EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/31/2026
7:27 PM
My
Worship Time Focus: “Demon
Possession”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference:
Luke
9:37-39
Message of the verses: “On the next day, when they came down from
the mountain, a large crowd met Him. And
a man from the crowd shouted, saying, “Teacher, I beg You to look at my son,
for he is my only boy, and a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly screams, and it
throws him into a convulsion with foaming at the mouth; and only with difficulty
does it leave him, mauling him as it leaves.”
Now all three synoptic gospels place this incident on
the next day after the transfiguration (cf. Matt. 17:14-21; Mark 9:14-29).”
(cf. Matt. 17:14-21; Mark 9:14-29)
“14 ¶ And when they came to the crowd, a man came
up to him and, kneeling before him, 15
said, "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he
suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water.
16 And I brought him to your disciples,
and they could not heal him." 17
And Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I
to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” 18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out
of him, and the boy was healed instantly. 19
Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not
cast it out?” 20 He said to them,
“Because of your little faith. For truly, I “say to you, if you have faith like
a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to
there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” 21
“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?” 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."
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.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out
and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” 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.”
After that
amazing, dramatic experience of the eternal kingdom and Christ’s divine glory,
Jesus, Peter, James, and John returned to the harsh reality of life in a
cursed, evil world. The contrasts
between the two incidents are striking. One
happened on a mountain, the other in a valley.
On the mountain Jesus Christ displayed His glorious majesty, while in
the valley Satan displayed his ugly, demon-possessed; one in whom His Father
was well pleased, and the other whose father was tortured with displeasure over
his condition. Then there was one Son who
fulfilled the glorious plan of the ages, confirmed by both Old Testament and
New Testament saints; the other son was disassociated, disconnected, demented,
and chaotic, without purpose or value to anyone. One Son was the destroyer of demons; and the
other son was destroyed by demons. Both
of the sons were given back to their father.
The demon-possessed son was delivered and returned to his father; the
Son of God was killed, rose from the dead, and ascended back to His Father.
MacArthur then writes “When they
came down from the unnamed mountain somewhere near Capernaum, Jesus,
Peter, James and John encountered a tragic situation. As was always the case, a large crowd was
waiting for Jesus—including some scribes, who were arguing with the nine
disciples who had remained behind (Mark 9:14).”
(Mark 9:14)
“14 ¶ And when they came to the disciples, they saw
a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them.”
“One of the people in the crowd was
desperate. His problem was an all too
common one; his son was cruelly possessed by a demon. Jesus encountered demon possession throughout
His ministry, when the greatest manifestation of demonic activity up to that
point in history took place. He
unmasked, exposed, and terrified the demons, as they faced the one who will
ultimately cast them into the lake of fire prepared for them (Matt. 25:41).”
(Matt. 25:41)
“41 "Then he will say to those on his left,
‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and
his angels.”
“In this
incident Jesus displayed His power over fallen angels in the most severe
manifestation of demon possession in the New Testament….
“Having worked his way with his son
through the crowd that surged forward to meet Jesus (Mark 9:15), the man fell
to his knees before Him.”
(Mark 9:15)
“15 And immediately all the crowd, when they saw
him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him.”
“He shouted
to the Lord to make himself heard above the din of the crowd. Matthew’s account reveals that he addressed Him
as Lord (Matt. 17:15), likely in reference to His deity.”
(Matt. 17:15)
“15 said, "Lord, have mercy on my son, for
he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire,
and often into the water.”
“Acknowledging
that Jesus had divine power over demons, he said to Him, ‘Teacher, I beg You
to look at my son, for he is my only boy, and a spirit seizes him.’ Though the father said the boy was epileptic
(cf. Matt. 17:15, NKJV, ESV), he understood that his son’s condition was not
physiological, but demonic.”
(cf. Matt. 17:15, NKJV, ESV)
““15 said, "Lord, have mercy on my son, for
he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire,
and often into the water.”
“Matthew
adds that the demon repeatedly attempted to destroy the boy by throwing him
into the open fires and pools or wells of water that were common in Israel
(Matt. 17:15; cf. Mark 9:22).”
(Matt. 17:15; cf. Mark 9:22).”
““15 said, "Lord, have mercy on my son, for
he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire,
and often into the water.”
“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."
“Mark
notes that the demon had made the boy deaf and mute (Mark 9:17, 25), and that
it that it had afflicted him since he was a child (v. 21).
(Mark 9:17, 25)
“17 And someone from the crowd answered him,
"Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him
mute.”
“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.”
(Mark 9:21).
“21 And Jesus asked his father, "How long
has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood.”
10/31/2026
8:15 PM
