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Monthly Question Page — Part 1
Q. Could you please explain the meaning of Mark 9:38-40?
A. “Master, we saw one casting out devils in Thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us. But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in My name, that can lightly speak evil of Me. For he that is not against us is on our part.”
The disciples thought they were righteous in forbidding the man casting out devils. But they forgot that earlier they had just failed to do that very thing. “And when he was come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, Why could not we cast him out?” (v. 28). They had been given authority, but they lacked power. “And He ordained twelve, that they should be with Him, and that He might send them forth to preach, And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils” (Mark 3:14-15). The power they lacked is indicated in the Lord’s answer to their question, “This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting” (Mark 9:29). Dependence and self-denial were needed. (Continued next month.)
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