28 They went right into the house where he was staying, and Jesus asked them, "Do you believe I can make you see?"

   "Yes, Lord," they told him, "we do."

 29 Then he touched their eyes and said, "Because of your faith, it will happen." 30 Then their eyes were opened, and they could see! Jesus sternly warned them, "Don’t tell anyone about this." 31 But instead, they went out and spread his fame all over the region.

 32 When they left, a demon-possessed man who couldn’t speak was brought to Jesus. 33 So Jesus cast out the demon, and then the man began to speak. The crowds were amazed. "Nothing like this has ever happened in Israel!" they exclaimed.

OBSERVATION Discernment was a very important part of the ministry of Jesus. In one case (the blind men) Jesus perceived that faith was the essential issue and then, right after, He sensed that the problem that may have looked like dumbness was really an issue of demon possession. We, too often in ministry, have only one thing that we think about. Some pray as though every problem is demon inspired. Most of us, myself included, pray at though there is no other issues besides simply God's intervention. In Jesus' ministry we can see that the problem can be demonic, sin or require a different approach than most of us would ever take--how many of us would put mud in a person's eyes?

If we are going to be effective like Jesus was, we need to ask for the kind of ministerial discernment that He had.

APPLICATION/CONFESSION I need to be open to discerning what the real cause of people's needs when I go to pray for them. I need to listen more closely to the Holy Spirit and have Him tell me what is going on and how to approach it in prayer.

PRAYER Lord help me to hear your Holy Spirit more clearly. Free me from the "same old"--simply praying like I always have and to be open to your infinite, and always new way of approaching praying for people's need. I want to be effective not comfortable.