Faith, prayer and hope

Ezekiel 37:11 - 14 Then he said to me: "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.' Therefore prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: O my people, I am going to open up your graves and bring you back up from them: I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in your and you will live...Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.

Several years ago a friend of mine asked me to pray about a particular situation. Over the years I have prayed, but we have not seen much hope. Bits and glimmers, here and there, but not restoration. All this prayer, all this time, so little hope. We felt like the people of Israel, dried up bones, no life left, no hope, an abandoned people. Yet...

A missionary from Africa came to speak to our mission history class a couple months ago. She told a story about a man who came for healing to the pastor's home, and that the pastor and several others prayed for over five hours with the man. They firmly believed that the man was suffering from demons and that the hours of fervent prayer in the name of Jesus Christ drove out the demons and healed the man. That man left, completely peaceful and has been a faithful Christian ever since.

So my prayers for my friend were renewed. In our society we don't give much credibility to demons, but that didn't matter to me. What mattered was renewed prayer and faith in that prayer. When doubts crept in - after all, there's been no hope for so long - three things sustained me.

One - Ezekiel's vision. A valley full of dry bones, no hope, completely dried up and dead. And yet, God brings the bones together, puts tendons on them to put them back together, puts flesh over the bones and then breathes Spirit into them, brings them to life again.

Two - The story of Jesus' disciples who couldn't heal a boy with a demon. Jesus came down from the mountain and found the disciples with the boy and his father, who explains that the boy has been like this since childhood - many years, suffering. Jesus heals the boy and tells the disciples that this kind of demon could ONLY come out through prayer.

Three - "I believe, help my unbelief". Not being one who can easily memorize scripture, this verse popped into my head over and over in my prayers for my friend. I couldn't remember where it was in the gospels, but I prayed it over and over. When I wavered, I remembered the faith of my African friends, and said "I believe, help my unbelief".

In my morning devotional time today, I read the story of the healing of the boy again. And there it was - like it was in bold and highlighted! It is the boy's father who says to Jesus "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" The boy appears to be dead, but he isn't. Jesus heals him and lifts him to his feet. (Mark 9:14-29)

When all hope is gone, when everything looks dead and impossible, have faith. Believe, and ask God to help you overcome your unbelief. Pray. The power of Jesus is amazing and stronger than our eyes can see, our minds can understand and our own strength could acheive.