Mark 9:14-32
Overcoming our Own Unbelief
14 When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. 15 As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.
16"What are you arguing with them about?" he asked.
17 A man in the crowd answered, "Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. 18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not."
19 "O unbelieving generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me."
20 So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.
21 Jesus asked the boy's father, "How long has he been like this?"
"From childhood," he answered. 22 "It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us."
23 " 'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes."
24 Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"
25 When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil spirit. "You deaf and mute spirit," he said, "I command you, come out of him and never enter him again."
26 The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, "He's dead." 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.
28 After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, "Why couldn't we drive it out?"
29 He replied, "This kind can come out only by prayer."
30 They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, 31 because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise." 32 But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.
Matthew 16:5-6
The Belief and Opinions of Others May Hurt Our Faith
5 When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. 6 “Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
Our faith and our belief in God and His Son, seem to have the need to be revisited and recharged regularly...Maybe every morning...C. S. Lewis said that "We have to be continually reminded of what we believe...Neither this belief nor any other will automatically remain alive in the mind...It must be fed...And as a matter of fact, if you examined a hundred people who had lost their faith in Christianity, I wonder how many of them would turn out to have reasoned out of it by honest argument?...Do not most people simply drift away?...
Faith and belief are belief in a Father who has always existed, and belief in His Son, who died two thousand years ago...I believe that my faith anchor, however, is fixed in the reality of this world and this now, and somewhat by those around me...So our faith and beliefs are grounded in the here and now as we live each day...
As the Disciples tried to heal the boy who was possessed by a spirit, they could not...Jesus was disappointed that His Disciples could not cure the boy..."O unbelieving generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you?...How long shall I put up with you?...Bring the boy to Me."...For some reason they did not quite believe in Him enough to heal the boy...The boy's father remained upset, because his son was not healed of the evil spirit...The father asks Jesus "But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us."...The father puts an "if" comment on Jesus..."If" You can do anything...Jesus can do all things...And Jesus reminds us that with great faith we can do many good things...But the evil one will test us, as he tested the Disciples...Jesus asks the boy's father, "How long has he been like this?"..."From childhood," he answered..."It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him...But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us."..." 'If you can'?" said Jesus..."Everything is possible for him who believes."...
This needs to be repeated, and the father hears this..."Everything is possible for him who believes."...The father must believe in Jesus, if he wants his son healed...The father understands this...So immediately the boy's father exclaims, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"...The father knows he wants Jesus to heal his son, but is his faith stronger than the Disciples?...The father has this dilemma and needs his faith strengthened, so his son can be healed, by this Healer, who is asking him to believe in Him...It is a dilemma...Faith is about Jesus and His Father and about believing in Them...The father was praying and wanting his son healed, yet he understood the need for a stronger faith...And he asks Jesus to help him overcome his unbelief...In a sense the father is saying please get and take my faith where it needs to be...This is a good prayer...
It helps me to have the Big Picture type thoughts, for my belief...Thoughts of our ever expanding universe -and God has finely tuned one planet just for man...C. S. Lewis also said, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”...The Bible makes much sense to the believer...It may not connect all the dots of the Big Picture for us to have perfect faith, but it gives us enough to see that it helps to see some of the Big Picture, and it helps us to see more of something else, if not everything else...But we should keep on connecting the dots that make sense to us now...And realize that all the dots will never be connected...There are some dots that only He can connect, and He will do that for us later...Always realizing you are a child of God, and life is indeed mysterious...So when we look around at the beauty of nature, the stars in the sky, and think about our minds and our bodies that He created, think of Him...Then think about the ever expanding infinite universe, and we are given evidence of Something Grand and Someone Grand...You can believe in God, because of all the things that you have seen and read about in the universe...
So we must be on on guard for this drifting of our faith...It maybe that since we have to live day by day (in reality) and not feeding our faith with His Word may set us back...The Big Picture and seeing this everything else as Lewis says is tough to do everyday and when you are with people (at least it is harder for me)...It was tough for the father with the sick son, and he had Jesus at his side...The reality of the day may set us back...It maybe when we are at work or with others and it is hard to practice our faith, because of embarrassment or our need to feel we must fit in, or just the uncomfortable feeling of sharing with others that we love Jesus and believe He is Truth...As Jesus told His Disciples we must be on guard for others who work against our faith...So when we know this problem exists of a drifting faith, we better can be on guard and work to keep our faith going and growing...And it helps just to know that the day to day reality of things has an impact on our faith...
Faith can drift any day...And for me it seems faith starts off each morning...The Big Picture is easier in the morning as I get up and look outside, I see what He has created...Then I feed my faith, I read some Scripture...