Only By Prayer and Fasting
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?” - Isaiah 58:6
Mark tells a story in his version of the Gospel about an argument the disciples were having with the scribes one day, which got pretty heated. When Jesus approached them and asked what they were arguing about, a man in the crowd proceeded to tell Jesus that he had brought his epileptic son to them to see if they could help deliver him from his seizures.
The man said, my son “has a spirit that makes him unable to speak, and whenever it seizes him, it dashes him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid, and I asked your disciples to cast it out, but they could not do so.”
Jesus then ministers to the boy and in front of the entire crowd, He casts the unclean spirit out of the child. A bit humiliated that they, Jesus’ handpicked assistants, were not able to do what Jesus did, they asked him later that night, “Why weren’t we able to do what you did? We’ve been around you for a long time. We know all the rites, rules, and rituals of your ministry. Why were we unable to cast the evil spirit out of the boy?”
Jesus responded as if shaking his head, “Oh guys, this demon is not like the others. This is not one of those polite, bourgeois demons that you can cast out based upon your credentials, your intellect, or your degrees. Those things are nice, but this demon here, this kind only comes out by prayer and fasting.”
Jesus was trying to teach them then and us now that there is spiritual power that you can’t gain access to simply because of church attendance, religious affiliation, or because you have a good heart. There are some challenges, difficulties, and other obstacles that can only be conquered by emptying yourself of that which is natural and immersing yourself into that which is supernatural!
Mark tells a story in his version of the Gospel about an argument the disciples were having with the scribes one day, which got pretty heated. When Jesus approached them and asked what they were arguing about, a man in the crowd proceeded to tell Jesus that he had brought his epileptic son to them to see if they could help deliver him from his seizures.
The man said, my son “has a spirit that makes him unable to speak, and whenever it seizes him, it dashes him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid, and I asked your disciples to cast it out, but they could not do so.”
Jesus then ministers to the boy and in front of the entire crowd, He casts the unclean spirit out of the child. A bit humiliated that they, Jesus’ handpicked assistants, were not able to do what Jesus did, they asked him later that night, “Why weren’t we able to do what you did? We’ve been around you for a long time. We know all the rites, rules, and rituals of your ministry. Why were we unable to cast the evil spirit out of the boy?”
Jesus responded as if shaking his head, “Oh guys, this demon is not like the others. This is not one of those polite, bourgeois demons that you can cast out based upon your credentials, your intellect, or your degrees. Those things are nice, but this demon here, this kind only comes out by prayer and fasting.”
Jesus was trying to teach them then and us now that there is spiritual power that you can’t gain access to simply because of church attendance, religious affiliation, or because you have a good heart. There are some challenges, difficulties, and other obstacles that can only be conquered by emptying yourself of that which is natural and immersing yourself into that which is supernatural!
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