Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.” - Mark 9:17 NKJV.

Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” - Mark 9:23-29 NKJV.

Elsie O'Conner, 65-years-old, was arrested last week for driving while intoxicated. In Marion County, Florida a deputy received a call from his dispatcher about someone driving erratically, and he spotted Elsie. After the deputy pulled Elsie over, Deputy Calvin Batts reported that he was able to smell alcohol on the breath of the woman and found a couple of bottles of vodka in her Cadillac SUV. One of the bottles was empty, and one was still about half full. In addition, the woman failed a field sobriety test. Later the level of alcohol in her blood was found to be three times the limit legally allowed. Deputy Batts reported that O'Conner told him after her arrest, “Come on now, I'm a grandma, can't you do something for me since I'm not that bad. I could have brought you back to my house and made you a grilled cheese sandwich.” (This story was reported by the Star-Banner in Ocala, Florida.)

Some problems cannot be fixed with just a grill cheese sandwich. Some problems cannot be fixed by just a brief, half-hearted prayer, or even by a long sincere prayer. In these days, in which we now live, some things are unfixable while we live physically upon this earth. It is no longer God's will to raise people back up from the dead when they have been dead for a few days or even longer. I know a man who went out to his daughter's grave, and even though the daughter had been dead for more than a year, prayed there all night with another man for God to raise his daughter up. He was sincere, and had great faith in his God, but some things once they have occurred cannot be undone. As David said about his son that had died in 2 Samuel 12:22-23, “While the child was alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who can tell whether the LORD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.”

Considering other problems and situations that occur, or that have developed, it may be God's will that they be fixed or solved. King David gives us an example of what to do when someone is ill, he prayed while fasting for the healing of his son. As Jesus tells His disciples, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” If you have a serious problem of any kind, prolonged prayer with fasting may be necessary; because, some problems cannot be fixed with just a grilled cheese sandwich.