“One of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, ‘Teacher, I brought my son so you could heal him. He is possessed by an evil spirit that won’t let him talk. And whenever this spirit seizes him, it throws him violently to the ground. Then he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn’t do it.
Jesus said to them, ‘You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.’
So they brought the boy. But when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the child into a violent convulsion, and he fell to the ground, writhing and foaming at the mouth.
‘How long has this been happening?’ Jesus asked the boy’s father.
He replied, ‘Since he was a little boy. The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.”
I believe in this story, Jesus was illustrating something about faith. The father tells Jesus that the demon had been torturing his son “since he was a little boy.” This tells me it probably had been happening for more than a few years. I know that if you have been in any kind of adverse situation for a long period of time, or are perhaps in the midst of one now…you can relate! It seems as though the more time goes by without any change, the harder and harder it gets to believe the situation can be resolved.
“What do you mean, ‘If I can,’ Jesus asked. ‘Anything is possible if a person believes.’
The father instantly cried out, ‘I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”
The father asks Jesus to help him, if he can. Jesus tells him that anything is possible if he believes. Jesus’ words don’t mean we can automatically or instantly obtain anything we want just by the power of positive thinking…Jesus meant that anything is possible if we believe, because nothing is impossible with God. Faith isn’t magic!
“Help me overcome my unbelief,” says the Father. Faith is a gift from God ~ “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9
It’s a constant process of daily renewing our trust in Jesus. I believe this story also shows us that the battle with Satan is a difficult, on-going struggle. So we need all the faith we can get.
“When Jesus saw that the crowd of onlookers was growing, he rebuked the evil spirit. ‘Listen, you spirit that makes this boy unable to hear and speak,’ he said, ‘I command you to come out of this child and never enter him again!’
Then the spirit screamed and threw the boy into another violent convulsion and left him. The boy appeared to be dead. A murmur ran through the crowd as people said, ‘He’s dead.’ But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet, and he stood up.
Afterward, when Jesus was alone in the house with his disciples, they asked him, ‘why couldn’t we cast out that evil spirit?’
Jesus replied, ‘This kind can be cast out only by prayer.” * Some manuscripts read by prayer and fasting.
Prayer unlocks faith. In order for our prayers to be effective, we need to have an attitude of complete dependence and confidence in God. If we humbly invite God to fill us with faith and power as we pray, something supernatural happens…we’re able to take up that Sword of Faith, and we can stand on His Word. We’ll be sure that His promises will come to pass ~ but we need to remember that they will come to pass in His time. Anything ~ Anything is possible with God!