September 4, 2005

• Friday 8/19/05 Pastor Don taught a Bible study on someone’s question about faith. This study blessed me so much, I am excited to share it with you.

  
  

  Mark 9:14-32 This has to do with the boy who was demon possessed, that the disciples could not heal. Jesus came down from the Mount of Transfiguration, and hears the situation. Jesus then responded Mark 9:19 “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.”

  
  

  Pastor Don pointed out that this response of Jesus seems on the surface to be tough, seems to be a rejection or insult.

  
  

  But there is a reason for this. We then went through some of the miracles that have occurred in the book of Mark, miracles the disciples were present for, and they should have had their faith formed by being present at these.

  
  

  Mark 4 – calming of the sea
  Mark 5 – casting out demons, raising dead girl
  Mark 6 – feeding 5,000, walking on the water, multiple healings, drove out demons
  Mark 7 – healing of Syro-Phoenician’s daughter, deaf and dumb healed
  Mark 8 – feeding of 4,000, healing of blind man
  Mark 9 – the transfiguration.

  
  

  Given all that the disciples had experienced with Jesus, it was surprising that they did not have more faith. Don’t forget they also went out and healed people, cast out demons before.

  
  

  So, what happened that they couldn’t cast out the demon in this boy?

  
  

  Sometimes we exercise our faith by rote, praying the same prayer that worked in the past, using the same method as before rather than following the leading of the Holy Spirit. When we don’t get the result by doing the rote method, then our faith is shaken.

  
  

  How do we build our faith for different situations, there is no magic sentence or words to say. The words we use are not where the power is, where the meaning is, it is the faith that is behind the words.

  
  

  Mark 9:19 (see above) Given these were the disciples, it seems surprising that they would be unbelieving, for all it takes is the faith as small as a mustard seed.

  
  

  We have to ask ourselves, at this specific moment do we have faith for what we are dealing with. Faith is not only quantitative but also qualitative.

  
  

  Sometimes we don’t have healing from foaming at the mouth faith, but we have faith for TB. We may not have wart removal faith.

  
  

  satan wants us to believe that we get to a point and become permanent faith giants. And when our words do not get results, it leaves us open for disillusionment, and doubt.

  
  

  But our faith is compartmentalized. We may have faith for salvation, but not for healing of the common cold.

  
  

  The church today has the theology that if you have salvation, you are good to go. (And salvation is most important).

  
  

  If you continue reading about this demon possessed boy, you see that the boy became worse after they said their words to cast out the demon. The assumed that they did not cast out the demon, for they went by the external things that they saw, the boy writhing on the ground, foaming at the mouth.

  
  

  We are to go by faith, not by SIGHT. 90% of miracles are lost during the process of healing. In the process of healing sometimes everything looks worse before it gets better. The symptoms increase, not decrease, and we give up on our healing. Think of a cut, first it becomes a scab, then new skin. Or a cold where you have tons of yucky mucus, and then a healing.

  
  

  We need a discerning spirit.

  
  

  Mark 9:20 Then they brought him (the demon possessed boy) to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.

  
  

  satan is dumb, and has only a few methods to work with. The demon did exactly for Jesus what he did for the disciples. The disciples bought the act of the foaming at the mouth, Jesus saw it for what it was, the last throws of the demon’s possession of the boy.

  
  

  If a demon does something that strong it is because they have lost. If we buy into it, we are the problem. The demon is stupid and has run out of options.

  
  

  V. 21 So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “from childhood.” Jesus is in the natural and he sought to gain information about the situation, to place where the boy was. Jesus is the God man, and the Man of God. The Holy Spirit directed Jesus. 

  
  

  Sometimes when we are working with people the Holy Spirit gives us a tidbit of information, but then we have to follow up and ask questions of the person who we are dealing with to locate where they are in faith and in the situation.

  
  

  So Jesus asked a question. He had to ascertain why the disciples had trouble, and what kind of demon he was dealing with.

  
  

  This was a boy, a child, so the demon had no legal right in the boy, because the demon was in the boy from childhood, and the boy had not as a child been of an age of accountability.

  
  

  The demon usurped possession of the physical child.

  
  

  The next question of Jesus was v.23 “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” Jesus needed the cooperation of the person who had covenant authority over the child (the father), and the father had asked Jesus to have compassion on US. Not just on the son.

  
  

  The father was repenting, asking compassion for an outpouring of the supernatural, to break satan’s bonds. This is the man’s legal right as father of the child.

  
  

  The man answered Jesus, v. 24 “Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.”

  
  

  The man’s response was enough faith for Jesus to work with. If you can get to neutral from unbelief, then God can heal you.

  
  

  Pastor Don asked when was the boy healed?

  
  

  V. 24 Jesus already knew that the boy was delivered, he was delivered in v. 17 when he came to Christ.

  
  

  In v. 18, the father was wrong. The disciples did not drive out the demon, they did not have enough faith to deliver the boy, and they yielded to satan.

  
  

  Pastor Don used an example of a woodpecker attacking a tree. Tiny holes, over time cause the tree to disintegrate. We need to identify the woodpeckers which are attacking our faith. We need to seek to gain strength to be like Christ.

  
  

  v. 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.”

  
  

  The onlookers were giving a negative report of the situation by saying the boy is dead. A negative report is worse than doubt and unbelief.

  
  

  Demons are not worth all the attention that we give them. Notice what Jesus did, v. 27 “But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.” Jesus did not speak lots of words, he just extended his hand casually and lifted up the boy. No fuss, no excitement, no concern, just gave the boy a hand up.

  
  

  v. 2 So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”

  
  

  Now the disciples knew that Jesus lived a life of prayer and fasting, he was filled at all times and ready to deal with situations.

  
  

  Some use Jesus’ teachings like a mantra, like magic. It is not the individual words, but the faith that you attach to the Words that give them power. Our faith doesn’t cast out the demon, it is the power of God. We must obey God in our situations.

  
  

  When faith is present, if you speak it and believe it, the mountain must move.

  
  

  For every demonic situation there is an answer from Heaven, but you have to find the key from Heaven. The key is in the Rhema Word of God.

  
  

  Isaiah 58:6, Mark 9:29 Fasting  destroys the work of the oppressor.

  
  

  When you fast you bring your flesh under control. So the demon cannot bring an accusing statement about something that is not under control in your flesh.

  
  

  Prayer is a power that causes faith to move., Mark 11:23-24 “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them and you will have them.”

  
  

  There was so much to learn about how faith moved in this, that when I had this Bible study, I wanted to skip the previous ones and type this one immediately, but I kept them in order. Just so you know, I will soon type Tuesday’s Bible study, but the following Friday we had a funeral, so there was no Bible study notes for that Friday.

  
  

  Heather

  
  

   

  • 11:57 am
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