To Him Who Believes

Mark 9:23 Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.’’

What an incredible statement. If it wasn’t said by the lord Jesus Himself then it might be a little hard to swallow, but here it is in black and white for all who will receive.

Let’s look at the the entire verses surrounding this scripture and see what was going on starting with vs. 14.

14. And when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them. 15. Immediately, when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him. 16. And He asked the scribes, "What are you discussing with them?’’ 17. Then one from the multitude answered and said, "Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. 18. "And wherever he seizes him, he throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast him 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 him, "You 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.

Leading up to this event we can see the man had found some of Jesus disciples and came to them for help. The disciples were having a bit of trouble with this, and could not cast the demon out. Several things were going on. They had an audience of the Pharisees, the elite religious leaders of the day were there. The disciples were under pressure to do something with this group right there giving them a hard time. They didn’t do so well did they? When Jesus showed up the first thing He said was, in vs.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.’’ Jesus response to His disciples was to rebuke them. He was fairly blunt about it wasn’t He? He didn’t mince words, He said it straight out, and to the point, You are a faithless generation. Ouch.

In todays society people don’t respond to this type of rebuke so well. Yet, this is the way that the master is. He chastises those who He loves. He loves us enough to set us straight. I’ve seen people react very negatively to rebukes. So many times, people are offended.

Let’s learn from our mistakes and go on.

I would like to point out something while we are here in this scripture, the disciples failed to get the boy delivered didn’t they? My question is this, did this mean that it wasn’t God’s will for the boy to get delivered? We have all failed at one time or another, and some of us more times than we care to count, yet our own failures prove nothing more than we failed. It proves nothing concerning God’s will. I’ve had people tell me me that they prayed for somebody to receive healing and they didn’t get healed, therefore it wasn’t God’s will to heal them. Their whole basis of faith was based on what they saw and not what the word of God said. We always have to base our faith on the Word of God alone, and not on what we see. The disciples failure didn’t prove what God’s will was, why should it be any different with us. Lets get up and dust ourselves off, so to speak, and find the answers. The disciples later went to Jesus and said why couldn’t we cast him out?