**Daily Devotional** **June 5** *19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? 20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. 21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. - Matt 17:19-21 (KJV)* The disciples were perplexed that they could not cast this demon out of the boy, because they had been given the power, and operated successfully in it before (Matthew 10:1). This is a question that a lot of us have, when we try to operate in the power given us by Jesus, and it doesn’t work. Our problem we have is the same one the disciples had, and the answer is the same. The reason they couldn’t cast this demon out, was not because of their little faith, as some translations say, because the last of this sentence says they did not need but a little bit of faith. The reason they could not cast it out, was their unbelief, as unbelief will hinder any faith that you have. We, who are born again, have the very faith of Jesus in the fruit of the spirit that indwells us (Galatians 5:22-23), so we have the faith to do what Jesus commanded us to do (John 14:12). Unbelief is something that even Jesus had to stay away from, to be able to do His miracles of healing (Mark 6:5-6). This shows us that if we, or those around us, have unbelief in our hearts, we will be unable to do the works that He told us to do. Unbelief comes from hearing and keeping the things of this world (not of God) in our focus, and is the opposite of faith. You overcome unbelief by fasting and prayer. So keep your focus on God, and walk in faith, so that you won’t be hindered by unbelief. Praise God for giving us His faith. Devotional by Pastor Joe W. Green, www.infinite-faith.com