If I Can?

Mark 9:14-29 (NKJV)

Today, as we look to Mark 9 in the story about the demon-possessed boy, we learn how to put some possibilities into our prayers concerning what may seem impossible. What we learn in these scriptures, we also find in the testimony of Mary Beth Wheat as she prayed for her husband to be able to not work on Sundays and to be able to come to church as a family. A prayer that she not only prayed herself but a prayer that her children prayed and her church family as well.

In the scriptures, we see that the demon-possessed boy had been brought to the disciples for healing, but they were unsuccessful. The possibilities of change for this boy looked impossible until the father asked Jesus to do something, and he used the words “If You Can?”. Jesus responded with, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

The father asked Jesus “if you can,” but Jesus reminded the father, it’s not if I can do it, it’s if you can believe it.

Here’s what we learn for us to make the impossible, possible:

  1. If I can have more faith. & believe, it can be possible.
    Jesus addressed them as a faithless generation. Maybe I can make the impossible possible if I have more faith and believe in God’s ability to make it happen.
  2. If I can have more desperation & anticipation, it can be possible.
    The scriptures tell us that the people came running to Jesus. There was a sense of desperation and anticipation in the people that caused them to run to Him. Maybe I can make the impossible if I have more desperation and anticipation in God’s ability to make it happen.
  3. If I can have more resistance & urgency, it can be possible. Jesus asked how long the boy had been this way and his father said since he was a child. When Jesus saw the people running, He immediately rebuked the demon out. This boy had dealt with this demon for a long time. Isn’t it time we said enough is enough and resist the devil with urgency?
  4. If I can have more intensity & commitment, it can be possible.
    Jesus said that this kind only comes out through prayer and fasting. The fasting added more intensity and commitment to making the impossible to become possible.

When Jesus got involved, the demons couldn’t handle it anymore. Isn’t it time that you rebuked some demons and defeats out of your life?