"His Hand"

Written by Robert E. Bailes

The Power At Our Fingertips!

Mark 9:26, 27 And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.
27 But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.

A father had brought his son to Jesus. I want us to stop and think about how this father must have felt. Try to imagine your child and maybe your only child being possessed by evil spirits to the point that your child has brought damage to their body. Perhaps they have pierced themselves full of holes that have stretched their ears and tongues. Maybe they have marked themselves with designs and pictures created by those who worship something other than God. Maybe your child has taken on habits that harm their body internally through drugs, tobacco or alcohol. Maybe they are consumed with the desires of satan through parties full of games and music that toy with the abuse of one's body and flirt with danger. Try to imagine that your child has given themselves totally to another man or woman in premarital sex or possibly more than one choosing to give up the sanctity and holiness of marriage.

I know, by now you are thinking that I must have been reading an edition of the Bible that hasn't been published yet because this passage doesn't say anything about this type of STUFF at all! I am very familiar with this passage and as a matter of fact, it is one of my favorite passages!

That's right! I said," one of my favorite"! You might be wondering why it would be any one's favorite passage when it talks about evil spirits and a young man being tortured to the point that everyone thought he was dead!

I will tell you why but first I would like to explain why I asked you to imagine this young man being your child and why I listed the things I did above.

Some of you might be aggravated with me right now because I may have listed some things that you actually see your child doing! If so, I wish you would hang with me because I want you to see the whole picture today! I need you to put aside the thoughts that you may have had in the past to justify your child's decisions to do these things and try to think as this father did in this critical time in his life.

This man had realized that something had to be done or his son was going to perish in this delirious state of confusion that had been brought on by the decisions at some point in his life to accept the dwelling of the evil spirits. The demons didn't destroy this young man over night! They did it very slowly so that the father may not have even noticed his changes as they little by little made their way into his life, changing his thinking and giving him a heart of stone and destroying his body.

Destruction of the body is not of God and the odd piercing and stretching of the skin is not something that God meant for us to do as it deforms the body. It may seem small and insignificant, but it is the beginning of symbolism to the crowd and peers that will place your child. They will find themselves in the clique searching for the next step in independence of their body, mind and souls.

The next thing you hear them say is that it is their body and you can't tell them what to do with it, so they get markings and designs embedded into their skin permanently using ink and needles. Just another sign to their peers that they own their body, not the Lord, and they will do as they please with it! The next thing is that the opposite sex says, let's try this or that, after all, it's your body and nobody can tell you what to do with it! Then they find their self respect and purity within themselves tainted and leaving another hole but this time it is pierced in the middle of their heart where only God can bring healing.

Have we ever really taken the time to see just how the young man got to the point where he was consumed with these spirits? I'm sure there may be some of us who have actually done some of these things ourselves and I'm not judging you by any means but I want you to take a good look at how our children get to this point when suddenly we say, "What happened to my nice, loving child?".

I have heard so many parents say, "Oh, it's just a phase and they'll grow out of it" but it is more than that my friend! It is a battle between spiritual forces over the soul of your child! When we think it is time to loosen the reins, it's really time to tighten them! Reins are used for guiding a horse, for those of you who were raised in the city, and tightening the reins caused the horse to slow down but loosening gave them the freedom to take off.

This father had finally reached the point that he was desperate and pushed aside all of the embarrassment of his son's miserable condition and took him to see if Jesus could help him. The father had no idea that it would come to this when his son first began to change his attitude, his clothes and the friends he hung out with.

I am speaking to you as a father who has been through the complexity of having the influence of satan attacking his child and seeing her hurt and dragged down by the wanna be gang, peers in her life. It is the hardest thing a father could ever experience, although we may not show our hurt outwardly. You can believe that it has driven it's spike deep into the heart, but praise God, the Lord Jesus Christ teaches us how to forgive and heal from the wounds that only a parent can experience.

How did this father know that Jesus could help his son? It actually says that the father said to Jesus, "if you can do anything, have compassion on us, and help us." Let's look at the passage in Mark nine,

Mark 9:20-22 And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.
21 And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.
22 And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.

Since his son was a child he had been going through this torture of satan! It had started with something small in the life of the father or the son and had grown into a self destructive experience for the son. The son had lost control of his life to the demons! The evil spirits are not something to toy around with and that is why I want you to take notice of the life and peers of your child. I want us all to take notice of the kinds of things our kids are asking us for. We need to realize that the things of this world are distractions of the truth and purity of God. They cause the picture to cloud up with grey so that we cannot see the picture clearly.

The father asked Jesus if he could help him! He wasn't really even sure if Jesus would, which meant that the father's faith was weak too after spending so much time dealing with the evil spirits possessing his son. The main thing I want us to see here is that HE TOOK HIS SON TO JESUS! Although his faith was weak and he was exhausted and tired, he took him to the Healer.

Look at what Jesus said following the fathers statement,

Mar 9:23, 24 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believes.
24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

"If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes!"

What did the father do? Did he get an attitude with Jesus? Did he get too proud and take his son away? No, he was ready to learn the way, the truth and the life! As we see, he told Jesus in tears that he believed and told Jesus to help him with his unbelief.

Let's see what Jesus did next!

Mark 9:25, 26 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.
26 And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.

Jesus addressed it right then! Jesus rebuked the spirit just as the evil spirit had rebuked the father for years. When Jesus stood up against this spirit, it pitched a fit and tore his body up as it came out of him. The last thing I saw in this passage was that many were saying that the son was dead. He had been through the fire and burned, through the water and almost drowned, thrashed on the ground and foamed at the mouth like an animal with rabies. Now he lay here on the ground lifeless as it may have seemed. Jesus let us all see this son's life when it had no purpose and when he had been under the control of satan and his followers. There were many there that thought and said that the young man was dead!

What I realized when I read this is that there will be times when we have to bring our children before the Lord for healing and reunion with Him and our faith will need strengthened as we find it hard to fully believe that Jesus can help our situation at the time, but just as with this father, Jesus will tell you and I that ALL things are possible if we will believe. No matter how hopeless or how dead even we or our children may seem, the next verse says it all for me,

Mark 9:27 But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.

Jesus is always ready to reach out and take our hand to lift us up to live a NEW Life in Christ! That's right! Jesus came not to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved!

If people look and assume that your child or even yourself have no life left but rather that you are dead already in your suffering, keep your eyes on Jesus who will save you from death and give you life that lasts forever!

I encourage you to pray today and ask God to help you and your children with your belief and let Jesus take you by the hand and lift you up! Arise moms, dads and children!