Spiritual preparation is absolutely critical to the life of a believer and Jesus made that clear to His disciples in Mark 9:14-29. For believers who are surrendered to the will of God, spiritual disciplines set the tone for a strong relationship with Christ; disciplines such as prayer, personal devotion time, Bible study, worship, and fasting educate, strengthen, and prepare believers to endure in faith and accomplish their Christian duties. In Mark 14-29 Jesus finds His disciples disputing with a large crowd and some scribes. When the crowd saw Jesus they ran to Him and a father spoke up and shared about his son who was possessed by a demon. The man tells Jesus that His disciples had attempted to cast out his son's demon, but were unable. Jesus demonstrates patience and even expresses frustration as He questions His disciples about their inability to cast out the boy's demon. But Jesus is about to teach them and us a very important lesson about spiritual preparation. Nevertheless, before He explains why they were unable to cast out the demon, Jesus takes immediate action. The demon reacts violently when it sees Jesus as the other demons had done previously in Mark 1:25, 26 and 5:7. What is interesting about this encounter is that we find out this demon had possessed the boy since childhood. It also provided the father of the boy the opportunity to confess his need for Jesus, "...but if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us" (Mark 9:22). Jesus was this father's (and everyone else's) last and only hope. Jesus would then ask and reply with this rhetorical question to the man's confession, "...If You can?" (9:23). Jesus would then make a life-giving statement, "Everything is possible to the one who believes" (9:23) and then it happened, the father cried out to Jesus in desperation with a mixture of unbelief and faith. The father practically screams for Jesus to help his unbelief. Every genuine believer has done this in their life.
However what I want to you to see about this passage is what Jesus tells His disciples in verse 29 after they asked Him why they couldn't drive out the demon. Jesus answers them by saying that "this kind can come out by nothing but prayer (and fasting.)" This is a very interesting statement because Jesus had already given His disciples the authority to cast out demons, so why were they unsuccessful? Primarily, because they were relying on their own power. They were convinced that just because Jesus said they could do something, they could do it in their own strength. No! They could do nothing apart from God and or Christ and the strength they provide (John 15:5).
In summary, the disciples, just like believers today. Don't need to learn new techniques for casting out demons or ways to please God, they simply need to make themselves more dependent upon God and less dependent upon themselves, when it comes to actions that require faith. Believers are called to engage in spiritual preparation so when they encounter a life event they can respond in the strength of God which has filled them. Jesus didn't pray before He casts out the demon, He was already living in a constant state of communion with His Father. In fact effective prayer is a continual posture of reliance on God, not some kind of emergency procedure done during times of desperation. Unbelief disappears and faith is strengthened when spiritual preparation is a non-negotiable discipline of a believer's life.
However what I want to you to see about this passage is what Jesus tells His disciples in verse 29 after they asked Him why they couldn't drive out the demon. Jesus answers them by saying that "this kind can come out by nothing but prayer (and fasting.)" This is a very interesting statement because Jesus had already given His disciples the authority to cast out demons, so why were they unsuccessful? Primarily, because they were relying on their own power. They were convinced that just because Jesus said they could do something, they could do it in their own strength. No! They could do nothing apart from God and or Christ and the strength they provide (John 15:5).
In summary, the disciples, just like believers today. Don't need to learn new techniques for casting out demons or ways to please God, they simply need to make themselves more dependent upon God and less dependent upon themselves, when it comes to actions that require faith. Believers are called to engage in spiritual preparation so when they encounter a life event they can respond in the strength of God which has filled them. Jesus didn't pray before He casts out the demon, He was already living in a constant state of communion with His Father. In fact effective prayer is a continual posture of reliance on God, not some kind of emergency procedure done during times of desperation. Unbelief disappears and faith is strengthened when spiritual preparation is a non-negotiable discipline of a believer's life.
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