If You Had The Faith You Could Do The Impossible

"When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before Him. "Lord, have mercy on my son," he said. "He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not heal him." "O unbelieving and perverse generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to Me." Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment. Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why couldn't we drive it out?" He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, 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. But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting." Matthew 17:14-21 (NIV)

Approximately one year earlier, Jesus had given His disciples the power to heal the sick and to cast out evil spirits and demons (Matthew 10:1 & 10:8) and they had been successful at doing so. This demon they were not able to cast out of the boy. Their faith was not sufficient, they had "so little faith." According to John MacArthur their problem was a failure to make God the object of their confidence rather than their own gifts and abilities.

Some of our problems require that we have more faith in addition to prayer and fasting. Some of our prayers are not answered because we have doubts to begin with, or because we ask for things that are not according to His will. We must believe, have faith, fast and pray, and God will answer our prayers. "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." Matthew 21:22 (NIV) "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us." 1 John 5:14 (NIV) "If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV)