Hammer on Anvil '

A lot of us are familiar with this story in chapter 9 of Mark's gospel. A frantic father asks the disciples to cast an "impure spirit" out of his son, but they fail.

Jesus, having just returned from the mount of transfiguration, hears people arguing, and walks over to find out what the fuss is about.

The boy's father responds: "Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not."

Jesus plainly expresses exasperation, as if He can't believe the disciples could have failed at such a simple task. Upon merely SEEING Jesus, the spirit convulses the boy.  When Jesus commands it to leave, it does. Period.

By now the disciples are flummoxed, and I would imagine a bit embarrassed. After Jesus goes indoors, they follow Him and ask Him privately why they couldn't drive out the unclean spirit. Jesus responds simply, "This kind can come out only by prayer" (later manuscripts add "and fasting").

This seems like a straightforward answer, but what does it mean for us as followers of Jesus?

I think this passage points to the critical truth that we must constantly abide in Christ if we hope to be productive children in the kingdom of God. Maybe the disciples thought that since they simply walked with Jesus, they could touch whomever they wanted, and healing or deliverance would come instantly. I imagine when they first started out, this gave them a bit of a rush. 

What Jesus seems to be stressing to His disciples here is their responsibility to maintain constant communication with the Father. Jesus himself on more than one occasion rose in the middle of the night to pray. He knew He must be prepared for whatever God might ask Him to do. He knew that the business of healing and casting out demons required gaining a certain POSITION with God. Even though He was God's Son, He zealously guarded this time of communion with His Father. 

If our Savior needed protracted times of prayer in order to live and move in His Father's will, can you imagine how much greater OUR need is to do the same? It is not enough to simply say you are a Christ follower. The question is, do you produce fruit in keeping with repentance (Matthew 3:8)? That's what John the Baptist asked the Pharisees and Sadducees who came to the place John was baptizing. He knew their hearts; he knew they were only coming to check him out to see if he was adhering to all their rules. Never known for his social skills, John began the conversation by calling them a brood of vipers.

Are we like the Pharisees and Sadducees? Are appearances more important to us than the condition of our hearts? We can pretend all day long that we're great Christians who do and say all the "right things," but we mustn't be deceived -- our Father in heaven knows the condition of our hearts. We may as well come clean with Him in genuine repentance, and "do the things that show you have really changed your hearts and lives" (that's how the New Century Version translates it).

Dear brothers and sisters, it is not enough to attend church regularly and teach kids' church or play in the worship band. Our entire lives are to be living sacrifices unto God every day. We must deny our flesh daily. We must stop entertaining ourselves to death with television and video games and Facebook and sports, and instead cry out to God on behalf of the people in this world who desperately need Him, and desperately need us to be the followers He wants us to be. 

Jesus commissioned us to not only preach the gospel, but to heal the sick and cast out demons and raise the dead. The time is now.