God bless!

                Let me paint a picture for you: a young boy is asked to play basketball one day in a park, it is his first time playing the sport so he isn't able to even hit the back board with the ball. This young boy grows frustrated and vows to do better, he begins to practice daily, wakes us early and does nothing but think, eat and breathe basketball. A couple of months later he is asked to play basketball again but the result is totally different then the first time  (a million times better), why? Of course we know it's because he has been practicing and it has made him a much better player. In scripture it reminds us repeatedly of how we are to seek after Him without ceasing, praying day and night, why?

                The same reason the boy practiced basketball is the reason we need to pray and seek His face. The more we do it the better we will get at it and the easier we can perform the benefits that come along with it. Why am I talking about all of this? The verse of today is a verse where the disciples are unable to cast out a demon from a boy because of what Jesus describes as a lack of prayer. It's not that praying is the key to it but rather the key is the result of praying which is relationship developed through prayer. How many of us can honestly say that we pray every day (besides before we go to sleep and eat that is)? How many of us read the bible every day (not just reading the verse below the devotionals)? This isn't meant to make any of us feel bad but quite the opposite, this should motivate us to learn from the mistake of the disciples. Just like the disciples we will find ourselves in situations where only our relationship with God will bring results and clarity, these items will not be there if we don't fine tune our relationship with God. Do you want just a bit of Him or all of Him?

Praying..

Pastor Joell  A. Perez

Mark 9:29 "He replied, "This kind can come out only by prayer."