To Believe or Not Believe

Mark 9:23 (CSB) “Jesus said to him, “If you can? Everything is possible for the one who believes.”

This beautiful story of a miracle of Jesus Christ starts at verse 14. Jesus has approached a crowd where a man has brought his son to be healed. The man runs to Jesus and tells Him that his son is possessed by a demon. And this demon host has attempted to kill the son it possessed many times. In this text, the man says two specific things. One: he says, “...if you can do anything, have compassion and help us…” In response, Jesus repeats the man’s request. Like a teacher demonstrating how the ‘student’s’ action looks. He says, “...If you can?” Here the ‘Teacher’ demonstrates that there is no belief in the man's request for his son. Oftentimes we come to Jesus with an ‘IF’ in our prayers. It is like we second guess, or we are not sure if God can do what He says He can do. Or we may think that God will bless others, but when it comes to our own prayers, we may not be worthy.

Jesus cuts this short by continuing the verse with, “...Everything is possible for the one who believes.” The next thing the father of the possessed son said is, “...I do believe; help my unbelief.” This is a good prayer. The world has shown us so much of its ugliness. The world has taken us through so much suffering and pain that it is sometimes hard to fight the emotions of fear and doubt that our flesh brings to our attention. But we must lean on the strength of our spirits in order to maintain and strengthen our belief.

When those hard times come and test our belief systems, pray to God, “Help me with my unbelief, Lord!” In our story, Jesus went on to rebuke the demon from the man’s son and heal him. God’s power and love will do the same for us when we believe in that love and power.

In verse 29, Jesus tells His disciples that some situations can only be worked out by nothing but prayer. Allow that prayer we pray to be in 'thanksgiving', like we have already received from God, for the deliverance of what we are going through. Trust God by knowing that ‘He can and He will’ deliver us and protect us.

May God continue to keep you healed, protected and loved as we journey in Jesus’ name.

Amen

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