Mark 9:21-24
Increasing our Faith
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!"
1 Corinthians 13:11:13
Aging and our Faith
11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Hebrews 11:1
Faith in Christ
1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Luke 17:6
Mustard Seed Faith
John 16:12-15
The Spirit of Truth Guides Us to All Truth
12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
Mark 10:14-15
Kingdom of God -Belongs to Children
John 14:1
Trust in God, Trust Also in Jesus
The father of an ill child once ask Jesus to increase his faith...The man was standing right beside Jesus, and still ask for and needed more faith...The father was uncertain in his hope, and did not have a lot of faith or certainty in Jesus...Jesus would have to do a miracle healing that only He could see and understand how and why it would work...The father was not certain that He could heal his son...
I ask for more faith often...As doubts creep in and unbelief enters the mind...I ask Jesus to help me to overcome my unbeliefs and doubts...
I think we can be right beside Jesus and still lack faith, or even be with Him for three years and still doubt -and still need those two last miracles of seeing Him in the flesh and then touching His wounds to believe...God had not been heard from for over four hundred years since the prophet Malachi...But Jesus was coming in God's Plan...And whether we have not seen Him, have been with Him for three years, or He is standing right in front of us -we need faith...But faith is not easy for adults...And for some it might seem, that God has become silent again for many years...But Jesus is alive and is giving us faith, hope, and love through the Holy Spirit and guiding us to the Truth...
When we are young, its seems that we do not worry about these things -like overcoming an unbelief...We are mostly innocent and naive...The Light is brighter and our hopes and dreams are stronger...(I wonder if the soul replaces these childish hopes and dreams)...We do not seem to spend a whole lot of young thought or thoughts on increasing our faith, or overcoming our unbelief (or it least was not one of my top concerns in my childhood)...When we are young, we do talk like a child, think like a child, and reason like a child -and Jesus teaches (at least in an indirect way) this is good...Maybe when we are younger the Holy Spirit can easier guide us to Truth, than when we are adults...We do look at faith, hope, and love in a much different context -when we are young...When we become men, we put many, if not all of our childish ways behind us...We are more likely (when we are older) to think about increasing our faith, and overcoming our unbelief in God and His Son...I do not think faith is increased or decreased much in our childhood, and I do not think we give increasing our faith much concern...Faith, hope, and love in our childhood (it seems to me) to be "just" there...Faith just seems easier in our childhoods...These things like faith, hope, and love are "just" there, we do not sit down and reflect on them in our youth...And Jesus teaches us something very interesting -He says that the Kingdom of God belongs to these very children or to people such as children -who accept God in this naivete and innocence...He says that we must receive the Kingdom of God like a little child or we will never enter it...
Like Paul teaches us, we all grow out of our childhoods...We seem to gradually lose our childhood and have quite a different conscious or consciousness (from our childhood) and all of a sudden are awake to things like faith, hope, and love...And like the father of the sick child, we are certainly aware of our faith, or lack there of it...
Jesus teachings us these eternities...He teaches us what is valuable and what should be treasured in life...How we talked, thought, and reasoned in our childhood was and is very important -our childhood holds the key in getting us to the Kingdom of God...
After Jesus' death and resurrection a Hebrew Author wrote that faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see...We have all been like the father of the sick child...Faith can be difficult for adults...As adults, let's reframe the words when we have days of doubt...Let us say instead of help me overcome my unbelief -to LORD, I do believe, I put my confidence in You, I do have the mustard seed faith that You teach us...And give me the ability to receive your Kingdom as I did when I was a little child...Maybe as a child we know that our father and mother are "just" going to take care of us and we trust in that fact...Maybe, as Jesus teaches we to trust more in the Father and also in Him -like we trusted as when we were children...As a child we believe better in different things...We are more sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see...