Faith & Fasting
Mathew 17:14-21
Matthew 17:20 (NIV)
if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."
Mark 11:22-23 (NIV)
Have faith in God," Jesus answered. "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.
Luke 17:6 (NIV)
"If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you.
1st Human Weakness
Matthew 17:14-15 (ESV)
And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, said, "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water.
Matthew 17:16 (ESV)
And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him."
Mark 6:7 (ESV)
And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.
Mark 6:13a (ESV)
And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.
2nd Divine Power
Matthew 17:17 (ESV)
And Jesus answered, "O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me."
Mark 9:20-22
So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the boy's father, "How long has he been like this?" "From childhood," he answered. "It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us."
Mark 9:23 (NIV)
"'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes."
Matthew 17:18 (ESV)
And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly.
Mark 9:25-27 (NIV)
When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil spirit. "You deaf and mute spirit," he said, "I command you, come out of him and never enter him again." The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, "He's dead." But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.
3rd Faith & Fasting
Matthew 17:19 (ESV)
Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?"
Matthew 17:20a (ESV)
He said to them, "Because of your little faith.
The mistake with many is that they confuse Christ’s imparted faith with their mental ability to believe. To sit down and repeat, “I am healed--I am healed--I am healed,” is not only unscriptural but spiritually dangerous. I admit that such a spiritually unsound method might help a few neurotics, but it would never remove the mountain that the Master said faith would.
Isn’t it evident that when we have prayed what we thought was the prayer of faith and nothing happened, it must be that what we thought was faith was not faith at all? Did Jesus say that “faith as a grain of mustard seed” would work sometimes and not at others? Read the text again. His declaration was plain and specific. There was nothing ambiguous about it. It was a clear statement of fact from the lips of the eternal God Himself--and who can speak with greater authority than He can?
Whenever and wherever this faith is active, we won’t be standing around poor, sick folks hour after hour, rebuking, commanding, struggling, and pleading as in the past. When Christ’s faith is imparted, the storm dies down and there’s peace in the soul. The only sound is the voice of thanksgiving and praise. That’s when we realize that it wasn’t our ability to believe that made the sickness go, but that Christ’s faith was given. Then it will be morning, glorious morning in our souls.
~Charles S. Price, The Real Faith for Healing
Matthew 17:20b (ESV)
For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you."
Matthew 17:20b (ESV)
For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you."
Matthew 17:21 (ESV)
But this kind never comes out except by prayer and fasting.
Mark 9:29 (NIV)
He replied, "This kind can come out only by prayer and fasting.
