The Boy with the Unclean Spirit is the child at the foot of the mountain whom the disciples could not free.
Teacher,
I brought my son to You,
for he has a spirit that makes him mute.
It seizes him,
throws him down,
he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid.
I asked Your disciples to cast it out,
and they were not able.
O faithless generation,
how long am I to be with you?
Bring him to Me.
If You can!
All things are possible for one who believes.
I believe; help my unbelief!
You mute and deaf spirit,
I command you,
come out of him and never enter him again.
This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.
They are coming down from the transfiguration. Glory is still on three faces. The other nine are in an argument with scribes over a boy they could not help. From childhood, the father says. It has thrown him into fire and water to destroy him. If You can do anything, have compassion. Jesus turns the if: If you can! Faith is the issue now, not His inventory. The father’s sentence is the most honest prayer in the chapter: I believe; help my unbelief. The crowd runs. He rebukes the spirit by name as mute and deaf, commands it out, and adds never enter him again. The boy is left like a corpse. He is dead, they say. Jesus takes him by the hand and lifts him, as He lifted a fevered woman and a dead girl. In the house the disciples ask why they failed. This kind—by prayer. Some manuscripts add and fasting. They had been given authority earlier. They had not brought this hour to the Father. A mountain of vision does not replace a valley of dependence. The boy lives. The lesson is not that some demons are celebrity cases. It is that unbelief and prayerless ministry meet their limit, and the Lord does not.
I asked Your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able. Bring him to Me.
If You can do anything, have compassion. If you can! All things are possible for one who believes.
I believe; help my unbelief!
You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.
This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.
He took him by the hand and lifted him, and he arose.
Do not camp on the mountain and fail in the crowd. Bring the child to Jesus. Tell the truth about your faith. Pray. The Many and the one both leave when He speaks. Give the boy back to his father. Apart from Him you can do nothing.
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