Not By Might

"But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.

And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out?

And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting." Mark 9:27-29 KJV

The lesser known prophet Zechariah said that it is not by might, nor by power (not by force, not by strength, not by will, not by valor, not by an army), but by the Lord's Spirit.

Indeed, preceding the story above, the disciples tried everything they can to cast out an evil spirit from a boy but they could not. Jesus came to the scene and all He did was to command the spirit to leave and not come back. And it was so.

Jesus, when He was asked secretly how He was able to do it, said what He said. If you really think about it, He revealed to them a formula, but not the secret. The secret, we really need to discover and find out for ourselves. And this was revealed through the prophet Zechariah, no person can do what Jesus could do in their own strength. In fact, no person can really be able to pray and fast to get the same results if they are doing so in their own strength.

We are not Jesus. We are a Martha much more than we are a Mary. We are a Saul more than we are Paul. We are all Thomases. We are flawed, sinful people. We have so much baggage. And we need to know that we need a loving Savior. And that we have one.

And the real secret is to let His goodness move us into a genuine repentance so much so that we are compelled to know more about his truth, grace and love, to get closer to our Heavenly Father's tender heart, to wait upon Him, listen to His voice moment by moment and let the Holy Spirit take ahold of our lives. And with this, reading the bible, sharing, serving, singing songs of praise, even singing new songs and praying and fasting all becomes our second nature. Not because it is our's but the Spirit's. Yes, thus not by might, not by power, not by formula, not by traditions, but by Him -- the Alpha and the Omega.