Why Pray?

Then they came to Jericho And as He was leaving Jericho with His disciples and a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the road. When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Many were sternly telling him to be quiet, but he kept crying out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" And Jesus stopped and said, "Call him here." So they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take courage, stand up! He is calling for you." Throwing aside his cloak, he jumped up and came to Jesus. And answering him, Jesus said, "What do you want Me to do for you?" And the blind man said to Him, "Rabboni, I want to regain my sight!" And Jesus said to him, "Go; your faith has made you well." Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him on the road. - Mk 10:46-52 (NASB)

Many people reach a point in their walk with the Lord in which they question why they should or should not pray. The reasoning is this: If God can do anything, He either will or will not heal myself or the person I am praying for. Therefore, why pray? Does it really change anything? God will heal whom He chooses to heal and not heal whom He chooses to heal.

This line of reasoning is understandable when you consider that some prayers appear to be answered in the way in which you asked and others are clearly not.

In the story of blind Bartimaeus, found at the end of Mark 10, Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem. As He enters the city, He will experience the "Triumphal Entry" and the beginning of what is often described as the "Passion Week" or the final week before His death. As He travels to Jerusalem He passes through Jericho and meets a man by the name of Bartimaeus. This man is blind and cannot see. It also appears by his comment that he was once able to see but through some unknown circumstance is now blind. He says to Jesus, "Rabbi, I want to regain my sight!"

Notice, as he asks, that Jesus appears to be ignoring him. He calls out twice before Jesus finally recognizes him. When He does, He asks His disciples to go and get him. Emphatic at the chance to be healed, he throws aside his cloak and "jumps" up coming to Jesus.

However, the crux of the story comes within the words that Jesus uses to heal him. Just before he is healed, Jesus says "Go; your faith has made you well."

Wow. What does that mean? Why didn’t Jesus say, "I have made you well" or "God has now healed you"? Why does He choose to say that his "faith" has made him well?

I believe that we need to think hard about this statement. It is not the first time that Jesus has stated this after healing someone. You may recall the story of the woman whom had experienced a hemorrhage for 12 years (Mt 9:20-22). In the story, she believed that if she could even touch the edge of Jesus' cloak that it could heal her of her affliction. After she had been healed, Jesus turned around looking for the woman whom had been healed and said, "Daughter, take courage; your faith has made you well." An important statement.

In the chapter just prior to this morning's passage, Mark 9, Jesus stated just prior to healing the demon-possessed boy that "All things are possible to him who believes."

Therefore, there is a sense in which God wants and needs to see an indication that those who receive healings understand that it is He and no one else who is capable of healing. God desires for individuals to express to Him an indication of their faith in Him. He wants to know that our trust and confidence is in Him alone and for us to acknowledge that no one else but Him can help.

He also wants to see us reach our breaking point and see whether we will trust Him or not. What will you do when its all on the line? Will you continue to look to Jesus or turn from Him? So, let's draw some applications to our prayer life in this story of the blind man…

1. Our prayers must be Persistent.

When we examine the way in which this man sought Jesus we notice a few things. First of all, as mentioned before, he is persistent. He doesn’t ask one time and then give up. He keeps asking. In fact, many try to prevent him from being persistent. Verse 48 states that some of them tried to get him to be quiet. They felt he was annoying. "He's going to bother Jesus. Somebody get him to shut up!" was their attitude. Yet, he persisted.

We need to persist in our requests to God. Sometimes they aren't answered right away. We become frustrated and tempted to give up. Yet, God works in His own time. We must allow God to work as He sees fit while at the same time continuing to pray in His will for those things that matter to us.

Here we see that Jesus did not answer Bartimaeus' first request. I believe it was because He wanted to find out just how much He wanted this healing.

2. Our prayers must be Passionate.

When we examine the emotions that he displayed we begin to understand the passion he used. First, we notice in verses 47 and 48 that he "cried" out to Jesus. The Greek word is KRAZO and it implies not a shout but an heart-felt earnest crying out to another. It's often used in fearful and painful situations. It’s a very emotional plea. It's the same word used to describe the Caananite woman who desired to see her daughter healed (Mt 15:22). It was used to describe Jesus as He taught in the temple, wanting others to earnestly know who He was (Jn 7:28; Jn 7:37) as well as Jesus' appeal to God upon the cross (Mt 27:50; Mk 15:39).

Therefore, we know that this was an emotional plea to Jesus. We also see this man's passion in the way in which he comes to Jesus. It wasn’t hesitant or tentative. He threw his cloak and jumped up! Remember, this is a blind man. Not knowing where he was going or what he might run into, he forgoes all sense of dignity and reserve and jumps at the chance to come to Jesus. The words APOBALLO and ANAPEDAO describe these two actions. APOBALLO is a compound word from BALLO meaning "to throw" and APA meaning "away". Thus, he threw away or cast aside his garment to get to Jesus. The word ANAPEDAO means "to spring up". We can picture this man tossing aside anything that would prohibit him from coming to Jesus quickly and jumping up, no longer in fear of falling but with hope and faith to be healed.

When we pray, we need to come to God with this same sense of passion. We need to learn to express to God our anger, frustrations, and sorrow. We also need to express our thankfulness and gratitude as we recount with joy the mighty works God has done in our lives. Our words should express our desire to praise God and see changes. We need to be willing to reveal to God how badly we want various things to happen and how we believe that these things are apart of His will for our life and the lives of others.

3. Our prayers must be Purposeful.

When we examine the reasons for why Bartimaeus sought Jesus we see that he had purpose. He didn’t come to Jesus without expectations. No, he expected to be healed. He expected to have his request answered. He had purpose. He was on a mission. He believed that Jesus could and would heal him.

Prayer is not meant to be something done just to keep in touch with God. Prayer changes things. In Jesus model for prayer He told us to pray "Your kingdom come your will be done" (Mt 6:10). We are told to pray for specific things. Our prayers must be spoken with expectations. Prayer is an indication of what we expect God to do. Therefore, prayer must be done with expectation of receiving answers.

The blind man threw aside his cloak and jumped up! He obviously expected to be healed and demonstrated through his words and actions that he believed Jesus could heal him.

We learn here through the example of Bartimaeus that our prayers like his actions must be persistent, passionate, and purposeful. He was persistent in his request to Jesus. He was passionate in his response to His offer to speak to him. He was purposeful in his desire to receive healing.

We must learn to practice these 3 principles in our prayer lives. If we truly believe in God, then we will believe in the power of life-transforming prayer.

If you are walking in darkness unsure of what God can do in your life or the life of someone you love, I encourage you to throw off the garments of doubt and jump up and run towards the One who can bring both physical and spiritual healing into your life. You may not be able to "see" what changes lie ahead, but if you trust in Jesus, you will be healed.

That is, if you place your faith in Him…

If you are walking in darkness spiritually and have never accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior then this story is more than a story about a blind man receiving sight. It's your story. You are walking through this life without having made Jesus Lord of your life. You are stumbling upon sin and falling short of what God desires for you. He loves you and wants you to experience healing. He wants you to be saved.

You see, you need to view the actions of Bartimaeus as the very same steps that you need to make. You need to call out to Jesus asking Him to heal you and to save you from your sins. You need to cast aside anything that might separate you from making such a decision and jump at the chance to give your life to Him. Confess that He is Lord. Believe in your heart that He was raised from the dead. If you do so, you will be saved. If you trust in Jesus to save you, you will be healed spiritually.

That is, if your place your faith in Him...