Cries from the Heart by Johann Christoph Arnold

as a mustard
seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’
and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you, but this kind
never comes out except by prayer and fasting.”
    Matt. 17:14–21
    The point of this story is not the fasting, nor even perhaps the healing, but faith. We are weak people, weak in our faith and in our
devotion to God. But how big is a mustard seed? Very small, yet it
contains everything it needs to grow. We, too, should have everything within ourselves: the deep faith that Jesus speaks of, a childlike trust in God, and the courage to face difficulties. Most important, we must have love. As Paul tells us in his First Letter to the
Corinthians, without love even faith is not enough.
    I have often been asked if it is really possible that an almighty
Being would allow one of us, small and weak as we are, to contact
him directly. Is it truly possible that he is influenced in some way
by our prayers? God is so infinitely great, and we so infinitely small,
so unworthy of his attention, that this seems unimaginable. On the
other hand, when we turn to God, we do so precisely because of
our weakness. In praying, we are asking God to do something we
cannot do, to help us because we cannot help ourselves, to change
something because we cannot change it.
    Dick, a close friend, writes:
    If God is not there, then we are alone in dealing with our feelings, and it is an impersonal, mechanistic universe; in times of
deepest need we will feel truly lost. None of us completely understands himself. If I believe I am alone, then I try to observe
myself, heal myself, manage myself, guide myself, and in the
process I split myself into observer and observed, manager and
managed, physician and patient, and so forth. This inner division
is intolerable for the soul.
    God is love. He loves the poor and humble with a preferential love.
It is his will to reveal himself to the meek, the poor in spirit. And he
has promised his living water, his spirit, to anyone who asks for it.
Only in this flowing river of God’s power can our faith be living.
Out of it, our faith dies like a fish on dry land.
    Therefore we must really believe, when we pray, that God hears
us. And we must believe that our prayers, poor as they may seem,
can change even the history of the world. That is, we must have
faith that through our pleading the breaking in of God’s kingdom –
the promised reign of justice, peace, and love – will take place.
    There is no barrier, no wall or mountain, too high for the prayer
of faith. God is above everything, and his spirit is stronger than all
other spirits. When a person’s faith, life, and deeds are in the spirit
of Jesus, his prayers will be answered. Everything we do must have
one goal: that God’s kingdom comes on earth and that his will takes
place on earth. He can then show us that he is greater than our
hearts can grasp, and greater things will happen than we would
dare to put into words. His answer will surpass our boldest
imaginings.
    Author Dale Aukerman,
a long-time friend, was diagnosed with
cancer well over two years ago. He was told there was no hope for
a cure, and he was given only a few months to live. In his own life
he has experienced the paradox of strength being given in our
frailty and weakness. He recently wrote:
    God has worked the gracious miracle of extending my life. A
great many have been praying for me. We give praise to God,
who has heard the prayers and given a gracious measure of
healing…There remains a problematic aspect. Many have
prayed fervently that I be completely healed of the cancer. Some
persons have told me they felt an assurance that such healing
would be given. I’m doing remarkably well, but the tumor in the
left lung, though shrunken, is still one and one-half inches
across. Though the grave threat continues, what stands out for
us is answered prayer and