Prayers to Increase Faith (Mark 9:24)

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Prayers to Increase Faith (Mark 9:24)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, July 19, 2026

We have been preaching on prayer. We have been focusing on prayer. Do we come to God as needy people? Are we honest with God?

Today, we look at a passage in which a father needed help. He was desperate. He was also honest. He was honest that he needed an increase in faith. Today, and in two weeks we will be talking about prayers for an increase in faith.

Today, my theme is:

Jesus heals and casts a demon out of a boy, despite his father’s unbelief.

My application: Be honest with God. Ask the Lord to increase our faith.

  1. What is the context?
    1. Jesus has just been transfigured before Peter, James, and John.
    2. We see this in Mark 9:1-13.
    3. Now, they come down from the mountain.
  2. The scribes are arguing with a crowd (Mark 9:14-16).
    1. Mark 9:14–16 (ESV)
    2. 14 And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. 15 And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. 16 And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?”
    3. Imagine this: they come down from the mountain and see scribes arguing with the disciples.
    4. It seems that they are arguing with the other nine disciples.
    5. Who were the scribes? They were specialists in the law of Moses.[1]
    6. Most scribes did not claim the power to work miracles, in contrast to Jesus’ disciples (6:12–13). Teachers of the law knew the Bible better than the disciples did, so if the disciples could not demonstrate God’s power in other ways, they risked their credibility.[2]
    7. We will see; they are arguing about how to cast this demon out of the boy.
    8. Then, Jesus comes down from the mountain, so they all rush towards Him.
    9. Of course, Jesus asks what they are arguing about (Mark 9:16).
    10. I wonder: did Jesus and the disciples go up the mountain on the same trail they came down? Then, they come down the mountain and see these people gathered, discussing?
    11. Was this a lively discussion?
    12. Where was this demon-possessed boy? Was he nearby? What condition was he in?
    13. Many lessons are here. (1) We see that demons are real beings, not simply mythological creatures. Jesus clearly believes in the demonic. (2) Demons desire to inflict pain and death. (3) Demons are capable of inflicting physical suffering. This boy had symptoms resembling epilepsy (Matt 17:15). (4) In our own strength we are helpless against the supernatural powers of the demonic. (5) Spiritual victories in the past (cf. Mark 6:7–13) are no guarantee we will be victorious today, especially when we operate with faith in ourselves rather than in Christ. (6) When all human efforts have been exhausted, we can turn to Jesus. Counter to our sinfulness and weakness, He is where we should turn from the start.[3]
    14. Dr. Jeremiah Johnston shares:
    15. Sometimes mental illness and demon possession go hand in hand, the former opening up the possibility of the latter, or the latter causing the former. We may have an example of this in the case of the boy and his distraught father (see Matthew 17:14–20; Mark 9:14–27; Luke 9:37–43). The father tells Jesus, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a dumb spirit; and wherever it seizes him, it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth” (Mark 9:17–18). Should the reference to a “dumb” or “mute spirit” be understood as a sentient being? Or is it a condition? In Matthew’s account (17:15), a Greek word that means “moon-struck” is used. But at the end of the story, Matthew (like Mark) says Jesus spoke and the “demon” came out of the boy. Luke says Jesus “rebuked the unclean spirit” (Luke 9:42). In the case of the tormented boy, we do not know which happened first—the demon or the illness—but Jesus drove out the one and healed the other. (In all three gospel accounts the evil spirit is driven out, then the boy is healed.)[4]
    16. Dr. Johnston seems to be stating that there was both a mental health issue and a demon possession.
    17. One source shares: The symptoms were similar to epilepsy, but Mark says they were the result of unclean spirits (9:17, 20, 25).[5]
    18. IVP BBC NT: The possessed person’s lack of control over his own motor responses is paralleled by examples of spirit possession in many cultures through history and is attested in anthropological studies of spirit possession today. Some writers have noted parallels between this form of demonized activity and epileptic behavior (though epilepsy and demonic possession are distinguished in Mt 4:24); the parallels could indicate that the spirit gained access to the same centers in the brain where seizures could also be induced by other means.[6]
  3. The demon-possessed boy (Mark 9:17-24).
    1. Mark 9:17–18 (ESV)
    2. 17 And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. 18 And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.”
    3. Now, the boy’s father speaks. He is within the crowd.
    4. How big is this crowd? We don’t know.
    5. He addresses Jesus as “teacher.”
    6. This man’s son has a “spirit” that makes him mute.
    7. This is obviously a demonic spirit.
    8. An angelic spirit would not do harm to a boy.
    9. Verse 18, Mark 9:18, shows that this demonic spirit seizes him. It makes him throw himself down, grind his teeth, and become rigid.
    10. This is a horrible situation.
    11. What was this like for this father?
    12. The man loves his son, and he is helpless.
    13. The disciples were asked to cast the demon out and they couldn’t do it.
  4. Jesus responds.
    1. Mark 9:19–23 (ESV)
    2. 19 And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” 20 And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. 21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.”
    3. We see Jesus respond.
    4. We see Jesus’s frustration with the people.
    5. We know this was not sin, but frustration with the fallen world.
    6. I wonder, was this Jesus hurting for the poor boy?
    7. The fundamental problem of the people (the opponents, the spiritually oppressed, and even the disciples) is that they are faithless (cf. 6:6; 9:23). Jesus’ burdened expression echoes that of the prophets (e.g., Deut. 32:5, 20; Isa. 6:11; Jer. 5:21–22; cf. note on Mark 8:12).[7]
    8. Daniel Akin: I appreciate the convicting words of William Lane: “The rhetorical questions … express the loneliness and the anguish of the one authentic believer in a world which expresses only unbelief” (Mark, 332). Sinclair Ferguson adds, “Mark vividly captures the pressures and frustrations of Christ’s life in these verses. On the mountaintop he had been faced with the spiritual short-sightedness of his disciples. Here in the valley he was confronted by [their] unbelief” (Mark, 143).[8]
    9. Jesus asks for the boy to be brought to Him.
    10. In verse 20, the demonic spirit saw Jesus and made the boy convulse more.
    11. This is a horrible thing. Imagine your son or your daughter enduring this.
    12. He is rolling around and foaming at the mouth.
    13. Jesus asks the father how long this has been going on.
    14. The father says this has been going on since childhood. The demon is trying to destroy him.
    15. The father asks for compassion.
    16. Notice how the father says, “if you can…”
    17. Jesus says, “All things are possible if you believe.”
  5. Help
    1. Mark 9:24 (ESV)
    2. Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
    3. Is that our cry?
    4. Are we honest with our doubts?
    5. One pastor writes: As a pastor, I was called to meet a couple at a hospital. Their daughter had suffered a seizure and was not breathing. When I reached the hospital, neither the parents nor the doctor were with the child. A nurse was unplugging the flat-lined machines.
    6. The Holy Spirit prompted me to do something I’d never done before — pray over the girl’s lifeless body. I asked the nurse if I could pray for a minute, to which she replied, “You know she’s dead,” but allowed me to go ahead.
    7. I asked God to restore the little girl. Then I went to the next room and found the parents witnessing the doctor. About a minute later, we heard a scream, then the little girl crying for her mommy. It’s never happened to me before or since. But Jesus is still healer.[9]
    8. When we pray, do we pray expecting God to do the miraculous?
    9. Can we be honest?
    10. We know some are healed regardless of faith.
    11. Jesus healed the child of this man, who admitted to weak faith.
  6. The demon comes out (Mark 9:25-29).
    1. Mark 9:25–29 (ESV)
    2. 25 And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” 26 And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. 28 And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” 29 And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”
    3. Notice, Jesus rebuked the demon.
    4. Jesus casts out the demon.
    5. Jesus told the demon to stay out.
    6. Otherwise, maybe the demon would have tried to enter the boy again.
    7. Jesus’s command to never enter him again is unique in all the exorcisms in the Gospels.[10]
    8. Notice, the demon did not leave peacefully.
    9. The boy cried out and convulsed more.
    10. Then, the boy appeared dead.
    11. Jesus helped the boy up.
    12. The disciples ask privately why they could not cast out the demon.
    13. In verse 29, Mark 9:29, that type of demon can only be driven out by prayer.
    14. It seems that they were trying to cast out the demon without prayer.
    15. Their failure is an occasion for encouragement to more prayer (cf. 4:10; 7:17; 10:10), implying that more time and effort in prayer (and therefore in closer fellowship with God) leads to growth in faith.[11]
    16. Exorcists’ methods normally focused on their own power or, more precisely, their ability to manipulate other powers; Jesus here emphasizes prayer instead (9:29).[12]
    17. Notice that, prayer is so very important.
    18. Daniel Akin:
    19. The disciples failed big time. It was public, brought ridicule, cast doubt on their Master and mission, and filled them with self-doubt. So when Jesus initiated reflection and debriefing, they asked, “Why couldn’t we drive the demon out?” Their question betrays a sense of confidence in their own strengths and abilities. It suggests a spirit of pride rooted in past accomplishments (6:7–13) that they believed should have been sufficient for this encounter. They are saying, “We did it before and we will do it again. But it didn’t work this time. Why?” Failure leads them to question themselves. This is a good thing.[13]
    20. The phrase “this kind” refers to casting out demons and all other spiritual conflicts of this nature. He is not saying some demon exorcisms require prayer but others do not. He is saying that whenever we take to the spiritual battlefield, if we go in our own strength, pride, and self-sufficiency, we have lost the battle before it begins. Faith bridges the gap between divine omnipotence and human weakness, and that faith is experienced and exercised through prayer. Could this be why prayer is one of the most difficult of the spiritual disciplines? Could this be why we don’t see greater things in missions, our churches, and our personal lives? Is this why Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing”?[14]
    21. The power of prayer is obviously not going to be experienced if we don’t pray. Tim Keller observes that the prayer of the father is characterized by honesty, helplessness, hopefulness, specificity, and passion (“Mark,” 112). These character traits of believing prayer can be summed up in one word: humility. It all depends on Jesus. If He acts, I’m delivered; if He doesn’t, I am lost. Faith expressed in prayer says, “I would not have it any other way.”[15]

Tim Keller:

To say, “I don’t have faith, I’m riddled with doubts, I’m not faithful, but help me,” is faith in Jesus instead of you. Jesus says, “When you say that, my power is released into your life, because now, finally, you have faith in me.” Remember the absolute difference between the religions of the world and Christianity. Religion says, “You give God a good record; then God owes you blessing.” Christianity says, “God gives you, at infinite cost to himself, a perfect record through Jesus Christ by grace, and then you live gladly for him.”

They’re absolutely different, totally different. Religion starts by saying, “Look, I’m holy. I’m faithful. I’ve really summoned up all my faith. I’ve gotten rid of all of my doubts. Now you have to work in my life.” I’m sorry. There are many branches of Christianity that talk like that. “Oh, God will only bless me if I get it all together.”

Here’s a man who says, “I don’t have faith. I have all my doubts. I don’t have what it takes, but help me,” and Jesus says, “I can work with that,” because that is saving faith. It’s a way of saying, “Accept me not because of what I am but of what you are.” Isn’t that good news? The first step into access to the presence of God is not holiness; it’s helplessness.[16]

Prayer

  1. William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 206. ↑

  2. Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Mk 9:14–15. ↑

  3. Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in Mark, ed. Daniel L. Akin, David Platt, and Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2014), 187. ↑

  4. Johnston, Jeremiah J.. Unleashing Peace: Experiencing God’s Shalom in Your Pursuit of Happiness (p. 130). (Function). Kindle Edition. ↑

  5. Ross H. McLaren, “Mark,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1575. ↑

  6. Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Mk 9:16–18. ↑

  7. Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 1912. ↑

  8. Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in Mark, ed. Daniel L. Akin, David Platt, and Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2014), 187. ↑

  9. https://www.cmalliance.org/about/beliefs/healer ↑

  10. Ross H. McLaren, “Mark,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1576. ↑

  11. Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 1912. ↑

  12. Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Mk 9:28–30. ↑

  13. Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in Mark, ed. Daniel L. Akin, David Platt, and Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2014), 189. ↑

  14. Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in Mark, ed. Daniel L. Akin, David Platt, and Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2014), 190. ↑

  15. Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in Mark, ed. Daniel L. Akin, David Platt, and Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2014), 190. ↑

  16. Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013). ↑

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