Prayer and Fasting

CHRIST, when You came down from the Mount of Transfiguration You came to the valley of humiliation. Mystified disciples, a seizing son, and a pleading father were waiting for You (Mark 9:14-22). The situation was obvious—a boy needed healed. Yet, You did not heal immediately, but for nine verses You carried on a conversation allowing the father, the son, the disciples and the crowd to get to the last ebb of despair. Every second that You did nothing made a lie of Your supremacy. You allowed Yourself to be powerless and humiliated. Your waiting made GOD appear cruel. Ah, but You faced humiliation with a perfect knowledge that Your FATHER was working out His own will (ref#83, p46-48).

FATHER, healing is not Your lesson here. Waiting for You is the lesson. As CHRIST waited for You, ____’s answer from this lesson lies in a personal relationship to CHRIST—concentration and redoubled concentration on Him (ref#83, p47). Teach ____ to follow CHRIST’s example.

“Prayer and fasting means concentration on God. That is the one purpose for which we are in the world” (ref#83, p47).

Concentration on You, TRIUNE GOD is prayer and fasting. Give ____ the ability to wait for Your perfect timing even if it makes (him/her) look indecisive. “…We are meant to do unheroic work for God in the martyr spirit” (ref#83, p47).