Note 4 at Mk. 8:25: It was unusual for Jesus to inquire of the results as He did in verse 23 (see note 3 at Mk. 8:23, p. 200), but it was even more unusual that Jesus laid hands on this man a second time. Although others prayed more than once to obtain results in the Old Testament (Examples: Elijah--1 Ki. 17:21-22; 18:42-45; and Elisha--2 Ki. 4:32-35), this is the only example in the New Testament where Jesus had to minister to any need more than once to effect a total healing.

Many people request things from God and then look at their circumstances to see if God answered their prayer. That is walking by sight and not by faith (2 Cor. 5:7). If they can't "see" God's answer, then they pray again asking for the same thing. This is not the way Jesus taught us to pray and receive (Mk. 11:22-24), and we can be certain that Jesus didn't lay hands on this man a second time because He thought His Father hadn't heard Him the first the time. Since the man received partial sight it is evident that God's healing power was at work in him. Jesus was not petitioning His Father again for healing.

Through His spirit, Jesus knew that unbelief was hindering a perfect manifestation of God's power in this man, and He simply gave him another "dose" of the anointing power of God. Satan may hinder but cannot overcome someone who continues resisting him (Jas. 4:7).

We only need to petition God once for a need and then believe that we receive (Mk. 11:24). If we petition (or ask) God more than once, then we didn't really believe we received the first time. However, we can and should continue to pray until we receive our manifestation, just as Jesus did with this blind man. There is more to prayer than simply asking God for things. We should continue to resist the devil's hindrances by praying the prayer of agreement (Mt. 18:19), the prayer of praise (Ps. 8:2 with Mt. 21:16), the prayer of intercession (1 Tim. 2:1), the prayer of binding and loosing (Mt. 18:18), the laying on of hands (see note 1 at Mt. 8:15, p. 66), etc.

Many times, in an effort to walk by faith, we pray for God's power to manifest in some situation and then ignore any evidence to the contrary. That's more faith than responding to circumstances in unbelief but it falls short of Jesus' example here. The best thing to do is exactly what Jesus did. Believe that you received when you prayed to such a degree that you can confront anything to the contrary and overcome it by continuing to apply the power of God. Perseverance in prayer overcomes Satan--not God.