A friend posted her young son asking this "Mommy? Why does Scripture say if you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can say to these mountains move from here to there and they will? Because… I’m pretty sure I’ve done that before, and it hasn’t worked."
Two days later, I was able to put together this response.
I would appreciate feedback, comments, really any help anyone can give as we try to approach the question of unanswered prayer. email chuckabean@hotmail.com or FB message me. Thanks.
Apparently the Rabbi's would delight in the talmid, the disciple, who would ask the best question. Grantham would be top of the heap. This section is taking place in a specific setting. A father has brought a son with a demon and the disciples are not able to cast it out. They had been given this authority many chapters earlier. Bolstered by previous successes they were perplexed by being unable to cast this one out. Mark (chapter 9) adds some detail. Torah teachers and others were surrounding the disciples who were unsuccessful in their attempt to drive out the demon and there was a big hullabaloo. (isn't that a great word) Mark also adds the detail that the boy was mute, from very young, and when Yeshua casts it out He calls it mute and deaf. Casting out demons was a known ministry in Yeshua's day, but they would typically ask the demon to identify itself, but with a deaf and mute person this method would not work, so it was seen as a sign of the Messiah, that He could handle even this difficulty. (Matthew 9:33, 11:5) I think Matt. 17:17 gives us a key, “You faithless and twisted generation!” Jesus said in response. “Exactly how much longer must I be with you? How long do I have to put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” Obviously the answer to that question is; "Yeshua you will have to put up with them until You are taken back into heaven, but then everything changes. The Holy Spirit is released in an unprecedented way and those who follow You will no longer be faithless or twisted, they will have Your very life empowering them and the 'powers of the age to come' will be displayed through their ministries, whenever and however and wherever Your wisdom chooses." I think it is key to tie this sentence in because there is a clear division in Yeshua's thinking about this generation as opposed to the Kingdom to come. In the Kingdom to come all the mountains, symbolic of governments will be cast down and only His government will rule and reign from His throne in Jerusalem. Ultimately our prayers will be heard, we are called to persevere and have faith, "till the end". Lastly, in Mark 9 Yeshua replies this kind comes not out except by prayer, then it is disputed whether or not "and fasting" was also said. And if your Bible has Matt. 17:21 it says by "prayer and fasting". This is a hard fact, but it is a freeing fact. Our hearts are not naturally in perfect alignment with God. His wisdom and the fact that we live in "this evil age" will often combine to bring situations across our path that we "feel" God would want us to "pray away", but we pray and nothing changes. The deep truth is, we must pray first and foremost to be dead to self and alive to Yeshua, then from a place of broken submission He will direct our prayers. Later Yeshua will say, "It is better for you that I go away." This is such a startling statement, we cannot blame the disciples for doing the ultimate "Wait! What??" What Yeshua knows is, the the Holy Spirit is going to bring in an opportunity for unity with God for everyone who looks to the cross. What Daniel, Jeremiah, Isaiah, David had was going to be released to a multitude of followers. It is possible to pray sincerely and with all faith that a situation will change and it not change. Since we know God is both sovereign and loving, that should cause us to go back to Him, humbly seeking in what way we were not in alignment/unity with His Spirit. Prayer as a lifestyle is how we do that and fasting as led and empowered by God is one way of keeping the flesh down. 2 Cor. 11:27 " in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness" When Paul speaks of his qualifications as an apostle one is being put in a situation where he is hungry and thirsty, and one is putting himself voluntarily in that situation (fastings). Our unity with the Father is the ultimate key to this passage, it is costly, but glorious, "I only do/say what I see/hear the Father doing and saying." A life of total dependence!
