In the Meantime: Connecting Prayer, Power, and Purpose

Jul 04, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: When Mountain Glory Meets Valley Struggles

The transfiguration revealed Christ’s divine glory, yet the valley below held chaos—a boy tormented, disciples defeated, and faith shaken. This contrast mirrors our spiritual journeys: moments of clarity often precede seasons of testing. Jesus descended from radiant communion to confront demonic oppression, showing that true power meets human need. His disciples’ failure stemmed not from lacking authority but neglecting prayerful dependence. The valley becomes holy ground when we carry mountain encounters into daily battles. [02:30:31]

“And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. And he asked them, ‘What are you arguing about with them?’” (Mark 9:14–16, ESV)

Reflection: Where do you sense a disconnect between your spiritual “mountain moments” and your current valley challenges? How might carrying Christ’s presence transform today’s struggle?

Day 2: Giftedness Without Power Is Empty Theater

The disciples once cast out demons but now stood powerless, exposing a fatal gap: gifts without the Spirit’s fire become religious performance. Like singers prioritizing applause over anointing, we risk reducing ministry to talent management. Jesus rebuked their faithless reliance on past victories. True power flows not from skill but surrendered intimacy—when our ability kneels to divine enablement. [02:34:33]

“All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.” (1 Corinthians 12:11, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you substituted human competency for Spirit-dependent prayer? What “success” might God want to disrupt to reclaim your reliance on Him?

Day 3: Delays Are Divine Setups for Greater Glory

The father’s plea—“if you can”—provoked Jesus’ fiery reply: “All things are possible!” His son’s lifelong torment became a stage for God’s supreme power. Like Lazarus’ death preceding resurrection, delays invite us to trade small expectations for holy anticipation. What we call God’s silence often incubates miracles exceeding human imagination. [02:38:00]

“So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.” (John 11:6, ESV)

Reflection: What situation have you labeled “too late” that God might be preparing for His “greater glory” reveal? How does this shift your prayers?

Day 4: Mustard Seed Faith in a Showboat World

While demons theatrically convulsed the boy, Jesus focused on the father’s raw honesty: “I believe; help my unbelief!” Faith isn’t spectacle but resilient trust—like a mustard seed’s hidden tenacity. God honors not the size of our confidence but its grip on His character. Our doubts don’t disqualify; they invite His strengthening. [02:56:34]

“And Jesus said to him, ‘If you can! All things are possible for one who believes.’ Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, ‘I believe; help my unbelief!’” (Mark 9:23–24, ESV)

Reflection: Where does your “I believe” wrestle with “help my unbelief”? How can you plant that tension in Christ’s faithfulness today?

Day 5: Revival Starts With One Hungry Heart

The disciples’ valley failure began with petty comparisons—“Why wasn’t I chosen for the mountain?” Yet history’s great awakenings ignited through nameless believers who refused spiritual mediocrity. Jesus seeks those dissatisfied with church-as-usual, who crave God’s fire more than human approval. Your private hunger could spark public revival. [03:01:19]

“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14, ESV)

Reflection: What complacency have you tolerated that God wants to replace with holy urgency? How will you nurture your “mustard seed” hunger this week?

Sermon Summary

Mark sets the scene with Jesus descending from the mount of transfiguration into a valley of confusion, unbelief, and demonic display. The mountain shows the Father’s voice, Christ’s glory, and rejoicing. The valley shows Satan’s power, a distressed father, and disciples who are dejected and humiliated. Jesus teaches by contrast that life after his departure will require walking by faith, not by sight, remembering who he really is when the glow fades and the trouble swells. The text speaks a word for the meantime, that space between revelation and resolution, calling for meaningful, God-glorifying activity, not idle drift.

Jesus meets a father whose son is ravaged by an unclean spirit, and the disciples’ failure exposes a deeper issue. The disciples had the gift, but not the power. The contrast between performance and praise exposes a heart problem that prayer and fasting alone can cure. Jesus insists, Bring him to me, because proximity to him, not technique, breaks the yoke. The father’s plea, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief, names the honest tension between the ideal and the real, and Jesus accepts mustard-seed faith because its nature is resilient and determined to grow.

The mountain rebukes the valley’s dissension. While Jesus communed, the nine argued. In the meantime, they should have been praying. Jesus confronts faithlessness head-on and teaches that God’s delays are not denials. The longer the delay, the greater the deliverance. The church is warned not to settle for a good thing when God wants to give the best thing, and not to interpret resignation as reverence. The only Jesus some people will ever know is the Jesus they see in Christ’s people, so false witness by powerless religion must cease.

Christ calls the church to face what it will not fix and to recover the burden of intercession. Revival rarely starts with a campaign. It often begins with one or two who get hungry for more. In the meantime, Jesus calls his people to connect God-given gifts to Spirit-given power through fasting, agonizing prayer, and unity, so that what happens cannot be accounted for by human ingenuity. The story ends with Jesus lifting a boy that looked dead and presenting him to his father. That same hand still lifts, and that same call still stands, Bring him to me.

Key Takeaways

1. In the meantime, seek power [02:22:25] The waiting space between mountaintop and valley is not for arguments or apathy. It is for prayer, fasting, and watchful faith that keeps the channel open. The meantime becomes meaningful when dependence replaces self-assurance. Christ meets his people in that place and turns delay into discipleship. [142:25]
2. Gifts require Spirit’s anointing [02:36:05] Ability without authority leaves the church loud but lightless. The difference between performance and praise is the Spirit’s fire resting on a yielded life. When gifts bow under the blood, ministry stops explaining itself and starts witnessing to a power beyond technique. [156:05]
3. Confront what you will not face [02:44:21] You cannot fix what you will not face. Jesus names faithlessness and calls it out of hiding, because hidden rot steals public power. Honest confession becomes open door, and availability invites ability. Healing begins where evasion ends. [164:21]
4. Delays deepen deliverance and desire [02:41:29] God’s timeline often trades quick relief for deep resurrection. The longer way grows holy hunger and teaches hearts not to settle for a good thing when God intends the best thing. Development often precedes deliverance, and the glory on the other side explains the wait. [161:29]
5. Mustard-seed faith is resilient [02:57:34] Jesus receives faith that admits its own thinness because the seed’s nature is to grow. Resilient trust keeps pushing through dormancy, determined to root and rise, even after long winters. In his hand, the small becomes strong, and what looked dead stands up again. [177:34]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[142:07] - Doers, not hearers, in the meantime
[142:25] - Defining the meantime with purpose
[143:36] - Turning to Mark 9
[146:14] - Mountain glory and the Father’s voice
[150:31] - Valley trouble and satanic display
[153:24] - “Bring him to your disciples” and failure
[154:33] - Gifts vs power, performance vs praise
[157:18] - God’s delays and greater deliverance
[161:29] - Development over deliverance
[164:21] - Confronting faithlessness
[165:35] - “Bring him to me” and healing
[167:57] - The meantime misused vs prayer and fasting
[168:58] - Church without power and its danger
[175:49] - “If you can” and Christ’s reply
[176:16] - “Help thou mine unbelief”
[177:34] - The nature of mustard-seed faith
[179:36] - The boy lifted and restored
[180:53] - How revivals begin
[182:34] - The work finished through a consecrated people
[183:17] - A call to holy hunger
[189:38] - Closing prayer for renewal

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Mark 9:14-29 (ESV)
14 And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. 15 And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. 16 And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” 17 And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. 18 And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.” 19 And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” 20 And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. 21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” 25 And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” 26 And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. 28 And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” 29 And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”

Observation Questions

What contrasts does the passage highlight between the disciples’ actions in the valley and Jesus’ actions on the mountain (vv. 14-19)?
How does the father’s response to Jesus (“I believe; help my unbelief!”) reveal the tension between faith and doubt (v. 24)?
What reason does Jesus give for the disciples’ inability to cast out the demon (v. 29)?
In the sermon, what distinction was made between “performance” and “praise” in ministry? [02:36:05]

Interpretation Questions

Why did Jesus rebuke the disciples as a “faithless generation” (v. 19), and how does this connect to their failure to heal the boy?
How does the father’s plea (“help my unbelief”) model an honest approach to faith struggles, and why does Jesus accept this kind of faith?
What does Jesus’ emphasis on prayer and fasting (v. 29) reveal about the relationship between spiritual disciplines and effective ministry?
How might the disciples’ arguments in the valley (v. 14) have contributed to their lack of spiritual power? [02:47:57]

Application Questions

In what areas of your life are you relying on your own “gifts” or abilities instead of seeking the Holy Spirit’s power? What practical step can you take to surrender those areas to God? [02:34:33]
The father’s honest prayer (“help my unbelief”) acknowledges both faith and doubt. Where do you need to bring this kind of raw honesty to God right now?
The sermon warned against settling for “a good thing when God wants to give the best thing.” What “good thing” might you be clinging to that’s preventing you from trusting God’s timing? [02:38:00]
How can you incorporate intentional prayer or fasting into your routine to deepen your dependence on God during a current “meantime” season?
Is there a situation or relationship you’ve avoided confronting because it feels too difficult? What would it look like to face it with faith this week? [02:44:21]
The disciples’ arguments in the valley distracted them from prayer. What disagreements or distractions are keeping you from focusing on what God wants to do in your community?
The mustard-seed faith is “resilient and determined to grow.” What small, daily habit could you cultivate to nurture your faith in a season of waiting? [02:57:34]

Sermon Clips

59s

#ChooseGodsBest

“``Here's the lesson. Here's the lesson. Here's the takeaway for for us today. This is gonna be for somebody. I don't know who you are, but here's the takeaway. Do not settle for a good thing when God wants to give you the best thing. That that's that's all you need. You can go you can leave right now. You can go home now. But just stick around for a moment. Hello? Friends, I'm not telling you anything I've not lived. Oftentimes, we are willing to settle for a good thing, but God wants to give us the best thing. So understand that God's delays are God's instrumentality to help us to get to a place of greater anticipation and greater appreciation.”

91s

#GrowthNotJustDeliverance

“Let me share with you an old lesson that I taught you some maybe three, four years ago. I'm a remind you because I'm being reminded. We often pray to God for deliverance. You ought to know where I'm going. But what God is in the business of doing quite often, it's not deliverance, but development. Hello? The very thing that we are asking God to deliver us from, it is God's ordained means of developing prayed three times. Lord, take this thorn away from me. And God says, mm-mm. Now we knew that Paul can get a prayer through. We know that Paul knew Jesus. And yet we can learn and discern from Paul's experience that God had something greater for Paul, and he finally got it. He says, when I'm weak, that's when I'm strong. He discovered and discerned that what God had allowed to come into his experience was really not about him, but it was an opportunity and occasion for God to be glorified.”

66s

#DelaysNotDenials

“He wanted them to get the chronology and the history of the possession, how these demons had so controlled this young man. And otherwise said, it wasn't the dad's fault and it wasn't the boy's fault, but this was so that the glory of God can be revealed. Some of you are dealing with some stuff right now. And you prayed and you fasted and you've cried and you've agonized and you're wondering why and where is God. Can I help you this morning and tell you just hold on? God's delays are not to be interpreted as God's denials. I want you to understand that your situation has not escaped the all seeing, all knowing eye and mind of God. But whatever you think you need, God has something better in store.”

58s

#MustardSeedFaith

“That man in that moment revealed the reality. You see, there are two levels on which we exist. You all know that. Right? There is the actual and there is the aspirational. There's the real and there's the ideal. the real is that we as believe go between moments of belief and doubt. And you know what the beautiful thing is? God understands and God accepts. Amen. How do I know that? Keep reading a few more verses and you know what Jesus says to the man? If you have faith the size of a mustard seed.”

50s

#FaceToFix

“Lesson number one. If three or four things I lift up. Number one, confront. You know what I've discovered in life? You can't fix what you won't face. Yeah. That went right over your head. There's some of us who are not willing to face who we are, what we are. And if we're not willing to face it, then God is not able to fix it. Not because he lacks the ability, but we have not given him the availability of ourselves to come in and fix it.”

73s

#DelayToDeliverance

“Everything that God does, he has a purpose and a point that he's driving home. So Jesus asked him some questions to the dad. He said, how long has this been going on? Hello. You know what I've discovered about the Lord, how he works? The longer the delay, the greater the deliverance. Y'all y'all don't believe me? I got Bible. John chapter 11. Four days has elapsed and Jesus just shows up. Lazarus is buried and his body has already began to decompose and Jesus shows up. And the advent I mean, Mary said, where you been lord? See, they would have been content with healing, but what Jesus had in mind was a resurrection.”

75s

#YourLifeShowsJesus

“So Jesus is talking to the dad, the demon is putting on a show. And Jesus acts like he completely is is is oblivious to what is going on, but yet he is fully engaged. Jesus wanted them to first be amused because there were those who were amused by the fact that the disciples had failed miserably. And so by extension, if the disciples couldn't help his son, then Jesus couldn't help his son either. thought about that. The only Jesus that some people will ever know is the Jesus that they see in you and me. What examples are we giving? What testimony are we sharing? What what are we lifting up when they see us and they hear us and they interact with us? They are forming an opinion about who this Jesus is that we proclaim to serve.”

81s

#MountainToValley

“The Bible tells us that Jesus now descends the mountaintop, and he comes down to the valley where the people were, and what a contrast. On the mountain, we discover that God's power is being is on display. In the valley, Satan's power is on display. On the mountain, the Bible says that the father, God the father says, this is my son in whom I'm well pleased. But in the valley, we have a distressed father who is concerned about his son who is now preoccupied rather by demonic forces. On the mountain, disciples are rejoicing. In the valley, his disciples dejected and afraid. On the mountain, we have Jesus being exalted. But in the valley, we have the father and the disciples being humiliated. What a contrast. On the mountain, we have victory. In the valley, we see them vanquished. On the mountain, there's worship, but in the valley, there's worry.”

91s

#UnityOverDivision

“The three disciples that were taken to the mountain top had started a discussion with the nine who who remained in the valley. It went something like this. I don't know who Peter think he is. I'm just as smart as he is. And John, he was quick tempered yet the Lord took him. What about me? And this is the spirit that emanated in the valley. There was dissension among the believers. There were discussion among the believers. Those who remained in the valley had issues with those that Jesus had selected to go with him to the mountain top. So their faith and their focus was not where it ought to have been. see, while Jesus was on the mountain top, in the meantime, they should have been occupying themselves with prayer and fasting and asking God to keep them until Jesus shows up again. But they contented themselves to be at odds with each other and created the environment where Satan was able to come in. I”

68s

#AnointingMatters

“This this this part really came home to me as I studied this thing and reflected on it. The disciples came to Jesus later and say, Lord, why couldn't we heal him? They realized they'd lack the power and went to Jesus to do something about it. We lack the power today, and we're comfortable. I know I wasn't gonna get no amens. We have settled down with this mindset, this attitude, this disposition that power isn't even necessary. Here's what Ellen White brings out that will help us. Number one, having the gift without the anointing and enabling of the spirit of God will avail nothing.”

73s

#OneOrTwoCanStartRevival

“So three weeks ago, I don't know how I ended up there, but I was reading and I came across an article. You know what the article was about? Some of the great revivals in history. You know what I discovered anew? I discovered that the great revivals were usually started by one or maybe two people. It wasn't a campaign. It wasn't a week of no. No. No. It was one or two individuals who deep down in their soul had a hunger and a thirst for something more. Disqualified dissatisfied with status quo. they began to pray, and God's spirit began to move, and hundreds and thousands were saved.”

58s

#SurrenderYourGifts

“I know that I know that there's some of you sitting here right now today knowing what I know, your skills, your wisdom, your if we would have just let the Lord have that. If we were just willing to surrender to him all that we are, all that we have. What a power in God's hand we would be. But we're down in the valley, mad with the folk on the mountain top. We're having discussions and debates that have nothing to do with who God really is.”

64s

#TellThemAboutJesus

“The boy's faith, the boy's future to a great degree was dependent on what the father did in that moment. There are some people in your circle right now, you may not realize it, you may not even wanna believe it, you may not wanna accept it, but they're at a moment and a place in time where unless we open our mouth and tell them about the Jesus that we know, serve, and love, here's what Ellen White says. Many of them are going down to Christless graves. It is that sobering. It is that serious that there are people that will never hear the love of Christ from the preachers, but God is looking for you to open your mouths. God has placed you in the position where he can use you. Let”

55s

#ChurchNeedsTheSpirit

“thought about this and I said, well, you know what? At least they realized they messed up. And they decided we're gonna do something about this. And we're going to Jesus. Hey, Lord. What's going on? But with us today, we have no power and it's okay. You know, I've been a few places and you know what I've discovered? We can sing without the Lord. We can preach without the Lord. We can have church without the Lord. If he shows up, that's up to him. We're gonna have church anyhow. I'm saying that in a little bit of jet, but it's also true. We have become so skilled at having church that whether or not the holy ghost show up, we're gonna get all praise on anyhow.”

86s

#PursueDeeperConnection

“if I read my Bible, the way my Bible is listed, here's what happens. The church before Jesus comes will possess and demonstrate a greater degree of power than what was evidence in the first church. Matter of fact, and my wife says the church in the end is going out in a greater blaze of glory than when the church began. what what are you saying preacher? I'm saying to us today that there is a level of connectedness with God that we have not yet attained to. Can I be real blunt? And some of us have no burden to. But I've asked God to help me to get to a place where we can pray and we can see miracles.”

92s

#GiftsNeedPower

“The Bible tells us and the story unfolds, and the Bible says a man now comes forth to Jesus, and he says to Jesus, Lord, I brought my son to your disciples, to the church. Alright. And they were not able to deliver him from the demonic possession that was evident in his life. Now friends of mine, right there, we ought to stop because understand what is happening here. Understand that in Matthew chapter six, Jesus had given them power over the demonic spirits. Understand that they had already demonstrated by faith in Christ that they were had cast out demons, and they had done many wonderful things in his name and through his power when their faith had connected to his divine ability. But here, in this instance, what they had been anointed to do, they were not able to perform. I thought about that. And I realized something again this week. It is so important to distinguish between gifts and the power that is needed to make the gift effectual.”

64s

#PersecutionMeansProgress

“wanna know why the church is not suffering persecution now? Because ain't nobody scared of the church no more. We are no threat in our present condition to Satan's domain. Well, I know you're gonna get mighty quiet at that point, but it's the truth. Historically, when does persecution break out? When the church is on the march and on the move, where sinners are being converted, where the spirit of God is being active. Satan will marshal his forces and come to destroy and to disrupt and to divide. But if we just showed up for church and we go back to our lives unchanged, unmoved.”

77s

#NeverStopPraying

“I'm praying for my daughter. Grew up in a church, never went to public school, but she's elsewhere and otherwise occupied. But I ain't giving up. And you know why I'm not giving up? You know what my Ella Landon, you know what my strongest motivator to not give up is? Anybody wanna take a guess? Me. do you mean preacher? I am here That's right. Because of a mother, sister Francine, who never stopped praying for me. So I'm I'm I'm I'm just opening the door right now for three or four y'all. It doesn't have to be everybody. But you have that yearning, that hunger in your heart, in your spirit for something. You you you can't even name it, but you know that you know that there is a void, vacuum, a chasm, an emptiness in your heart. And you're saying, fill that.”

66s

#MustardSeedResilience

“of us look on that as quantitative. We look on that as the size of the mustard seed, but the lesson is much deeper than that. It's deep with the intrinsic nature of the mustard seed. The mustard seed is resilient, and the mustard seed is determined to grow and to bloom. Mustard seed. So we I was in Egypt several years ago and in the Cairo Museum, they had a little flask and in that were mustard seeds. This is the first time I ever saw one in my life. I heard about it, preached about it, never seen it. Those little things are just about the size of the head of a pin, but lying within them is the ability and the capacity for growth.”

59s

#MountaintopOrValley

“I don't know where you are this morning. Are we on the mountain with Christ or are we in some valley of despair, in some valley of of concern, in some valley of worry and fear and trepidation? Where are we this morning? The Bible tells us as Jesus descends the mountain, the Bible tells us that the people seeing him runs to him, and they welcome him. Now keep in mind, the Bible says they were amazed. Here is where the spirit of prophecy is so helpful and so instructive. You see, the glory of the father that Jesus reflected in the mountain, there was still remnants of that glory, Ellen White says, upon Christ and his disciples that reflected that they had been with the father.”

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In the Meantime: Connecting Prayer, Power, and Purpose

Devotional

Day 1: When Mountain Glory Meets Valley Struggles

Day 2: Giftedness Without Power Is Empty Theater

Day 3: Delays Are Divine Setups for Greater Glory

Day 4: Mustard Seed Faith in a Showboat World

Day 5: Revival Starts With One Hungry Heart

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

In the Meantime: Connecting Prayer, Power, and Purpose

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