17 Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. 18 And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.” But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 19 He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.” 20 Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.
21 So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?”
And he said, “From childhood. 22 And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” 25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” 26 Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. 28 And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately,
“Why could we not cast it out?”
29 So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”—Mark 9:17-29
Beloved, without faith the Bible says, it is impossible to please God. Jesus can do anything. He asks us to do one thing...believe. Why is that so difficult? I so want to be the one who keeps the faith...whose heart is steadfast and unwavering. I have often wondered how one gets to that point. Not by might, not by power but by my Spirit says the Lord. The answer is in abiding.
He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.—Mark 9:19
20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. 21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”—Matthew 17:20-21
Why did the nine disciples fail to cast out the demon? Perhaps, while Jesus was away with the other disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration they had neglected to spend time drawing near God. Perhaps they got discouraged and grieved that Jesus hadn’t brought them with Him and walked away from Him a bit in their hearts. Whatever it was, the answer is always to stay with Jesus. To abide in His love and believe His promises even and especially when it is hard. His grace is always sufficient and in our weakness, He is strong. Abraham comes to mind…
19 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.—Romans 4:19-21
Oh, Father...give me a living faith...a faith that though small is growing daily by my nearness to you. May I be so filled with Your fullness that You would dominate my every thought and my every action.
Grant me, according to the riches of Your glory, to be strengthened with might through Your Spirit in my inner man, that Christ may dwell in my heart through FAITH; that I, being rooted and grounded in love, might be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and heigh of Your love which passes knowledge. Fill me with the fullness of You!
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you[b] will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.—John 15:4-8
