gone, the remaining 9 may have felt unqualified. Of course they were young in their faith...still learning, still grappling with just who this Jesus was, and what their role might be.

God's power was available to the 9 disciples left on their own, just as it is available to us, to me. With Christ within, I have the "surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe," (Eph 2:19) available to me. The same power, Paul points out in Ephesians 2:20, that raised Christ from the dead.

Beth Moore points out in her devotional book Jesus, 90 Days with the One and Only that "...the worst conditions can often provide the best atmosphere to act in faith." And yet, like the nine, I can tend to wimp out and think "I can't." God, that is simply too big. This situation is too overwhelming. Lord, this feels impossible.

Jesus had given them the power to heal. 2 Peter 1:3 tells us

"For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that [are requisite and suited] to life and godliness, through the [full, personal] knowledge of Him Who called us by and to His own glory and excellence (virtue)."

With Christ within, truly no situation in my life is impossible. Whenever I think of relational issues in particular, I need to think of God's resurrection power, and that He has ALREADY given me EVERYTHING pertaining to life and godliness. God not only can work in the situation, but He can work in me to make the situation bearable. Whether He changes me or the situation is likely not the point...

I won't judge those nine disciples and their lack of faith. Every day I need the same lesson as they did - that "With God, nothing is impossible." (Luke 1:37)