So they brought him to Him.  When the spirit saw Him, it immediately convulsed the boy.  He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. “How long has this been happening to him?”  Jesus asked his father.

“From childhood,” he said. “And many times it has thrown him into fire or water to destroy him.  But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

Then Jesus said to him, ” ‘If you can’?  Everything is possible to the one who believes.  Mark 9:20-23 HCSB

We all know people that plot evil against others.  Seeing someone mistreat someone else, particularly someone I care deeply for, is hard to take.  Not being able to do anything about it is even harder to take.  Now sometimes we can do nothing about it because the “victim” in the matter doesn’t want to do anything about it. Other times it may be because we can’t prove what they did in a court of law. But there are a couple of things we can do, we can pray and we can believe.

In our scripture passage today, this man brings his son to Jesus.  His son is being controlled by a demon that makes him unable to talk and causes him to grind his teeth, foam at the mouth and become rigid.  In front of Jesus the spirit causes the boy to foam at the mouth, fall to the ground and roll around.  When Jesus questions the man about this, the man tells Him that it has even tried to destroy him by throwing him into fire and water.  Now this man has been watching his son suffer with this demon for many years.  He tells Jesus, “But if you can do anything…please help us.”

What?  I mean this guy is talking to Jesus Christ, himself.  If you can do anything?  Jesus finds it incredulous as well and even repeats what the man has said.  Jesus then tells him that EVERYTHING is possible to the one who believes.

Now, just the other day, I caught myself talking about someone who has done some very evil things and I caught myself saying, “He will never change”.  I was immediately convicted.  You see, God can change him.  God can remove demons, so whatever demons we struggle with, He can remove, right?  Whatever demons others struggle with, He can also remove, right?  So whether you are talking about your enemy or a family member,  know that with God’s help they can change.  I can assure you that I am a different person that I was 10 years ago.  This change was brought about by God.  The only thing I had to do was cry out to Him and trust Him.  This is what I have come to realize that I must be doing for these people who are lost.  I must cry out to God for their salvation and I must trust Him.  I should never speak things like, “they will never change”.  When we trust in God we should never say never over any situation, even if it seems impossible.  God specializes in doing the impossible.  I have seen it in two nieces. One almost died during her birth.  The other almost died a few weeks after being born. I know what God can do. My extremely beautiful, highly intelligent nieces are living proof.  God is still in the miracle business.

Romans 1:24 tells us that there will come a time when God will just give sinful people over to their evil desires.  But when that happens is not for us to decide and it’s not for us to judge.  That is God’s job and we need to keep our hands off of it and our mouths free from it.

It is our job to pray for those that are lost.  It is our job to lift them up to God and trust in Him to save them.  If they were truly saved, they would not do these evil things, right?  Wouldn’t that be best for everyone involved?

Now there is one thing that is constant and never changes.  God loves us more than we can imagine (John 3:16, John 15:13, Romans 5:8).  His love for us is constant.  There is nothing we can do to separate ourselves from HIs love.  Our sin can create a barrier between us and God, but God still loves us.  I don’t know about you, but as a reformed sinner, I am so grateful that His love for us is constant.

As you go through this day, remember that God can move mountains.  But remember our scripture passage.  Jesus tells the man, “Everything is possible to the one who believes”.  If you want God to work a miracle, you must have faith.  I pray that you have enough faith to understand that God is stronger than any problem we will ever face.  Pray in faith for the things you need.  Trust in God to work miracles.  You won’t be disappointed if you truly believe.

Have a great day!