Daily Devotional for Friday 7th June
It’s a spiritual thing
Satan, God’s enemy and the enemy of all who belong to Jesus, is fighting a rear-guard action. Jesus defeated him when he went to the cross and paid the price for the sins of the world. Sin and death were defeated. Jesus rose again 3 days later and sits as King of kings, and Lord of lords, in heaven at the right hand of the Father. Praise Him!
However, while satan is still on the earth, his plan is to kill, steal or destroy (John 10:10) anything and everything that God cares about. And that’s people.
When Jesus, Peter, James and John come down the mountain and get back to the rest of the disciples, they find a crowd gathered there. A man had brought his son to the disciples and asked them to cast out the demon that was afflicting his son. They couldn’t do it.
Jesus can and does.
Note that the father said that when the demon afflicts the child, it throws him into the fire or into water to try and kill the child. He cries out to Jesus, “Help us if You can! Have pity on us!”
Jesus says, “If You can? All things are possible to him who believes”. And Jesus commands the evil spirit to come out of the boy and to not enter him again. Jesus takes the boy’s hand, raises him up, and he is healed.
When His disciples question Jesus later, they ask why they couldn’t cast out the demon. Jesus said that this particular type only comes out by prayer (some manuscripts add, and fasting).
Note that this is a case of demon possession, as confirmed by Jesus, not a normal physical illness or disease.
The emphasis that Jesus places on this episode is one of prayer applied with faith. We can apply that! We can pray with faith in our Good Father God to answer any problem, be it spiritual or physical, and leave the timing of that answer with Him.
Time to reflect…
If we have a problem, spiritual or physical, we can ask God to help us with it. That’s the best way to tackle anything! Think of something right now that you’d like God’s help with, and pray about it.
Pause to pray…
Think of something right now that you’d like God’s help with, and pray about it. Then wait with trust that He will answer you at the right time.
