¹⁴ At the foot of the mountain, a large crowd was waiting for them. A man came and knelt before Jesus and said, ¹⁵ “Lord, have mercy on my son. He has seizures and suffers terribly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. ¹⁶ So I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn’t heal him.”

¹⁷ Jesus said, “You faithless and corrupt people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” ¹⁸ Then Jesus rebuked the demon in the boy, and it left him. From that moment the boy was well.

¹⁹ Afterward the disciples asked Jesus privately, “Why couldn’t we cast out that demon?”

²⁰ “You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.”

Matthew 17:14-20

Dear God, after I read this passage this morning, and I wanted to pass judgment on the disciples, but then I thought about the people who figuratively bring their children to me for prayer. I have two friends who are pregnant and on the verge of giving birth. I have a relative whose child is in a rehab facility for addiction. I have friends whose children start another school year in a few days. I have a friend whose son is getting married in a few months. I have a relative whose son is in a war zone. I have a friend who lost a child to suicide two years ago and another friend whose daughter attempted suicide just two months ago. Then there are my own children and their significant others (and their children) who need prayer. I could go on and on. The woman whose adult son got injured a couple of years ago, has brain damage, and now struggles to be independent. The mother whose children are a complete mixed bag right now, ranging from living a good life to struggling to launch.

My point is, I get asked to pray for a lot of things for a lot of friends, and I fail. I fail to even pray. This week, I’ve prayed for about half of the children I listed above. Maybe just over half. But certainly not for all of them. Or the ones I didn’t mention. And for the ones I did pray for, did I pray the right thing? Did I pray hard enough? Did I pray intentionally enough? Did I let these parents and their children down?

Father, I don’t want to be smug when I see Bible characters struggling. I want to use their struggle as something I can identify with. I want to use them as an example–even if it is a bad example–to submit myself to you so you can help make me who you have for me to be. I was watching a video yesterday on how to repair cane webbing for a chair. They talked about soaking the cain in water so you can stretch it and work it into place. I want to be soaked in Jesus and the Holy Spirit so you can stretch me into the shape you need me to be ini. And I pray for these children. When I’m done typing, I’ll mention them each to you by name. Be with each of them. Soak them. Love them. Encourage them. Draw each of them into yourself. Use whatever they are going through in life to bring them into complete relationship with you. Set them free and grow your fruit within them. For your glory, Father.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen