“'If you can,' said Jesus, 'everything is possible for him who believes.' Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, 'I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!'” (Mark 9:23-24)

Imagine this scene: One day Jesus is walking down the road with His disciples. He is confronted by a crowd that is arguing about a boy who seems possessed by evil. His father says that he has brought his son to the disciples, but they were unable to cast out the evil spirit. "How long has he been like this?" Jesus asks. "From childhood, but if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us," the father pleads.

In that one statement, the father captures the war that rages inside many of us. We want to believe, and without hesitation, we acknowledge that God can do anything, yet we also know that our faith is weak and small. We really do want to trust God, and we often pray the words of faith, but our hearts betray our doubt and lack of faith. But how do we gain more faith?

WE PRAY! Like the father in this story, we ask for more faith to trust God for a miracle.

Yet, few subjects evoke a greater sense of guilt in the hearts of believers than when we begin to talk about prayer. We know that we ought to pray; we know that we need to pray; and yet, the vast majority of us know that we don't pray.

I'm writing this not to pile guilt on you but to encourage and challenge you to grow in faith, embracing prayer and its possibilities.

As we each set aside time to discover God's purpose for our lives through our Salem-wide study of Rick Warren's best-selling book: The Purpose-Driven Life, I ask that you pray for a deepening of faith for yourself and for us as a community of believers. I ask that you pray for our new life in Christ as we are joined by the devoted believers of Crosswinds United Methodist Church, moving together toward what God will create in us as His new body of believers.

May God help any unbelief that we might encounter, as we surrender ourselves to His powerful leading in the weeks ahead. May doors of time, courage, trust, commitment, and humble servanthood open for each of us as we become individually and corporately what God wants us to be.

~ Pastor Linda