The Family Disciple Me Podcast // Discipleship Starts With a Conversation

TRANSFIGURATION PRAYER: Where Heaven Meets Here | Conclusion - "This Kind" | Convo #8

• Tosha Williams for FDM • Season 6 • Episode 17

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Heaven's glory on the mountaintop and heartbreak at the base. Few moments capture the gap between revelation and reality like the Mount of Transfiguration followed by a desperate father’s plea. We walk that path with open eyes and honest hearts, asking what changes when we take prayer off the summit and into the noise. Jesus said, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer," and this becomes more than a verse; it becomes a map for how we live, love, and lead when our strength fails and our best ideas stall.

So far, in this "TRANSFIGURATION PRAYER" collection of conversations, we have woven together seven portraits of prayer:

  • interceding like Moses 
  • believing like Elijah
  • strengthening like Peter
  • following like James
  • abiding like John, and,
  • surrendering like Jesus

These form a simple, sturdy framework for everyday devotion-driven discipleship. Now we come to the conclusion of this collection and consider the consequences of praying like this. We name the pushback that shows up when people start praying for prodigals, for light in dark places, and for courage in the face of spiritual resistance. Instead of shrinking back, we learn to press in and pray big. Each of us are encouraged to build small, consistent practices that open space for God to move: family prayers that are short and sincere, a church “encounter room,” text threads that intercede by name, and rhythms that keep our focus on God’s presence rather than our performance.

The heart of our conversation is practical and hopeful. Prayer isn’t a backup plan; it’s the bridge where heaven meets here, where glory meets grit, where transfiguration becomes transformation. If you’re carrying heavy needs, waiting on change, or longing to see faith take root in your home and community, this journey will give you language, models, and courage to keep going. Listen, share with someone who needs hope, and join us in seeking Jesus together. 

The devotion-driven discipleship guide that goes along with this conversation can be found HERE. Spend some time with Jesus following this episode to hear what HE wants to say to you through it and through the Scriptures!

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The Family Disciple Me ministry exists to catalyze devotion driven discipleship in our homes and around the world. We believe that discipleship starts with a conversation, and FDM provides free, easily-accessible, biblical resources to encourage these meaningful conversations along life's way. Sign up through our website to be "the first to know" about upcoming releases and resources (including the FDM App - coming soon!!!) You can also follow Family Disciple Me on social media.

Family Disciple Me is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit ministry, and all donations are tax deductible. More information, blogs, statement of faith and contact info can be found at familydiscipleme.org

SPEAKER_00:

When the light faded from the mountain of transfiguration, the disciples followed Jesus back down the mountain into a world that was loud, that was chaotic, that was desperate. A father was pleading for his son. The crowd was arguing, and the disciples, well, they were just helpless. And right there, after all that heavenly glory, Jesus said, This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer. That one sentence, I believe, is the hinge between the mountain and the mission. You see, prayer wasn't meant to stay up on the mountain. Prayer was meant to move into real life below. Hi, my name is Tasha Williams. Welcome to the Family Disciple Me Ministry and this final conversation in our collection called Transfiguration Prayer, where heaven meets here. And I have to say, honestly, judging by the comments that we've gotten on our Family Disciple Me social Media during this conversation collection, well, we've gotten a lot of nasty comments. I really think that the enemy has been bothered by the prayers that have been uplifted during this particular series. And that, my friends, well, it just fires me up all the more. Because here's the thing if our prayers are bothering the principalities, the powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world, then I believe that we are doing something right. So in this final conversation in this collection, we're going to sum it all up and we're going to talk about this kind of prayers. Now, over the past seven conversations, we've walked through some of Scripture's most powerful prayer lives. Each one of the men on the mountain of transfiguration gives us a different glimpse into what it looks like when heaven meets here. Moses, if you'll remember, Moses taught us to intercede, standing in the gap between God and man. Elijah, he taught us to believe, trusting God to do the more, the impossible. Peter taught us to strengthen, to seek Jesus' strength in our weakness, and then to turn around and strengthen others. And then there was the disciple James, who taught us to follow, staying close to Jesus and following him with a life that goes and lives beyond words. And then we looked at the beloved disciple John, who gives us such an amazing example of how to abide with Jesus. And then, of course, we looked at Jesus himself, who teaches us so many things about prayer. But in particular, we looked at Jesus and how his prayer life teaches us to surrender. I believe that together, each of these lives forms a more complete picture of transfiguration prayer, a prayer life that changes us from the inside out so that God begins then to work through us in ever more powerful ways. So we've looked at the lives of each of these persons who were on the mountain of transfiguration. We've taken a glimpse at each of their stories. We've talked about what they learned, what they've experienced, and what we can learn from their stories. But today I want us to re-enter that story from the mountain of transfiguration as Jesus and the three disciples, Peter, James, and John, reached the bottom of the mountain. The truth is, when they stepped out of those clouds of God's presence on the mountain of transfiguration, well, they stepped into the chaos of God's people and of so many other people who maybe didn't even know God yet. And when they got down to the base of the mountain, well, they faced a battle, actually multiple battles, that they couldn't win on their own. They tried everything they knew, but nothing worked. That feels a little bit like my life right now. And maybe that seems like something that tells a bit of your story too. You've had these amazing moments in prayer with God, perhaps even through this conversation collection, and yet you still have these scenarios in the reality of your life where you're facing battles where you can't win, you're facing issues that you can't solve, and you've tried everything you know, but nothing is working. And that's when Jesus revealed the key, which is actually our key verse for this conversation collection. When he said, This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer. When Jesus said this, it is as if he said, disciples, you saw my glory, you encountered my presence, but now you must depend not on your own power, but my power. You see, the transfiguration, it wasn't just an escape from this world, it was preparation for it. Jesus didn't show his disciples the light so that they could just stay up on that mountain. He showed them that light so that they could carry it down into the darkness of the world below. And I'm convinced the same is true for us as Christ followers. The mountaintop moments when God reveals himself to us in prayer. Well, I believe those moments are meant to prepare us for the valleys where our faith must be lived out. Some things, shall we say, this kind of things can only be changed by prayer. So maybe in this conversation collection, you've learned to pray in some new ways. Maybe you've learned to intercede just a little bit more, like Moses. Maybe you've learned to believe in greater ways, like Elijah. Maybe you have felt strengthened in new ways, like Peter, even after he messed up, how God strengthened him and renewed him and gave him a new platform for ministry and faith lived out. Maybe in this conversation collection, you've learned to follow Jesus in prayer that speaks even louder than the words that you say. Maybe you've been challenged in a new way to pray through abiding with Jesus like John, or maybe this conversation collection has simply challenged you to learn to pray and surrender more like Jesus. I don't know how this collection has affected you, but I know for me, in each of my days, as I've walked through each of these conversations, both in preparing them and writing them and then in living them out. For me, it's been almost a daily thing where I go through each of these lives. I want to pray more like Moses. I want to pray more like Elijah. I want to pray more like Peter and James and John. And of course, I want to pray more like Jesus. And as this grid, this pathway has been lit by the lives of the examples of these men. I have been challenged. I have been changed. And I hope that you have too. And from here, the call is simple to continue to pray this way in our daily lives. When the needs we face feel oh, so heavy, God wants us to pray. When the challenges that we face are beyond our control. Got a few of those, right? We pray. When we're in the midst of a valley and the light feels so far away, we pray. We pray like never before because here's what we've learned in this collection of conversations. Here's what I've learned. Prayer is not a backup plan. It is the bridge between heaven and here. It's where heaven meets here. It's how the glory of God meets the grit of everyday life. It's how transfiguration meets our transformation. Oh, friend, as we close this conversation series, I want to send you out with this inspiration, with this blessing, with this thought. The mountain was never the destination. It was the encounter. It was the place where God changes us on a regular basis as we meet with him on those mountaintop moments, wherever that is, in prayer. And now he sends us out into the mission waiting below. So, friends, the enemy has been bothered by the way that we've begun to pray in this conversation collection. I've seen it echoed on social media. I've seen the enemy push back. I've seen the vulgarity. I've seen the language. I've seen the attack. And that tells me that the gates of hell are being disturbed. And I don't know about you, but I kind of like that. So let's keep charging the enemy to bring back the prodigals. Let's keep charging the powers of darkness to bring the light to those places where God's sending us. Let's keep praying like never before, so that those who are blinded by the enemy right now will begin to see God's face. Friends, let's pray with the humility of Moses, who said, God, now show me your glory. Let's pray with the courage of Elijah. He wasn't perfect. He had his moment. Scripture tells us that. And yet he had such boldness and courage when he called out to God. Let's pray with the resilience of Peter because we mess up along the way. We don't get it right all the time. We have to come back to Jesus with repentance and make sure that our own hearts are right. And yet he says, When I strengthen you, I want you to go out and strengthen others. Oh, let's pray with the obedience of James, who had God's transformative power in his life, so much so that he became a prayer warrior in Scripture, even to the point of death following Jesus. Let's pray with the tenderness and the abiding, the gentle love that was transformed by God, that prayer life of John, who teaches us to abide. And let's every day, every step of the way, whether we're on the mountain or we're on mission, let's pray with the surrender like Jesus. Let's pray until heaven meets the needs in front of us. And as we go, for all of us, let's continue to invite others to come along with us, our families, whether our families are little people who are with us in our homes, living in our houses, riding in our vehicles and carpool, or sitting in our vehicles while we're waiting for the older siblings, whether it's our older kids who come home for a meal, those older kids that we can still speak Jesus into, who have walked away from him, who are prodigals. Let's continue to invite others into the journey with us. Maybe it's our families at home, our extended families, our adult kids, our grandkids. Maybe it's our friends, the people that God has placed in our lives, these people who matter so much to us, people that we can say, come do this prayer journey with me. God has given us a mission and he wants us to meet with him on the mountain. I have friends like that. I hope that you do, that you're inspired to do that. Let's invite others to join us in our community. I know that in this season, I've been inviting and challenging my church to pray like never before. I've scoured our church building for a new room that we're calling the encounter room. And I'm so excited about what God's going to do in us and through us with that. I don't know what it looks like for you to invite others, but don't leave this moment of transfiguration prayer until you lean into your community to help heaven meet here in a new way, there as well. Teach them how to pray. Model to them what it looks like to pray. Show them what devotion-driven discipleship looks like. And then together, let's carry on this mission that we call seek him, speak him, bring that light where we encounter God on the mountain into the valleys and the darkness of our world below as we live out our mission. Because Jesus said, This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer. So, friends, let's take him at his word. Let's pray like never before because he promises he still lets heaven meet here in our lives today. Oh, friend, go with God, be encouraged, be challenged, be blessed. You've been listening to the Family Disciple Me Ministry in this conversation collection. And I am so honored that you journeyed through this series with me. Now, if this conversation collection has encouraged you, has challenged you, has inspired you at all, I would ask you to share it with someone else and then go through the journey of transfiguration prayer with them. Because here's what I know: God has so much to say to us through his word. Don't take my word for it. Get into the word yourself and go the next level deeper with someone else as you meet with God and make him known. That's what devotion-driven discipleship looks like. We have so many more conversation collections available and coming. So I look forward to seeing you again in this journey of devotion-driven discipleship. But for right now, remember discipleship starts with a conversation. So go seek him, speak him, and watch what God is going to do through you and your prayers and your life of faith today. Go with God, friend.