The disciples failed. A worried father brought his son for healing and deliverance. The disciples followed Jesus’ model, which had worked before, but they failed. That’s the scene Jesus encounters immediately after the mountaintop experience of the transfiguration.
This is another long section of Mark’s gospel. Mark 9:14-29. Jesus, Peter, James, and John return to the other disciples and find them arguing with the Pharisees. We don’t know exactly what about, but the issue seems to be over how to help a boy with a deaf/mute self-destructive spirit. After the father explains, Jesus asks for the boy to be brought to Him. The demonic manifests in a convulsion. The father of the boy gives a bit more insight and adds, “But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’? Everything is possible for the one who believes.” (Mark 9:22b–23, CSB) Jesus commands the spirit to leave, and the boy is healed.
“After he had gone into the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” And he told them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer.” (Mark 9:28–29, CSB) And that’s our focus for today.
There is a tension in the Biblical text between commanding and praying, between speaking with authority for the mountain to be moved and humbly praying before God about the same mountain. The disciples followed Jesus’ example to command spirits to leave in Jesus’ name and authority. It had worked before, but not this time. They were following a formula instead of faith.
There are times to speak to the mountain, but those times must always start with humble prayer. And that is what some followers of Christ get wrong. The power is not in the formula; it is in God’s will and direction. Whenever a prayer concern arises, whether it is my own or someone else’s, the first prayer is a prayer of direction. “Lord, how shall I pray? What is your will?”
Pray first. If the Spirit says command, then speak with humble authority. If the Spirit says pray, then pray with humble submission. FYI, prayer is never the wrong answer. The point is to rely on God and not on a formula of words and deeds.
My faith doesn’t rest on positive confessions or power commands. My world doesn’t change because I spoke the right words with authority. Demons don’t flee because of me; they flee because of Jesus. God changes my world, but more often He is changing me. My faith rests in Christ and Him alone. Prayer is not meaningless repetition of words but an ongoing conversation with the Living God. We are nothing, He is everything. Want to change your world? Pray.
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