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Gerry Gutierrez' Update
"YES" Little Faith asks for little “me” only. Great Faith asks for others as if it were
for self. Matt-15: 21-28-GA Aug. 25-17 A parent is
suffering terribly for a child with demon possession. Though the child is
in suffering, it is the woman who is asking for mercy on her. “Lord, son of
David have mercy on me.” Love suffers as if it were in the skin of the
sick. Jesus did not answer a word! To her who truly believes our
Lord, Jesus trusts her with silence as Jehovah God did to Jesus on Gethsemane
by not answering. If Faith is
there, it is there to stay! The religious around Jesus seem to know Jesus less
than the Canaanite woman. They interpret the silence of Jesus to the
faithful woman as disfavor to the point of asking Jesus to send her away, to
fire her, to walk away from her, to throw her out. Remember that in
other times, the disciples try on their own to cast a demon out of a child and
they could not that the parents of the demon possess came to Jesus and reported
to Jesus that, “your disciples try to cast the demon and they could not.” Jesus said at
that time that “this kind of demon you can only cast by Prayer and Fasting.” In
fact Jesus said: “How long am I going to put up with you.” They were men of
little faith, little prayer and no fasting therefore any power. Notice also that
those of little faith have no power or authority to silence those who have the
gift of Faith. Further more, even though the woman’s prayer is addressed to
Prince Jesus the son of David it is the disciples who felt molested by the
Faith and Prayers of the woman who comes to Jesus by-passing the servants and
directly appealing to Jesus who alone is the mercy of God in the flesh and with
power over cruel demons. Behold the prayer
of those who dictate God their will for others. “Send her away,
for she keeps crying out after us.” (So much for sympathy and mercy.) Somehow, those
who have little faith in the God, whom they said to believe and follow, find
annoying the faith of those who step out of the boat to walk on water toward
Jesus. Those who have
great faith are a threat to men and women of little faith. Instead of welcoming
as encouragement where faith is little or non-existent, they seek to get rid of
the “Faith Full.” It is as if the faithful outside the boat is trying to enter
the boat and they feel afraid at the shaking of the boat. They, who by
grace found room in the Inn with Jesus but deny others access to Jesus, are “Binos.” (Believer in name only).
He or she who has
come out of the burning fire should be more than willing to extend their hands
from the safety with Jesus to other in need of mercy? Jesus commands
his own, “I want mercy and not sacrifice.” What is a
penitent to do before such a merciless bodyguard of Jesus whose own peace of
mind and conscience is more important than the will of Jesus and the painful
need of the woman? Ignore religion and insist in your commitment to see the
King of mercy himself! Jesus in his
great wisdom and grace does not ignore the disciple’s insecurities and speak
words of doctrine such as “election, choice, priorities to the household of
God.” But this woman is fully equipped with the armor of God. She came by faith
in a childlike manner taking Jesus as the Lord and son of David. Faith
“F.” She has come in agreement with God in Prayer. Prayer “P” She
has understood Jesus as the will of God for her and her needs and wants and has
put his trust not in puny disciples and their powerless prayers but in Jesus
the will of God that is bound to prevail. Will “W.”She has come
in the full knowledge that Jesus the son of David is Lord according to
scripture and Son of God with power to cast demons. Her faith is grounded
in the word of God. Word W2. This Canaanite
woman who Jesus loved, understood F=PW2 that is. “Faith is equal
to Prayer according the will and word of God that brings men into alignment
with God when all things are always “yes” and only a prayer away!! The key to understanding
prayer is vital, crucial and razor thin as the wall of separation of good and
evil and light from darkness, oil and water. While on the one
hand the grave mistake only too common is that the penitent believes that
somehow” prayer and praying has finally brought God to see and sympathize with
him and by his answer God has come into alignment with the godly men in their
“powerful prayer as righteous men that avails much.” ‘Nothing farther
from the truth”! I dare say with no intention to offend anyone, that to think
we can persuade God to do a single act that he has not already willed in
eternity past is from the pits of Hell. We can start
explaining things with transitionary concepts from
words such as “Fate, coincidence, chance, accident” but the only valid word
from scripture to help us understand prayer is predestination, Immutability,
unchangeableness, perfection, omnipotence, omniscience, holiness which are the
attributes of God. It is in the comfort shadow of this umbrella words where against
our “better judgments” we come “not to fully understand” but accept in a child
manner by faith and agree with God in Prayer according the will and word of God
until we come into alignment with God. In matters of
Faith, intellect can become a hindrance and childlikeness an advantage because
it is not a matter of clever intelligence but humble acceptance in childlike
candor. Therefore, “alignment” with God is the key word, to understand
prayer. Jesus’ power and authority was the result of his life in perfect
alignment with God where Jesus died to his will and surrendered from beginning
to end to the will of His Father and not his own will. The words of Jesus
corroborates this fact when Jesus in a soliloquies said “I praise you Father of
Heaven and earth because you have hidden this
things from the wise and understanding and you have reveal it to the little
children. Because this was your good pleasure. This is
to say it is by revelation and discovery and not by intelligence and
achievement or mastery that we know the truth. Men’s
contribution or responsibility if any is nothing but surrender as to the
yielding o the overwhelming weight of grace that he is not meant to digest but
to surrender in holy and glad submission. His will is born not to be killed by
outside powers but to die at the hand of its own weakness. Therefore when I am
weak I am strong, so the glory may be his and his alone. Salvation is of the
Lord. Man must present
daily, as reasonable sacrifice the slaughter of his will in the altar of the
closet of his own heart to God. God finds this acceptable and man can say in
clean conscience “ I no longer live but Jesus in me the hope of Glory” A prayer closest
to a true prayer is more of a question. If you are willing, you can make me clean”
(That is to say, by any chance, are you willing to clean me?) There is no
imperative form of the verb here but a docile surrender of the always
convenient will and desire of the will of God whom all trusts is given in Holy
expectation. It is in nothingness
that our prayer becomes something. So, if you feel uncomfortable by being
nothing and would like you “ to do” something from your part, then I humbly
suggest to do what the Canaanite woman did. She came to Jesus by Faith in
a child like manner, she came in prayer and according God’s will and word and
the result was the delicious life giving soup of ‘alignment” with God. From your part
you may add to the soup some “tears”. God loves “wet prayers”. You can
also add kneeling down as the woman did as she cried out. Add the seasoning of
boldness that ignores the dirty look of the opposition. Recognize your
need of Help from God out loud for the sake of others, because God knows your
heart that your tears are not for you personally but for someone whom you love
as your love yourself. Jesus knows the pain of love and loving. The
suffering of the woman and her tears were for someone afflicted by the demons
and she knew only Jesus had the power and authority to cast them out. The Canaanite
woman had a clear family resemblance with Jesus. Even though her daughter
was in pain and suffering, it was her who asked for “mercy on her” It was her
who said “Lord Help me.” What a woman,
what a Savior, what a God. “For God so loved the world that he gave his
one and only son that whosoever believes in him may not perish but have
everlasting life. God had a great faith in Himself and His will revealed
in his Word. Gerry Gutierrez PS. A touch of
insanity is normal to him who walks by faith and is to be desired instead of
rejected as “a man of twisted mind.”
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