“How long has this been happening to him?”  Jesus asked.

“From childhood,” he said.  “And many times it has thrown him into fire or water to destroy him.  But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

Then Jesus said to him, ” ‘If you can’?  Everything is possible to the one who believes.”

Immediately the father of the boy cried out,  “I do believe! Help my unbelief.”

Mark 9:21-24  HCSB

Today’s scripture passage tells the story of a man whose son was possessed by an unclean spirit.  This spirit would cause the boy to go into convulsions and roll around and foam at the mouth.  The father reported that at times it would throw the boy into the fire or water in an attempt to destroy him.  Now imagine that you are a parent of a child that suffers from this. I would imagine that in this case, someone had to be around this boy 24/7 in order to keep him from being burned or drowned. Now the man said that the boy had suffered with this spirit since childhood, so perhaps he was a teenager at this point.  Now the point of this scripture passage and this story is that anything is possible for those of us who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but what struck me about this story is how relevant it is today.

This man is pleading with Jesus to help his son.  He has already brought the boy to Jesus’ disciples in Jesus’ absence and they were unable to drive this spirit out.  They didn’t believe enough.  Their faith wasn’t strong enough.  So the man comes back when Jesus returns and pleads with Jesus to help his son.  The man asks Jesus to help his son, if he can.  Jesus tells him that all things are possible if the man believes.  The man says that he does believe and asks Jesus to help his unbelief or remove any doubt.

Every time I think of my stepson, I am filled with pride at the young man he has become.  He joined the military and then followed his dad’s footsteps into law enforcement.  Not exactly what we wanted him to do, but it was his passion and who are we to stop him.  He has also chosen a wonderful young woman which has made a wonderful addition to our family.

Now let me say this, wonderful young people don’t happen by accident.  They happen through good parenting.  Now some people will tell you that there is no instruction manual on parenting, but actually there is.  You see the Bible is an instruction manual for anything we do in life.  Proverbs 22:6 tell us that if we raise our children in the proper way that they will not depart from it.  Ephesians 6:4 tells us that we should not provoke our children to anger, but that we should bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.  Colossians 3:21 tells us that we should not provoke our children because it will cause them to be discouraged.  Proverbs 13:4 tells us that if we spare the rod we hate our children, but if we love them then we will be diligent to discipline them. Proverbs 29:15 says that the rod and reproof brings wisdom but that a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.  There are many more verses, but you get the picture here.  You can actually go to openbible.info and type parenting into their topical search and they will give you 100 verses that relate to parenting.

This man in the story was desperate to get help for his son.  He was desperate to have this unclean spirit removed.  He said that this spirit had even tried to throw his son into the fire and the water to destroy him.  Well there is a war going on for your child or children today that is just as real as the unclean spirit that was in this man’s son.  The devil wants to see your child burn in hell for eternity.  The devil wants to have your child in his grip.  There are many temptations that are faced by children today.  There is bullying going on in our schools.  You can go onto any school campus and buy drugs. You can go onto any school campus and find children that are involved in sexually immoral behavior or substance abuse.

Now if you are busy trying to fight this fire by yourself, you may as well be trying to put a forest fire out with a garden hose.  You are kidding yourself.  If you really want to help your child, do like the man in this story.  Turn to Jesus and believe.  Put your child in His very capable hands.  Teach your child that they can have peace and joy, no matter their circumstance, through Jesus Christ their Savior.

Maybe you weren’t raised in church, but know there is something missing in your family.  It’s not too late to start a new family tradition.  Turn to God, bring your family to Him for salvation, and believe.  Yes, it really is that simple.  I thank God every day that I had a faithful mother and grandmother that made me go to church every time the doors were open.  I did not always appreciate it at the time, but I certainly do now.  Won’t you do the same for your child?

Have a great day!