"Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." - Mark 9:24b
These words were spoken by a distraught father because of his son who was demon possessed; this father went to Jesus and spoke these words of weak faith to Him (like a prayer) after Jesus had previously told him,
"If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth." - Mark 9:23
Many of us can relate to this father's plea. We believe, yet sometimes doubt creeps in and it can be hard to shake. Like when Peter believed he could walk on water; he had faith until he took his eyes off of Jesus and began to concentrate on the howling wind and the turbulent waters. His faith and belief faltered when he took his eyes off of Jesus, and then he began to sink. When Jesus caught him, He said to Peter: "Oh thou of little faith wherefore didst thou doubt?" - Matthew 14:22-31
But in the case of the father of the demoniac boy, Jesus did not rebuke the father for his weak faith. The man tearfully appealed to Jesus, recognizing he did believe but had unbelief or doubts at the same time. A true sense of the need for grace to believe is the greatest step towards the act of believing. Perhaps part of this father's unbelief was due to the fact that Jesus' disciples had tried and could not cast out the demon from the boy. Jesus healed the young man and afterwards was questioned by His disciples as to why they could not successfully heal him. - Mark 9:28-29. In verse 29 Jesus told his disciples that that kind of demon would not come out but by prayer and fasting.
In this dim life we see spiritual things imperfectly, but we should continue on with prayer and Bible study to come to a full, clear knowledge. Faith and unbelief are often found in the same heart. Full deliverance from doubt only comes by a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. The more intimate and deep your relationship with God, the more you learn to trust Him and the more your faith will grow.
Unbelief is a criminal thing because it doubts. Unbelief robs God of His glory in every way and therefore one who has unbelief cannot receive a blessing from the Lord. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God. This is more true of unbelievers (those not born-again), because they are deliberate in their stubborn unbelief. Christians tend to have doubts which are not deliberate; doubts just creep into our minds out of nowhere, it seems. But the devil is a master of deception and tries to make us fall by putting doubts in our minds. Pray to God in Jesus' name for deliverance and pray to have a strong faith.
We doubt because we are fallen creatures, prone to sin. Divine truth is not yet fully comprehended by us. Little faith can still trust in Christ as well as great faith can. One commentator says: " If your faith is weak, at least let it be sincere and unfeigned The act of faith is to apply Christ to the soul; and this the weakest faith can do as well as the strongest, if it be true."
"Unbelief is criminal because it is a moral act of the whole nature. Belief or unbelief is a test of a man's whole spiritual condition, because it is the whole being, affections, will, conscience, as well as the understanding, which are concerned in it." - Alexander MacLaren
Following is a sermon on the sin of unbelief by Charles Spurgeon:
In this sermon, Spurgeon tells us that "Unbelief is the parent of every other iniquity." I hope you watch the entire 39 minute sermon as it is excellent.
"Unbelief is never cheap; it costs more than it pays." - Andrew Kroll
One commentator said that "nothing is so provoking to God as unbelief, and yet there is nothing to which we are more prone." When you consider all that the Lord has done, all of His promises and the many times He has answered our prayers, the sacrifice of His Son at Calvary to redeem us and wash us white as snow by the blood of Jesus, and all of His many other blessings including the gift of life itself, who are we to doubt Him ? What would provoke an earthly father like a child who refuses to believe him? We are God's children, and we should trust Him and believe in Him in all areas of our lives and in all spiritual matters.
"He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made Him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son." - 1 John 5:10
Remember what God said to Moses concerning the stubborn and complaining and unbelieving Israelites: "....How long will this people provoke Me? and how long will it be ere they believe Me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?" - Numbers 14:11
We serve a loving and a forgiving God. He knows we are but dust and how weak we are. But faith and belief in Jesus can make us strong. Pray without ceasing. (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Prayer is a strong faith-builder.
"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By Whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." - Romans 5:1-2
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