Mark 9:19

[christianyouth]

19He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me.

20And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.

21And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.

22And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.

23Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

24And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

25When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.

26And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.

27But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.

28And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out?

19 and he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting

Ok, what exactly does this verse mean? Is he telling his disciples if they prayed and fasted they could cast out this unclean spirit? Does fasting give us more power in our spiritual life? Thanks, I came across this verse this morning in Bible study, so I hope someone can clear this up for me.

 

[Helen]

"and fasting" appears to be an addition, as it is not in the earliest known manuscripts. The NIV has an interesting note on verse 29, however:

"Seems to suggest that there are different kinds of demons. The disciples apparently had taken for granted the power given to them or had come to believe that it was inherent in them. Lack of prayer indicated they had forgotten that their power over the deomonic spirits was through Jesus."

It appears to have been a learning situation for the disciples.

 

[christianyouth]

Thank You

 

[partialrapture]

yea, thanks Helen

the niv is an excellent source of God's truth.

dear christian sometimes we have strongholds in our life that need more of God's grace to overcome...

James 4:6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

May God bless his word in your heart

God's word teaches that fasting in the right way with the right motives humbles us in a Godly way

Psalms 35:13 But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom.

and when we are humble, God gives more grace to, in the example you gave in scripture, to overcome the devils that have strongholds in our life. It to me is a wonderful promise that when you need something from God and your regular prayers are not getting his attention you need to fast and pray and seek God for a blessing.