Life #35 - Power of the New Heart

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The Gospel of Mark (9:14-30 NKJV) is preached with the focus on faith. While that is true, we are given an inside look at the heart of a deeply committed father. He did everything to get his son delivered of a mute spirit, which his son had since infancy. Is something deeper being revealed to us concerning the heart's power?

The father’s actions show us the measure of love the heart contains:

Love believed there was a miracle with his son’s name on it. Love helped the father be patient for results. Love kept him humble, being never too proud to ask for help from anybody. Love persevered throughout time, overcame the hardships, and did not count the number of failures. Love protected, trusted, and hoped for his son. Even when Jesus’ own disciples failed to deliver his son, anger had no place in his heart because love never failed him (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, 13 NIV).

Though love motivated his actions, it remained the father’s responsibility to see that the love for his son never grew cold (Matthew 24:12). He could have given up; thrown a pity-party for himself; become frustrated and abuse his son; or put his son aside and not deal with the problem.

Instead, the father reaped love’s reward when Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and the young man was healed (Mark 9:25, 27 NKJV).

Love, from the power of a new heart, makes an extraordinary difference in ordinary lives. Love always produces a life-giving impact! Always.

Scripture quotations from the King James Version (KJV) unless otherwise noted; excerpts are taken from our book to be released next year.