Mark 9:14-29    (also in Matthew 17:14-20 and Luke 9:37-43)

(14) And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them. (15) And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him. 16And he asked the scribes, What question ye with them? (17) And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; (18) and wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not. (19) He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me. (20) And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. (21) And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. (22) And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us. (23) Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. (24) And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. (25) When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. (26) And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch 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 was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out? (29) And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.

 We find this story in 3 of the Gospels. Each one tells of the casting out of the unclean spirit, but each version gives a different recap of it. They do not contradict each other, just some goes into more detail. I posted the version in Mark for there are some interesting events. When the boy is brought to Jesus, I notice that Jesus has a conversation about the boy with the dad. Jesus is getting personal with the dad and gathering as much information about the situation. We can see Jesus is giving a lesson to His disciples, that you cannot just go in treating every situation the same. Sometimes you might need specifics. We will get to that in a bit. The Fathers asks Jesus to have compassion for them. Jesus tells them, if you can believe, al things are possible. The father answers that he does belief, but to help with his unbelief, we can see the father is struggling here, for this is a big task. "I believe in Jesus, but man this situation is big”. That is how I view it. I think we can all relate to that. Jesus does cast the spirit out, and then privately the disciples ask, why thy could not cast him out. Jesus says that this kind of miracle only comes from prayer and fasting. That is why I believe Jesus was getting specifics to the situation.

  Matthew 17 (19) Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? (20) And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. (21) Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

 We need to be able to know how to approach every situation presented to us. Sometimes just believing and having faith is not enough. We need to dig in and get personal, know the specifics, be prayed and fasted up. We cannot go around and wave the sword blindly. It is almost careless, even arrogant. We need to read Ephesians 6:10-20

Matthew 19:26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

Mark 10:27 And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.

Luke 18:27

And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.

With God all things are possible.

Note: I purposely did not go into much detail about the boy with the unclean spirit. We will do a study on unclean spirits, possessed, etc. We will really look deeply on the subject. We will need to learn specifics and gather as much information as possible. It will be a great study.