Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Mark 9

"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.” v.19

Read chapter 9.
I want to quote my friend on this verse:
"Earlier, when Christ had sent them out to preach the kingdom of God, He had given them power to cast out unclean spirits (Mark 6:7.)  Therefore, every time they had attempted to cast one out, it had been an act of faith on their part.  Once they returned to the Lord, however, their commission to preach and work miracles ended, and the power to cast out demons returned to the Lord Who gave it.  Therefore, when they attempted this casting out, they had no faith, since the word that they had had faith in had now expired.  This left them to attempt to cast out the demon in their own power, which they could not do.  They should have known that they were no longer authorized to cast out demons, but they didn’t consider this.  Perhaps they thought that the power was their right rather than a privilege given them by the Lord.  They should have waited for the Lord to work the miracle since He was the only One authorized to do so at this time, but they did not.  Thus this was their lack of faith.  We can learn from this as well.  Do we have a commission to cast out demons today?  Or are we trying to work from an expired commission when we try to do so?  Not all belief counts as faith, if it is belief in something that is no longer in effect.  It did not work for these men, and it would not work for us today either." (Nathan Johnson)

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