I Believe, Help My Unbelief

 

In Mark chapter 9 we find the story of the father of a demon-possessed son coming to Jesus's disciples for help. The disciples were unable to cast it out, so they brought the man and his son to Jesus. We pick up the story in verse 19, with Jesus rebuking the disciples:

"19 He answereth [the father], and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him unto me.

20 And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell to ground, and wallowed foaming.

21 And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.

22 And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us.

23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.

26 And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead: insomuch that many said, He is dead.

27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up; and he arose."

Jesus here makes one of the most astonishing promises in all of Scripture, "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth."  What a mind-bending, astonishing promise! If we believe, anything is possible!

We do want to be careful here. Jesus was speaking to a particular father in a particular situation, this does not mean that whatever we wish, as long as we believe strong enough, then it will come true. But there are certainly principles that apply to us. God has given us many powerful truths and promises throughout Scripture and if we believe in them, we will be able to find those promises coming true. This means that whatever God says we can do, we can do. Whoever God says we are, that is who we are. If we believe, all God has promised will come true. The limiting factor is not the promises of God, it is our own belief or lack thereof.

In this case, Jesus was asking the father if he believed he was able to deliver his son from the unclean spirit and heal him. I think the crux of what Christ was asking the father was if he truly believed that he was the Messiah, the Son of God, and that he had the power to deliver his son.

Jesus comes to us with the same question. Do we believe that he is truly the omnipotent Son of God and that he is able to deliver us and heal us if we ask him to? Some of us would gladly make that statement and confess our faith in who Christ is, but our actions all too often betray us. We say Jesus is Lord, but then we behave as if we are still the Lord of our own life. We think we can solve our problems on our own, in our own way, in our own time. We don't need Jesus' help or anyone else's, for that matter. We may even pray for deliverance, but we don't take the action steps that God has laid out for us to do. We are much like the father, we believe, but we need some help with our unbelief.

There are many of us who have had our battles with unclean spirits and Jesus has promised us deliverance from all of them. I have long looked at this passage as a source of inspiration in my own battles with pornography addiction. If Jesus could help this father and son find deliverance, then perhaps he can help me as well. The battle with addiction has been long and hard. It has been disheartening. I can relate to the desperation of the father in this story, drowning in a sea of despair and flailing about for some lifeline.

Though we do not need to flail about and struggle, for we have the Word of God, and we have his promises. He has assured us that we can know freedom from sin and live a victorious Christian life. Consider these Scriptures:

2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."

Galatians 5:13 "For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another."

Romans 8:2 "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death."

2 Corinthians 3:17 "Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."

John 8:36 "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."

This is just a small sample of the promises of deliverance that Christ offers us. Even as I struggled in the addiction, I knew these promises. I knew the truth that as a child of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit, I should be living in freedom and victory over sin. But I wasn't and I continued to wrestle with my demons.

I would memorize and meditate on these Scriptures. I would write affirmations based on these Scriptures and meditate on those. As I labored to find sobriety and peace, I began to incorporate the prayer of the father into my own prayers and meditation. As I meditated on all these incredible promises, I would pray, "Lord, all this I believe, please help my unbelief!"

Over and over again, I would meditate on the promises of God and pray that prayer, and in time, I began to see my faith increase. I began to see my heart and mind change. I began to truly believe that I was delivered. Not that I needed to be delivered, but through Christ I had been delivered. Not that I had to work and fight to be set free, but that in Christ I was already set free. I continue to struggle, but day by day I find more and more liberty. Increasingly I find myself free from sin. God has set me free and each day my faith grows, and I am learning to walk in that freedom.