This Kind Requires God

Matthew 17:21

Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

Not so long ago I heard a preacher bring a message from this verse on the subject of revival. His message has stuck with me and, reading it in my visit with the Lord today, I decided to make a record of it. This pastor differentiated between those things we can do as Christians and those things that only God can do. If we speak honestly we will confess that we have made up a kind of Christianity that functions quite well, even without God.

We can:

·       Build buildings

·       Conduct services

·       Call people to assemble

·       Counsel them in times of trouble and even

·       Bring sermons

that require very little of the supernatural. We can:

·       Appeal to banks

·       Use sales tactics

·       Get an education, and

·       Read enough books

to get by in the things of the ministry. We can live the same way any non-Christian does in the home, throw a few Bible verses on the walls and attend a church service now and again and call ourselves Christian.

The disciples had been given power/ability to do many things in the name of the Lord but Jesus said "this kind" was different; "this kind" comes only by prayer and fasting. "This kind" requires more than collaboration of ideas, cooperation among churches, continuing of education or contracts with financial institutions. "This kind" requires God.

It is "this kind" we are in most need of today.