When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and is very ill; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. I brought him to your disciples, and they could not cure him.” And Jesus answered and said, “You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to me.” And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured at once. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not drive it out?” And He said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
The disciples were a select group of men chosen by Jesus to follow Him and learn from Him in His earthly ministry. Even in His midst, they were known for their fragile faith. It seems that they largely depended on their Master to bail them out for the times that they came up short. In these passages, Jesus is pointing out that to have spiritual power; you need to exercise spiritual disciplines. The discipline of prayer and fasting builds the inner man and reduces the dependence on the flesh which has no spiritual power as it opposes the power of the spirit. Even Jesus uses them because his refusal to fight the good fights in the flesh, and places his dependence on God.
Daily Prayer: Lord Jesus, in our life and in our time, raise up our consciousness on these same practices to live out our spiritual life. By doing so, increase our faith so that we bypass the flesh and work according to your good will. In Your Holy Name I pray Amen.
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