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One recent evening during an extended prayer gathering I was doing some research on a particular word and came to the story in the Gospel of Mark where the man brought his son to Jesus to be delivered of what the man determined to be a dumb (mute) spirit. As I read that passage I realized that, once again, Jesus did not answer the question being asked of him (at least as recorded in Mark's gospel), but that he again did what he often did to those men and women around him. He answered the question he wanted answered, not the question the people were asking. Jesus seemed to do this regularly as a reading of the Gospels will attest. Let's look at the entire passage and you'll see what I mean. What Jesus told us in his response is vital to us today in understanding what the Holy Spirit has been doing in the earth. When we understand that Jesus doesn't always react to our questionings, but rather goes about establishing what he wants us to know, then we will be better able to uncover the mysteries hidden tin the gold of the Word of God. In this passage I will be highlighting certain phrases – pay attention to them. Mark 9:17-29 (NKJV) Then one of the crowd answered and said, "Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. 18 And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not." 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." 20 Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. 21 So He asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood . 22 And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." 23 Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" 25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!" 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." 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. 28 And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?" 29 So He said to them, " This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting." Now, let's break the passage down. It is important to see in this story what was important to Jesus. What was he emphasizing? In this passage, the father brings the boy to Jesus saying he has a dumb (mute) spirit. This was likely what he told the disciples when they encountered the man and his son. The man complains to Jesus that Jesus' disciples could not cast him out and Jesus answered and said, "O faithless generation…." This phrase is key to understanding Jesus' concern. Jesus instructs those present to bring the boy to him whereupon he asks the father how long the child had been like this. Note that Jesus is not concerned with the demon involved, he is concerned with the child. The father then tells Jesus, "…if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. Another lesson in this passage involves the fact that compassion in and of itself is good, but it is not enough. The father was requesting that Jesus not only have compassion, but that he also help them. Compassion must extend past the emotion of the moment and bring forth a solution to the problem. Compassion that does not bring forth a solution, is not true biblical compassion – it is compassion remaining on the human level and, though one may "feel sorry" for someone, the person in need still remains in bondage. When Jesus was moved with compassion – things changed for the better! Now, back to the main lesson. Jesus replies to the man's statement of "…if you can do anything..." by basically telling the man that it isn't a question of what he can do, but rather a question of what the man can believe about the one standing before him. Jesus' ability to deal with the demon was not at issue. Jesus really expresses no concern with the demon involved at all. The father (in repentance for his faithlessness) cries out, "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief!" He threw himself on the mercy of God while at the same time he made the immediate adjustment from faithlessness – to grasping hold of faith for the situation at hand. At that moment, Jesus deals with the demon involved. Mark records, "He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!" (v.25). Notice here what Jesus dealt with. A deaf AND dumb spirit…not a dumb spirit. This spirit was apparently a different entity than a dumb (mute) spirit. The father reported only a dumb (mute) spirit. but Jesus apparently discerned a different entity and dealt with it accordingly whereupon it immediately left the boy. The disciples may have been operating on incomplete information resulting in their lack of effectiveness in dealing with this issue. Right information can bring forth right results. Once the boy is delivered Jesus lifts him up and he returns to his father. After this episode, Jesus' disciples ask him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?" (v.28) Mark's account of this event leaves us with the impression that Jesus' next statement was the answer to this question. However it was not. It is this next statement that is so vital to understanding our responsibility for what God is doing at this time in history. Jesus responds to the disciples with the following words: "This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting." (v.29) Most of us have assumed that Jesus is referring to the demon with this statement, but we need to look at another passage that details the same story that contains a vital piece of information. Let's look at Matthew 17: 19-21: Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" 20 So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief ; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. 21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting." He answered the question of the disciples in verse 19 when he said, "Because of your unbelief…" It was their unbelief that disabled them from dealing effectively with the demonization. It had nothing to do with prayer and fasting! Jesus had already sent his disciples out to heal the sick, cast out devils, cleanse the lepers, and raise the dead (see Matthew 10:7-8) – "the stuff" as revivalist Todd Bentley likes to call it. In understanding the hierarchy of the demonic realm, we need to understand that a deaf and dumb spirit is not high on the totem pole, so to speak. They are not "prince level devils". The disciples had already witnessed deliverance on many occasions up to this time. Jesus had already made it clear to them that they had authority over demons (Luke 10:19) and prayer and fasting was not a qualifier for which demons they had authority over. Remember, Jesus' disciples were not even doing a lot of prayer and fasting although John the Baptist's disciples were. A discourse about this occurs in Matthew 9:14, Mark 2:18, and Luke 5:33, so apparently fasting and prayer had nothing to do with dealing with this particular demon. Jesus issue with the adults in that setting (religious leaders included) was that they were a "faithless generation". That had not exhibited, nor built their faith to any real degree. This faithlessness, had at least in part, opened the door to this child's bondage to the deaf and dumb spirit since it had not always been a part of the child's life. Remember that Jesus focus in this story was upon the child – the next generation - the future expressers of faith to their generation. Understanding that Jesus focus never lifted from the child will help us understand just what Jesus was referring to in his final statement in this passage when he says, "This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting." The word "kind" in this passage is better rendered "generation" in the context of the passage. Read it this way: "This generation can come forth only by prayer and fasting." Do you see this? The word "kind" is the word genos which is also translated elsewhere as kindred, country, generation, nation, offspring, or stock. (G1085*) Jesus isn't referring to the demon at all! Jesus is referring to the generation that would come forth as a result of prayer and fasting that would not be faithless, but rather faith filled and would not be afraid of any demon – regardless of its name! This generation MUST come forth and even now is coming forth. Our "recipe" for its arrival has been right before us all the time, but our reliance on the translators and not the Holy Spirit to teach and unveil to us has kept this hidden. We must realize that Jesus never gave a lot of space to demons and their operations. He was concerned about the person that was demonized. We must understand that his concern was for the boy that was being raised in the midst of a faithless generation (which was apparently disturbing to Jesus). Therefore, he gives us the formula for change – "…this generation can not come out (forth), but by prayer (worship) and fasting (abstinence). This is further borne out by seeing the alternate renderings of the phrase "come out by nothing…" and seeing it as "go forth", "proceed", or "spread abroad". Obviously Jesus would not be interested in having the demons "spread abroad" by no other means than prayer and fasting, so obviously he is wanting something else "spread abroad" – a generation of young men and women who fearlessly stand forth with the Gospel and confront the faithlessness of the prior generations and the faithlessness that has infiltrated their own. Regardless of all the renderings and commentaries telling us that this statement of Jesus was talking about having to pray and fast in order to deal with a mid-level (at best) demon, the context of these passages doesn't bear this out. Jesus never placed a qualifier of prayer and fasting on effective deliverance anywhere else in the New Testament. The only qualifier according to Mark 16 was that you be a believer. (see Mark 16:17. Once we realize this, then we can see his giving us the prerequisites for seeing this new generation come forth – prayer (also rendered as worship) and fasting (abstinence). Again, Jesus was actually making statement. He wasn't actually answering the question as we have so long supposed – he was directing them to the need for a new generation that was not faithless. The time for that generation is here – now! Let's take up the instruction of Jesus and begin to do our part in birthing them onto the scene through prayer/worship and fasting. It won't come forth without it! In another passage, Jesus asks a question that awaits an answer. In Luke 18:8, he asks, "when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?" The context of this question is in a parable concerning unrelenting prayer. So – will he find faith on the earth? If we will do our part in prayer and fasting for a new generation – he will not only find faith in the earth, but an abundance of it – wrapped up in the package of a generation of faith-filled, fire-filled young men and women! The nations await! It's time to fast and pray!
*Strong's Exhaustive Concordance NKJV – New King James Version of the Bible – Thomas Nelson Publishers
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Bringing Forth a Generation