Victory Over Darkness: Bring It to Jesus

Mark 9 puts a father and a suffering son right in the middle of a battle the disciples could not handle. The mute spirit had robbed the boy’s hearing and speech, and the enemy’s purpose was not just to trouble him but to throw him into fire and water to destroy him. Jesus stands against that destruction with one plain command: “Bring him to me.”

The father’s long pain shows how battles can start early. The enemy does not wait until children grow up to try to influence, confuse, tempt, and wound them. Parents and grandparents therefore cannot wait until later to pray, teach the Word, bring children into God’s presence, and let them know God is real. John 10:10 names the thief’s work clearly: steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus answers that work with life, and life more abundantly.

Jesus also brings the father to the end of his own ability. Experience, resources, wisdom, connections, and patience can help in many situations, but some battles require Jesus. The place where a person says, “Jesus, if it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen with you,” is not a bad place. Jesus does not demand a full history, an explanation of every door that was opened, or a perfect plan. Jesus says, “Bring him to me.” Children, marriages, fear, addiction, confusion, broken hearts, sickness, and impossible situations belong in the hands of the One who made them.

The watch that could only be repaired by its maker pictures that truth. God knew His people before He formed them in the womb, and the One who made them has what it takes to fix what is broken. Yet Mark 9 also shows that bringing a situation to Jesus can stir up resistance. The boy convulses when he comes near Christ. Resistance is not defeat. Opposition can increase when prayer, obedience, fasting, building, and forward movement disturb what darkness had settled into.

The father’s cry, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief,” names real faith wrestling with real pain. Jesus does not reject imperfect faith. Faith sometimes means simply knowing where to run. Jesus then rebukes the spirit, commands it to leave, and refuses temporary relief as the final answer. His authority silences what tried to make the boy mute. Submission to God and persistent resistance to the devil keep pressure on darkness until it flees. Though the crowd calls the boy dead, Jesus takes him by the hand and raises him up. Jesus is still standing in the middle of what looks impossible.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Bring the impossible to Jesus
  Jesus does not ask broken people to solve their own impossible situations before coming near. The Father’s answer is not found in getting every detail right, but in bringing the burden to Christ. The One who made the life in question knows every inward part and has authority over every force trying to destroy it. [56:24]
• 2. Resistance is not always defeat
  The spirit reacted when the boy was brought to Jesus, but Jesus had not lost control. Darkness often pushes back when prayer and obedience begin disturbing its ground. Persistent faith keeps standing, not like a statue, but by getting back up every time opposition knocks a person down. [1:03:01]
• 3. Faith can wrestle with pain
  The father believed, yet he also struggled with what he saw and felt. Jesus received that honest cry instead of rejecting him for imperfect faith. Faith is not pretending pain is unreal; faith is bringing the pain to Christ and refusing to run somewhere else. [1:09:11]
• 4. Christ’s authority silences the enemy
  Jesus did not negotiate with the unclean spirit or ask permission for deliverance. His name stands above anxiety, addiction, sickness, fear, and every named power that seeks to steal, kill, and destroy. Believers operate under that authority as they submit to God and command darkness to stop speaking. [1:19:55]
• 5. Jesus raises what others call dead
  The crowd looked at the boy and declared that the story was over. Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up. Human voices do not get the final word over a situation held in the hand of Christ. [1:25:12]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [42:47] - Victory Over Darkness
• [43:56] - The Father Brings His Son
• [45:12] - The Mute Spirit and Destruction
• [47:14] - Bring Him to Me
• [51:03] - Battles That Begin in Childhood
• [53:23] - Jesus Brings Abundant Life
• [55:12] - The End of Human Ability
• [57:28] - Take It to the Maker
• [1:00:18] - Do Not Mistake Resistance for Defeat
• [1:06:56] - Lord, Help My Unbelief
• [1:12:39] - Rebuke and the Authority of Jesus
• [1:20:54] - Submit to God and Resist
• [1:23:24] - Darkness Is Not Christ’s Equal
• [1:24:15] - Jesus Raises the Boy Up

Bible Reading

Mark 9:14-29
“And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. 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.” 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.” 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. And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 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.” And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” 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.” 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.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” [43:47]

John 10:10
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” [52:53]

James 4:7
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” [01:20:54]

Observation questions

1. What details does the father give about his son’s condition, and what does he say the spirit is trying to do to him? [47:27]
2. What had the disciples already tried to do, and what was Jesus’ simple response to the situation they could not handle? [46:27]
3. What happens when the boy is brought near Jesus, and how does Jesus respond to the unclean spirit? [47:16]
4. In James 4:7, what comes before resisting the devil, and what promise is given to those who resist?

Interpretation questions

1. Why might Jesus’ command, “Bring him to me,” be significant after the father had exhausted every other place he knew to seek help? [56:24]
2. The boy’s condition appears to worsen when he is brought to Jesus. How does this part of the story help believers understand seasons when obedience, prayer, or forward movement is met with greater opposition? [01:02:58]
3. What does the father’s honest prayer reveal about the difference between imperfect faith and having no faith at all? [01:09:11]
4. Jesus commands the spirit to leave and not return. What does this show about Christ’s authority and His purpose beyond temporary relief? [01:14:45]

Application questions

1. What situation in life has reached the end of personal wisdom, resources, patience, or control? What would it look like to bring that situation to Jesus instead of carrying it alone? [55:20]
2. Is there a child, teenager, or young adult in the group’s circle of care who needs consistent prayer, godly encouragement, and exposure to God’s Word? What is one practical way to help them know that God is real? [51:59]
3. Where has increased resistance tempted someone to quit praying, serving, pursuing restoration, or taking a faithful step forward? What would “getting back up” look like this week? [01:05:36]
4. When has someone prayed, “I believe; help my unbelief,” even if not in those exact words? What fears or unanswered questions are mixed in with faith right now? [01:07:22]
5. James 4:7 connects submission to God with resisting the devil. What area of thought, habit, relationship, or decision may need deeper submission to God in order to resist temptation and discouragement faithfully? [01:20:54]
6. What voices have been calling a situation hopeless, finished, or “dead”? How can the group encourage one another to keep listening to Jesus, who is able to raise what others have given up on? [01:24:38]