Deliverance That Comes Through Prayer & Fasting

Text: Matthew 17 :14-21

And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying,

15Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.

16And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.

17Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.

18And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.

19Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?

20And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

21Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

Introduction :

We want to look at tonight what Jesus said is a necessary commodity in order to have REAL DELIVERANCE in our lives.

Let me say at the outset:

That if we think that because we are free from the vices of sin and demonic spirits – that we have no fear of bondage - that we are not correct.

It is very possible to be free from the sins of alcohol, cigarettes, gambling and as on and so forth ….

and still be bound by DOUBT, FEAR, PRIDE, MATERIALISM, COMPLACENY and so on and so forth.

For you and I, it may not be the bondage from WITHOUT that we need to be delivered from.

It is more likely that it is the bondage from WITHIN!

I have known good Christian people who live good clean lives, yet they were bound by anger and resentment, because of wrong done against them.

I have know people who wouldn’t think of drinking a drop of alcohol or putting a cigarette to their mouth, but are very quick to light the match of gossip and contention.

It is the will of God that we be delivered from BOTH within and without!

To be totally delivered from the sins of the flesh and spirit!

I - In our text we find a man who had a son who was

possessed with a demonic spirit !

The father first took his son to the disciples who ( he

thought) they would be able to help his son !

Of course, when you read this passage you find that the disciples were not able to cast out the demonic spirit!

The man then brings his son to Jesus and He very quickly and easily delivers the man.

Later in the privacy of the house the disciples asked Jesus,

“ Why is it that we could not cast out the demonic spirit “

It is very possible and perhaps probable that the disciples thought that just because they were walking with Jesus that the power of deliverance was automatic.

If I were to assume, I would guess that they just took it for granted that they to could do the works of God, just because they were with Him and walking with Him.

( We can not just assume or take it for granted that we have

have power with God just because we are walking with God)

When it come to the power of deliverance you can not suppose –or- just think you have it !

You have to really have it and possess it!

The disciples thought they had the power of deliverance,

And when they tried to exercise what they thought they had, They could not do what they thought they could do!

Which lead to Discouragement and Frustration !

Because they thought they had failed!

We tried so hard and we were not able to do what we thought we could do .

( let me put it another way)

How many times have we been discouraged and frustrated, because we thought we had the power of deliverance in us.

But then we were not able to resist temptation when it came!

We thought we had the power to resist, but instead we found our self submitting to the temptation!

Jesus could resist temptation, because He knew He had the power of deliverance ( He was fasting and praying for 40 days)

When it comes to the power of deliverance you can not assume you have it. We better know we have it!

II – The second thing I see here with the disciples is that

( because they were only assuming that they had the