Ended in One EncounterNäide

Day 1: The Power of One Encounter

In physics, a phase transition occurs when a substance undergoes a sudden and dramatic change. Water boiling into steam or freezing into ice are examples. These changes happen in an instant, but only after a period of buildup—consistent heating or cooling that brings the substance to its critical point. Life is often the same. Long seasons of pain, struggle, or stagnation can suddenly shift when we reach a moment of divine intervention. What once seemed permanent can be transformed in a single encounter with God.

Sometimes, we misread the long wait as abandonment. We assume the persistence of the problem means it is beyond fixing. But what if the duration of the problem isn’t a reflection of God’s power, but of His timing? What if the delay is actually preparation for the moment when He steps in and everything changes?

This is the heart of Mark 9:14–29. A desperate father brings his son to Jesus, explaining that his son has been afflicted by a spirit since childhood. This isn’t a new issue. The spirit has caused dangerous, life-threatening episodes for years. To make matters worse, the disciples had already attempted to cast it out—and failed. Imagine the heartbreak. Imagine the discouragement of another disappointment layered on top of years of suffering.

But then Jesus shows up.

He doesn’t just speak to the father’s faith, He commands the spirit to leave, and it does. What had persisted for most of the boy’s life is resolved in a matter of minutes. One encounter with Jesus accomplished what years of effort could not.

That’s the kind of breakthrough we need to believe for. Problems that have lingered for years are not beyond God’s reach. Trauma that has settled into the soul can still be uprooted. Lifelong struggles can still bow to the authority of Christ. Maybe this year, we should shift our prayer from asking for slow progress to seeking defining moments with God.

Because those things that have endured with such intensity can be the subject of instantaneous improvement.