Living Stones – Friday, October 27, 2017
Help my unbelief
Mark 9:24
Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
Continuing from yesterday, the desperate father’s response to Jesus helped us recognised that it is possible for us to believe and still have doubts. The doubts that we have linger until we have experiences with God that erode the doubt and build up our faith in Him. This may be the reason why the disciples asked Jesus, in Luke 17:5, to “increase their faith.”
When the father first answered Jesus he said, “Lord I believe.” Here he was expressing faith in what he had heard about Jesus. This was the faith that made him come to Jesus having previously tried everything and everyone. It takes faith to come to God in the first place.
This father however, recognised that doubts lingered. So, having come to Jesus in faith he still prayed “help my unbelief!” When we come to Jesus with whatever faith we have, and He works on our behalf, our faith grows and lingering doubts are dissipated.
Over time we have a capacity to believe God and depend on Him for more and more. Because of our experiences with Him we move from the place of unbelief to a place of faith. And then we go from faith to faith.
However, we still have to address the sources of the unbelief that we experience. Unbelief is caused by different factors and here are a few:
– Lack of Knowledge. The Prophet Hosea said that, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” Hosea 4:6 The Priests, in that context, had failed to teach the people, in our context often there is an element of the people not submitting to teaching.
– Lack of Experience. If we have not in the past trusted God and seen Him come through for us and for others we are not likely to have the faith to believe for anything.
– Self-centeredness. We sometimes trust our own intellect and our own understanding ahead of a trust and dependence on God.
– Not urgent and diligent seekers. Hebrews 11:6, God rewards those who diligently seek Him.
– In our minds, we sometimes place what needs to be done in the realm of the impossible, Luke 1:37, 18:27
In another account of this same incident of the boy with the deaf and dumb spirit recorded by Matthew, Jesus told His disciples that the hindrance to them casting out the demon was their unbelief, Matthew 17:20. So we understand from this record that unbelief can be a factor on the part of the person needing the intervention, and on the part of those providing ministry.
We have to be careful with unbelief because our unbelief limits what God would do in our situation. Matthew 13:58 “Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” Our unbelief cuts us off from the promises of God (see the example of the Jews in Romans 11:19-24 and Hebrews 3:7ff). And unbelief causes our Christianity to be of no value (Hebrews 4:2).
Think on these things:
- Can you remember any occasion when you might have doubted what God would do for you?
- Were any of the causes of unbelief discussed here ever a part of your experience?
- What experiences of answered prayer can you recall and how could you use that to encourage someone with doubts?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that through experience with God, our faith in Him would grow.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex
