Casting Out a Demonic Half-Shaft

Suggested Reading: Mark 4:19-29

A couple years ago the half-shaft went out on my Pontiac Aztec (a car I, thankfully, no longer own). To replace it, I had to take off the tire, the wheel assembly and then remove the shaft from a specialized joint. I wrestled with that shaft for hours but it wouldn't budge. I googled the problem only to discover that removing the shaft required a special tool I did not own. After googling the tool and discovering that it cost more than I made in a week, I went out and wrestled with the shaft some more. Finally I gave up, reassembled the tire assembly, put the tire back on, and very carefully drove the vehicle to a repair shop, defeated. Normally, I can make due without the specialized tools recommended for repair jobs, but in this particular case there was simply no substitute for the right tool.

Jesus's disciples discovered something very similar when they tried to cast a demon out of a young man whose father had approached them in Jesus's absence. Though they tried, the disciples were simply incapable of casting out the demon that plagued the boy. Jesus, of course, had no problem with the demon when he tried, even though the disciples' failed attempts had threatened to undermine the father's faith. The disciples questioned why they couldn't cast out the demon themselves, and Jesus replied, “This kind can be cast out only by prayer” (Mark 9:29, NLT). In spite of the disciples' years of training at the hands of Jesus and their awareness of how he operated, they had forgotten the most vital tool at their disposal: prayer.  

Sometimes, we forget the power and the necessity of prayer. We begin to think that our Bible studies, training courses, and evangelism seminars are enough. But for many of the tasks we face, the essential, indispensable tool that we need is prayer. Prayer is essential to connect us to the power of God, and no matter how skilled we may be in other areas, no matter how knowledgeable or educated, we will inevitably face many things that simply cannot be overcome except through prayer, inviting God into the situation with the power only God has at his disposal. Without prayer, we will find ourselves pounding our heads against the walls in frustration and failure rather than rejoicing in magnificent displays of God's power.

Whatever your problems and whatever your skills, don't forget the indispensable power of prayer. Prayer is always the right tool for the job.

Only Granting Demons' Requests

Suggested Reading: Mark 5:1-20

In Mark chapter 5, something has always seemed a little odd to me. The Legion of demons that Jesus casts out of the Gerasene man makes a request of Jesus and Jesus grants it by allowing them to go into the pigs, but then he turns around and denies the request of the man who has been their victim. In Mark 5:18-20 we find this exchange, 'As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, "Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you." So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed' (NLT).

This man who had been demon-possessed begs to be with Jesus, as I would think just about any of us would. This man had lived for years as a prisoner in his own body, haunting the local cemetery and mountainside, wailing and moaning at all hours of the night and day and cutting and gashing himself with rocks so that he was probably scarred from head to toe, and Jesus had set him free from that.  Naturally, the man wanted to be with Jesus but Jesus gave him a task instead, urging him to go home to the people who had known his condition and to share with them what God had done in his life.

In that little nugget, I believe, is the secret to sharing our faith with people. I have had enough conversations and witnessing opportunities through the years to know that intellectual conversations about the Bible only amount to anything on rare occasions.  People who don't believe the Bible aren't necessarily going to be convinced of its truth because we can name prophecies that came true or because we can point to some debatable archaeological evidence or because we can rattle off someway to demonstrate that science and the Bible are compatible, even though all of those things may be good. A skeptic is going to be a skeptic regardless of the evidence we present.

But when we tell someone our own story about how God has moved in our lives, when we tell someone about how God saved us from a terrible situation, healed our broken heart, rearranged our priorities, saved our marriage, set us free from addictions, or helped us through a time of crisis, when we tell someone about the difference God has made in our own lives, it is a little harder for them to argue with us. They may ask, "Well, how do you know that was God?" They may question our interpretation of events. But most people will not look you in the eye and say, "That's just a story made up by some ancient person trying to explain their life!" When you share your own story with people, it is your story and rarely will someone tell you, "I don't believe you!"

More than that, sharing our own story stands in the tradition of the very people who were inspired by the Holy Spirit to lay out the words of the Bible. What is the Bible if not a collection of people telling their own stories about what God did in their lives and saving those stories for future generations to hear? When you feel the call of God on your life to share the Gospel with someone, God is not just concerned with you spouting facts about the Bible because anyone could do that. When God calls you to witness to someone, God is calling, at least in part, because your story is one they need to hear. God wants people to know that He is moving in your life right now and that God's power is not confined to ancient peoples in far-off lands.

You don't have to be a Bible scholar to witness, you just have to be willing to talk about what God has done for you.

The Cost of Demon-Possessed Water Softeners

Suggested Reading: Mark 5:1-20

My wife wins things all the time. Several years ago, my wife "won" a free water analysis for our home. So she set up the time and date for the free analysis and then told me I had to be there because she was going to have to work. So, I waited around for the free water analysis person to show up and was a little surprised (though I shouldn't have been) when the free water analysis turned out to be just one more way for a salesman to get in the front door of our home. The entire purpose of the free analysis was to convince me that I needed to buy their fancy, really expensive water softener for our home. The man crunched all kinds of numbers to show me that the money I would save each month would make up for the monthly payments for the machine (though his math was a little sketchy if you ask me). And then he tried to go in for the sale. 

Honestly, the man never had to convince me that we needed a water softener. If you ever took a shower in that house you would likely have agreed we needed a water softener. But, however great their product was, it simply wasn't worth what it was going to cost us. I had to turn the man down (he really was a nice guy and it wasn't his fault that the gimmicky sales department got under my skin) and he had to drive 25 miles back into town. He was thoroughly convinced that the savings would make up for the cost, but I never was.

Mark 5 tells us a similar story of some people who decided the cost of interacting with Jesus was too high for their tastes.  As the chapter starts, Jesus disembarks from a boat ride in which he had calmed a crazy bad storm and is immediately accosted by a demon-possessed man. During a brief conversation, the Legion of demons possessing the man requests permission to enter a herd of pigs rather than be sent back to the abyss and Jesus agrees. The demons leave the man -- a man they had possessed for years, forcing him to live in a graveyard, cutting and gashing himself with stones and apparently attacking people whenever they came near so that they repeatedly tried to chain him up before they realized that chains couldn't hold him -- and the demons enter the herd of around two-thousand pigs. The pigs rush down a cliff into the sea and drown and their herders rush back to town to inform the owners (and anybody else who will listen) about Jesus and the pigs.

When the people of the town come out to see what has happened, they discover this wild, demon-possessed man fully clothed (apparently this was extremely unusual), sitting down calmly and in his right mind. Seeing the miracle that had been done in freeing the man from demon possession, Jesus' power, and the cost in livestock, they began "pleading with Jesus to go away and leave them alone" (Mark 5:17 NLT). Sometimes I wonder if they had a bunch of other demon-possessed people and were scared for the rest of their livestock. Whatever the reason, they saw the miracle Jesus performed in setting this man free and decided the cost was too high and sent Jesus away.

Before we lay into them too much, though, we should consider the number of times we push Jesus away because the cost is too high. How often do we shut him out because experiencing his power in our lives costs us too much -- a relationship we can't bear to let go of, a high paying job that requires us to compromise our integrity, a harmful habit that has become part of our identity, the possibility of missing out on something we've wanted for a long time? The cost of experiencing Jesus' blessings is higher than what we want to pay so we push him away. Maybe we don't send him completely away, maybe we just keep him at arm's length, letting him stay but not close enough to break through our barriers.

What cost have you been unwilling to pay to experience the power of God in your life? What has been holding you back from letting Jesus do what he wants? Is it really worth more than experiencing God's freedom-giving power in your life?