Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? — MATTHEW 17:19

In Matthew 17:19, the disciples asked Jesus why they couldn’t cast the devil out of the boy. They were troubled because they had been casting devils out and ministering successfully to others. So why couldn’t they do it this time? It wasn’t because they didn’t have the power, because they did. Jesus gave it to them in Matthew 10:1, and they had been ministering to the sick and casting out devils with that power. If they hadn’t been, they wouldn’t have asked, “Why could we not cast this one out?” The disciples had a reputation of ministering to people.

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” (Matt. 17:20).

I want you to notice something. This is an area in which practically the whole Pentecostal movement has missed it: emphasizing power over everything else. They’ve said, “If we’ve got the power, we can do it.” Well, these disciples had the power, and they couldn’t do it.

People have said, “If nothing happened, it’s because we didn’t have the power.” But that’s not where the problem is. It’s not a power problem; it’s a faith problem. Every failure is a faith failure. These disciples had the power. Jesus said they couldn’t cast the devil out because of their unbelief. Power doesn’t work by unbelief. Power works by faith. Faith gives the power action. Faith puts the power to work!

Confession: My faith gives action to the power of God. My faith puts the power of God to work. I use my faith to receive healing from God.