How Jesus Answered the Devil’s Prayer

In this episode of the PRESS Movement Podcast, we uncover one of the most surprising “prayers” in the Bible—spoken not by a prophet or a disciple, but by the devils themselves. In Mark chapter 1, Jesus enters the synagogue, teaches with authority, and is confronted by an unclean spirit crying out, “Let us alone!” Though it comes from a dark source, this plea still recognizes the power and authority of Jesus Christ.

Join us as we explore how even the devils must submit to Him, how belief without obedience falls short, and how God uses every situation—even opposition—to reveal His glory. This episode reminds us that Jesus still responds to every cry, but not every request. What the enemy meant to keep bound, Jesus commanded to be free.

God still knows how to turn what’s against you into what delivers you. Because Prayer Reaches Every Single Situation.

#PRESSMovementPodcast #PrayerReachesEverySingleSituation #Mark1 #BiblePodcast #FaithOverFear #Deliverance #AuthorityOfJesus #SpiritualWarfare #GodAnswersPrayer #ChristianPodcast #BibleStudy #JesusSaves

Transcript

Press means to apply force. When God said press, prayer reaches every single situation. He gave us permission to apply force to every situation that we will go through.

And in this podcast, we are going to learn to apply force to what's applying pressure to us. Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Press Movement Podcast. Are you ready for one of the most interesting prayers I've ever read? You know, when we started this, we have a list of prayers in the Bible.

And I don't even know that I would put this on the list if I made the list myself, but this prayer is from the devils. All right. So as we dive in today to Mark chapter one, Mark is one of the four gospels as I previously stated last week.

And the author is believed to be John Mark, who was a follower of Barnabas. And he's very succinct in the way he talks. He's not really expository.

John Mark or Mark. Mark kind of just gets to the point. As we look at Mark chapter one, he opens with the ministry of John the Baptist.

And John the Baptist was prophesied about, he was the one who would be a forerunner to Jesus Christ, the messenger that would come and prepare the way of the Lord. John baptized in the wilderness and he preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. He was a little extreme.

He had camel's hair that clothed him and a girdle of skin about his loins. And the Bible says he ate locusts and honey, somewhat of a wild man in appearance, but he preached. There was one coming that was mightier than he.

And he said, this person that is coming will baptize you with the Holy Ghost. Jesus was actually John's cousin, but I don't know that they were raised together. We don't really see much about that.

We see Mary, the mother of Jesus and Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist interact when they're both pregnant. But outside of that, we don't know how much interaction they have, but we do know they're related. Anyway, as time goes about, as Sean is preaching, when Jesus steps on the scene, John baptizes him.

I've always thought that was interesting that Jesus was baptized, because I do believe Jesus did that for an example to us. Because as we all know, he did not need baptism to be who he was. He did not need baptism to go to heaven.

John 3.13 says, And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven. Jesus calls himself the Son of Man. But he also points out, I've already come from there.

I've already been there. And I'm there right now. That is such a God flex to say, even though you see me, you're not seeing that I'm everywhere still.

But what he shows you is that he'd already came from heaven, been to heaven, and would return there. But he was baptized, not for the removal of his sins, but for our example. And then the Spirit of God descended upon him like a dove.

Verse 10 says, And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. With his baptism, not only did he set the example for us, the pattern, but it became an announcement of who he was, who he was walking with. And I would say that is important to our prayer, because you'll see as we go on in Scriptures, the demons react to who he is too.

The Bible says immediately he was tempted in the wilderness 40 days. Mark doesn't really go into that temptation or what it looks like. Matthew, and I believe Luke tend to go into it a little more.

But during that time, John the Baptist is put in prison, and Jesus begins really preaching. And as Jesus is preaching, he's walking through Galilee. He begins assembling what we will later know as his disciples.

He sees Simon and Andrew, Simon Peter. They're fishing, and he tells them, Come, I'll make you fishers brothers. Then he sees James and John, the sons of Zebedee, and they are mending their nets.

And he tells them to follow him as well. And they do. And they all head up to Capernaum.

And on the Sabbath day, he, Jesus, entered into the synagogue and taught. Now, as he was teaching, the Bible says the people were astonished at his doctrine. They were amazed at what he was saying.

Why? Because he taught them as one that had authority and not as the scribes. The scribes were the ones who were the keeper of the scrolls, who protected what the word said. They rewrote it, transcribed it, that kind of thing.

They knew those scriptures in and out. Obviously, you can also tell that they were those who were teaching the scriptures. And yet, the people were astonished because he taught it like somebody who had authority.

It was not just words on a page. It wasn't something that could be just memorized. It wasn't something that could even just be repeated.

But he had the power of the scriptures backing him up, even in his teaching. Note that this is before any miracles are recorded in Mark. He had power, and the power was not just a result of what they would see him do.

The power was a result of his ability to convey and connect to the scriptures in a way that proved he knew the God of the scriptures, and in this case, was the God of the scriptures. But while he is teaching, the Bible says there was one in the synagogue, a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out. And it is this verse, verse 24 of Mark chapter one, that was included in the list as a prayer.

Because this unclean spirit cried out saying, let us alone. What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. Now, could we argue whether or not this is a prayer? I don't know.

It is a request. It is made to Jesus. It is recognizing that he has authority.

He has the power to destroy them. So in some ways, I understand why it's on the list. Now, was the request made so that they could align with God or be in the will of God? To a certain extent, you could also argue that they wanted his will to be to lead them along.

So I'm willing to proceed with this as a prayer, and I do put that in air quotes, though you can't see it, because it meets a lot of the criteria. It just comes from a terrible source. It comes from the devil.

But that in and of itself made me think quite a bit. Because one, you cannot deny that the devil still has to get permission, whether you want to go all the way back to Job one or whatever. The devil knows he doesn't just get to do everything he wants to do.

And while God seems to have given him a fence, and in that fence, he can go wild. He does all kinds of things. And it's not that the Lord is permitting overtly everything that's happening, because there's some really bad stuff out there.

And I don't blame God for the bad. I believe that there are people who choose bad, and God has given us the power of choice. And our choices, their choices can impact good people.

The Bible lets you know that it rains on the just and the unjust. But our justification, our hope is not that everything will be fair down here. Our justification and hope is that in judgment, when it's all over, and this temporary time has passed, God will make eternal decisions based on every word and every deed that was done by any of us in these bodies.

So in other words, down here, things can feel and look and even be unfair. But eternally speaking, an eternity is much longer than the time we have here. Eternally speaking, there are permanent consequences to everyone's temporary actions.

So God will get the final say. But down here, there's a rope that it seems the enemy is on. And sometimes that leash looks long, but what the enemy still knows is there is a leash.

And so for him, this devil or devils, when they saw Jesus is now in the building, they knew they couldn't just do what they wanted to do. They couldn't just act how they wanted to act. They're asking for permission to continue in what they've been doing.

Another thing of note in this, and this may be somewhat controversial, is that these devils or this devil clearly confesses who Jesus is, and they absolutely believed it. They knew he was Jesus of Nazareth. They knew he was the Holy One of God, and they had no doubts.

This reminded me that oftentimes in scripture, someone will say to you, oh, all you have to do is confess with your mouth and believe in your heart, Romans 10 and 9. Or they'll look at 1 John 4, 15. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. They'll look at those verses and say, well, I've already confessed with my mouth.

I already believed in my heart. And they'll think that's the conclusion of their salvation. I believe this scripture alone shows us that's not possible or true.

James 2.19 says, thou believest that there is one God, thou doest well. I'm not knocking your faith. I'm not saying that you don't have any.

It is a good thing and necessary thing to believe there is one God. But he notes in James, the devils also believe and tremble. He said, but wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead.

See, just speaking and even being aware of who God is will never be enough. God came for more than our lip service. Isaiah 29.13 is echoed by Jesus in Matthew 15 and 8. So I'll read it in Matthew 15 and 8. He said, this people draw nigh unto me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. In other words, he didn't just come so that you could say you love him or say you're a follower, or even just say you believe. The devils can do that.

They can say they believe. They can say who he is. They can submit to his will and have to.

But he came to save us from our sins, Matthew 1.21 says, to separate us from it. He chose that your old man would die in baptism according to Romans 6, and then you could rise to walk in the newness of life. You see people get stuck over, well, I believe believing is enough, or I believe confessing is enough, or I believe you have to be baptized this way or that way.

But at the end of the day, it's only about what the Bible says. And knowing what it says is so important because the Bible doesn't argue with itself. It builds upon itself.

So if one scripture or two scriptures or 10 say we need to believe, and another 10 say we must be baptized, like Galatians 3 or 1 Peter 3 or Acts 2, if those say we must be baptized or we must receive the Holy Ghost, those are not at odds with each other. They're not prescribing different plans of salvation, but rather they work together to all tell one story. This Bible all tells one story.

And even in the prayers of the devil, you see this one story. It is the story of God, not only making decisions, but sending his son so he could reconcile a people that were lost to himself. It is the story of how he saves us, how he loves us, and yes, how he rescues us, like he rescued the man with the unclean spirit.

This Bible tells the story of our salvation and how God orchestrated it from the beginning when he saw the choices man would make. Jesus wants us saved, and he'll deny the devil's request to save you. Remember that when you're going to God, you're going to a great father, someone who is bigger than what's against you.

And if something that's against you is allowed to touch you, it's because even in this, he has a plan. And you get to see part of that plan unfold even in the deliverance of this man with the unclean spirit, how the fame of Jesus was spread about. And with that fame being spread about, more people would be delivered, more people would be healed, more people would come to know him.

God has a way of making all things work together. For the good of them that love God and are the called according to his purpose. He has a way of getting the glory.

And no matter what tries to interject itself into the story, God responds to our cries and he knows how to answer every prayer. And with the devils, he said, no, come out. And I believe that it still testifies in this prayer that Jesus did not cast him out until he cried out.

So the devil was crying out to stay thinking he could keep him. But what that triggered in Jesus was the deliverance of this man. So I say to you, everything, everything points to your deliverance.

Everything can work for your good. Even the things hell thinks they can do against you. God knows how to turn.

Why? Because prayer reaches every single situation. Join the movement, join the community, like, share and subscribe to this podcast. Visit us at PressToPray.com or find us on Instagram or Facebook.

Did you know that when you are quiet, your voice is missing to God's ears? I know some of us have prayed and we're wondering how long should I pray about this? Why should I pray if God already knows? How will I know God is answering? And what do I do when I feel like God's not listening? But God is listening for your voice. It's too quiet in this world for the troubles we have. You have to raise your voice and God wants to hear from you.

It's Too Quiet, a book about prayer. It's designed to answer your prayer questions and build your faith. Visit PressToPray.com