It's Already Done.

And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.” Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

You can believe and have unbelief at the same time.

Two horses pulling against each other.

Smith Wigglesworth story, lady with a tumor in her stomach.

Faith is potent but it can be negated by unbelief.

Abraham considered not.

Consider not the seen things.

Listening to the sewage of this world on a regular basis. It’s flu season. The economy is in the trash. Are you this age? Then, you need to start expecting this and this to happen.

If you are going to walk in the miraculous, then you are going to have to live a different lifestyle than the average christian lives.

Mark 9:14–29 NKJV

And when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them. Immediately, when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him. And He asked the scribes, “What are you discussing with them?” Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.” He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.” Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”

Verse 17-19 - Epileptic seizure - Most churches would respond to this issue by saying, Well, we’ll pray for you. You need to go see the doctor.

Verse 23 - “If you can believe…” - Jesus puts the responsibility on the Father. Now that’s pretty insensitive.

Verse 24 - “Help my unbelief…” - Jesus says in another place “only believe.” You can believe and doubt at the same time.

Verse 29 - The fasting and praying does nothing to affect their faith. Jesus, in this entire passage, is talking about and addressing unbelief.

Most people will not let the Bible get in the way of what they believe.

Isaiah 54:17 NKJV

No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, And their righteousness is from Me,” Says the Lord.

Isaiah 54:17 NKJV

Three

Three kinds of unbelief:

Ignorance - The truth is not known.

If a person doesn’t know the truth, then you can just tell them the truth and they will believe.

Disbelief - Belief, but belief in the wrong thing.

If a person believes the wrong thing, because they were taught the wrong thing, then you have to go back and erase the wrong beliefs or disbeliefs.

Natural Unbelief - If someone gets prayed for and nothing has seemed to have changed in the natural.

There is just a natural sense of unbelief because our five senses are telling us there has been no change. Jesus had this boy who fell down after He had told the spirit to leave. It looked like it had not worked because the boy did not immediately become whole.

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