When Faith Feels Weak: Help My Unbelief

What do you do when you believe God… but your faith feels weak?

In Season 5, Episode 2 of Faithfully Invested, Allen and Stacy Jo Thorne unpack the honest tension many believers face: trusting Jesus while feeling tired, uncertain, or emotionally worn down.

Drawing from Mark 9 and the prayer “I believe; help my unbelief,” this episode reminds us that weak faith does not disqualify us — it invites Jesus to meet us with compassion and power.

If you’re believing for breakthrough, clarity, healing, or direction and the wait has been heavy, this episode will encourage you to bring your faith — even when it feels thin — honestly before Jesus.

📜 Key Scriptures

• Mark 9:23–24
• 2 Corinthians 12:9
• Matthew 11:28–30
• Matthew 17:20

✨ Key Takeaways

• Weak faith is not failure
• Jesus responds to honesty, not perfection
• Prayer is our first response, not a last resort
• Faith grows stronger in community, not isolation

📝 Weekly Challenge

This week, pray simply:

“Jesus, help me with my unbelief.”

Not as a confession of failure — but as an invitation for Him to meet you where you are.

🎧 Featured Resource: Reviving Recovery: Unbound

Led by Allen & Stacy Jo Thorne, this experience focuses on inner healing, truth identity, Spirit-led journaling, and freedom in Christ.

👉 Learn more: www.revivingrecovery.com
📘 Reviving Recovery: Unbound book & journal available on Amazon:  

Book:  https://a.co/d/imXJdy9  

Journal:  https://a.co/d/eoKXpgw

🙏 Prayer & Community

Need prayer or support?
Visit faithfullyinvested.com to submit a prayer request — we would be honored to pray for you.

The Kingdom LeadHERship Conference 2026 is happening January 31st in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. This one-day, Spirit-led experience is for Christian women in business and leadership who are ready to step boldly into their God-given calling.

🎟️ Tickets are limited. Sponsorships are available.

👉 Get your ticket now:   www.acbw.org

Reviving Recovery: Unbound starts online Monday, February 2nd at 7:00 PM We worship, we learn, we break out into gender specific groups and we journal with. Each other and with the Holy Spirit. If your heart is stirring listening to this, pay attention Healing begins here. Click the link below to join us at Reviving Recovery Unbound starting February 2nd.

www.revivingrecovery.com

See you in the room!

Transcript

0:01

Are you ready to build a life, business and legacy that truly lasts? Welcome to Faithfully Invested with Allen and Stacy Jo Thorne, where Faith meets real talk. Biblical wisdom meets everyday life and leadership meets laughter. Together we will uncover God's blueprint for leadership, marriage, and mission, helping faith-driven leaders invest in what matters most. Each episode, we explore biblical wisdom, have real conversations, and of course, have some fun along the way because let's be real. Walking in faith is an adventure. It sure is. So pull up a seat, grab your coffee or your sweet tea, and join us as we steward our callings with intention, because when we invest in his kingdom, he brings the increase. Hey, welcome back to Faithfully Invested. I'm Allen, and this lovely lady is my blessed wife, Stacy Jo. And today we're talking about something that most believers don't want to admit out loud. The seasons, uh, when our faith doesn't feel strong. Mm. Uh, we don't know. I want to admit that, huh? Right? Yeah. Hey, Bob. How you doing? Fine. How's your faith today? Hmm. Great. Not so good. I'll be praying for you. Bye boy. Now, yeah. At the moments when you're praying, but you feel shaky. Yeah. That's what we're talking about today. When you're believing, but the doubt sometimes is louder than your confidence or your God confidence. Yeah. You're showing up, but inside you're thinking, Lord, I wanna believe, but right now, this is all I got. Yeah. If you've ever felt that tension where your heart wants to trust God, but your emotions are like, you know, scattered distractions today is for you. And we're not here to pretend like faith always feels bold or steady because we know that it doesn't. Yeah. Sometimes it feels like a whisper, you know? Um, where we have to whisper to him, Jesus, would you just meet me where I am? Yeah. And the incredible thing is. He does. He does every time. So this episode is going to give you permission to be human while you're walking out supernatural faith. Settle in, take a deep breath, and let's talk honestly about what it looks like to stand even when your faith feels paper thin. Yeah. And I have experienced that. Absolutely. And uh, I love how you just talk honestly, and it sounds. Common, but you know, God, he actually requires honesty. Yeah. And he knows, you know, he's, he knows everything. We've, he knows it all. We've, he knows it all, everything we've done, we're doing and what we're gonna do. So, uh, I think we're always just better off to, you know, let him know what he already knows. Mm-hmm. You know, he, he requires honesty. Yeah. But the, uh, so, so what's the challenge? The challenge that we're unpacking today, uh, it shows up right in, uh, mark chapter nine. Uh, when the, uh, we read about a desperate father who comes to Jesus for help with his afflicted son and says to the savior, Messiah, uh, if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. To which Jesus replies, if you can. Emphasis on the if Yeah, if you can. And this is, this is, this is Jesus saying this, and it's, it's not a question mark, it's an, and and actually in, in the three translations, I checked it out. It's, it's, there's an exclamation mark at the end of that if you can. Uh, yeah. And then he follows it up with the. But ge, my point with that is Jesus isn't condemning the man. No. He's like, he's, he's like, he's not pridefully coming at the guy. What do you mean? If I can, right? If I can. That's true. Yeah. Yeah. He's like, if you can. All things are possible for those who believe. Yeah, Jesus says, and the concerned Father then responds, uh, by saying the often quoted line. We all, we all probably know this part, I believe, but help me with my unbelief. Mm. And there it is. The one ex, this one exclamation captures the tension that every one of us has felt. We believe that God can, we believe that God is able. But when life gets heavy, when the battle gets long, when the outcome looks uncertain, we wonder, we doubt. Come on, if we're, if you're honest, be honest. You doubt. We wonder in unbelief. Rises, unbelief creeps in and it doesn't rise because we don't trust God's authority and power. It rises because the situation seems louder than the promise. Right? Friends, the enemy of our soul wants to use that sliver of doubt against us for as long as we allow him to. Yeah. And this is where we hit the challenge. Do you stand in faith when everything in you feels weak? How do you pray when you're exhausted? How do you believe? How do you believe when disappointment has numbed you? Mm mm How do you hold on when your faith feels like you're hanging on by one tiny little thread, right? This passage showed us something really powerful, and it's that Jesus isn't intimidated by a weakened faith. No. He's not intimidated at all. And you can notice in that passage that Jesus like, like you said, Jesus doesn't shame the Father, right? He doesn't rebuke him for his honesty. He just meets him where he is at with compassion because that's who he is. He is a compassionate father and. This means that the real challenge is not the weakness of our faith. Right? But it's our refusal to bring that weakness honestly before Jesus. Mm. That's good, babe. The, uh, how'd you say that again? I said that our, it's our refusal to bring that weakness honestly before Jesus. Yeah. That's what we need to do. Yeah. Bring, bring our weakness before him. Bring our, our broken parts before him. You know, that's, that's a bla moment. That's a blammo quote right there. So we're gonna not a blammo today blammo, because you nailed that. I love that. We, we, we, as the finite creations have to bring our broken parts to'em and, and our, our unbelief to'em. Uh, because we are, we aren't able. Right. So, and that reminds me of, you know,'cause I'm just chock full of weaknesses as a, as a finite creation. Uh, and. Yeah, we are, we are. And I remember, uh, what, what Paul writes in 2 Corinthians concerning Jesus' power being made perfect in his weakness. Paul declares therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ will rest upon me. Yeah. And that is the foundational strength and authority that we should stand on for sure. Some of, uh, yeah, some of you out there right now. You're living it. We're living it. We're living it. And we're, uh, and this is, and we've said this before, I've said this before on this podcast several times that this isn't, we're not, we didn't get all this information out of a book. We've lived this, this, what we speak on here is our life experience that we're sharing with you. So, uh, in, in hopes that. It helps you, uh, better navigate your challenges. So if you're, uh, believing for something, maybe you're believing for a healing, a breakthrough, a restoration, or clar or, or God's clarity mm-hmm. You know what he has to say about it. Uh, and sometimes the longer it takes, the heavier the doubt feels, the circumstances start arguing. In your mind and in and, and in you. Uh, circumstances are louder than your prayers. You know what I'm talking about. I know exactly what you're talking about. I know you know what I'm talking about. I feel like I've been living, and I know, you know, that I feel like I've been living that for the last few weeks, and I know I said it on the last episode too, but yeah, it's, yeah. And as, yeah, that breakthrough, that restoration, that clarity for me, clarity for me is what? Um, I, I've been, I've been waiting on, I've been seeking is the clarity. Right. And as, and as we get caught up in, uh, the circumstances. Mm-hmm. Uh, and they, and they, they do. Appear to be louder. The, the mountain seems bigger than the man, the one who moves the mountain or the one who created the mountain. And, and then if we, if we shift our, if our focus is shifting there, past disappointment, show up, uh, and the enemy starts beating us up. Yeah. Yeah. With unwanted evidence. And the enemy is just convincing us with the lies that, hey. This time's not gonna be any different than the last time was. Yeah. It's never gonna, it's never gonna get any better than this. But, but I wanna, I wanna say something about that because, you know, as I was going through this this week, you, you reminded me, doesn't God show up every time? Doesn't he see us here every time? And I'm like, yeah, he does. But, but the enemy really wanted me to focus on. The problem. Yeah. Instead of the solution, they place challenge. Oh, yes. I'm sorry. The challenge. Challenge, right? Yes. We don't say we're, we're not supposed to say problem, we're supposed to say challenge. We don't say. Right. But the enemy wanted me to focus on the challenge as opposed to the solution. Right. And I needed somebody to remind me. Yeah. That. Doesn't he always show up? Doesn't he always do what he says he's gonna do? And he does? Yeah, he really does. But the enemy will lie to us. He'll lie to us for as long as we're willing to receive those lies. So what? What voice are we listening to? Right? Uh, and distractions. And, and this isn't condemning for, for us or isn't, we hope it's not condemning on, on you. You know, we, we all get distracted and the, the enemy is the master of distractions. You know, even when we're praying, our mind will be running in circles, you know, and we want to believe. We wanna believe in God fully, but there's a war inside us that won't stop with the lies and the what ifs and the distractions, all the wow that enemy of our soul, you know, he's got us right where he wants us. Uh, and our faith that was once strong, maybe just yesterday, maybe just earlier today, it seems to fade to black. Yeah. And then there's the emotional exhaustion that nobody talks about. You know, the fatigue that comes from fighting the battles that nobody sees. You can be in church, and I, and I've done this, you can be in church worshiping with your hands raised, but inside you're asking, God, where are you? And why isn't this shifting yet? Yeah. You know how many times I, I can't even count how many times I have felt that. And thought that, but the father that, you know, you just spoke about Mark nine, the father wasn't dealing with doubt. He was dealing with years of disappointment. Yeah. He had watched his son suffer again and again and again and again, and he had tried everything he had hoped before and by the time he got to Jesus. Yeah. He wasn't full of bold faith, he was full of fear and he was full of exhaustion. And that is real life. And that's where a lot of believers live silently. Yeah, and that's where I have lived silently at times as well. Yeah, you're not the only one, babe. I'm sometimes not so silently, but usually silent, sometimes not so silently, sometimes silently. And there's also a layer of shame that's attached with that weak in faith because mm-hmm. As, as believers, we, we think that if I'm struggling to believe, then I'm must be failing spiritually. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So instead of asking for help when we're, when we're caught in that lie, we, we hide and we isolate, and that is the worst place to be. Isolation. The worst place to be. Yeah. Isolation. The worst, the worst, the worst place to to be, place to be. Uh, when the enemy can get us and keep us isolated, he can easily dismantle our faith the rest of the way and finish taking us out. Mm-hmm. Um, so weak faith gets weaker in isolation. Doubt becomes louder in silence, and the enemy always attacks most fiercely, most ferociously when we're alone. In our thoughts. Yikes. That is so true. And that's so true. That's in, in, in this Mark nine account. That's why Jesus doesn't just heal the boy he teaches. He uses this because that's what Jesus does. He teaches, he teaches the disciples about spiritual authority and the importance of community in the middle of the battle and for us. No, there's no struggle. There's no circumstances where we're meant to fight alone. Right. We're not meant to go through any of our challenges alone. Right. It sounds cliche, but there is. There. We find unity in community. Yeah. We'll come back to that. Yeah. The solution Jesus gives us in this passage is layered, but it's incredibly encouraging. First, he shows us. That honesty is spiritual strength. When the father said, help my unbelief, he wasn't failing. He was opening the door for Jesus to meet him in the exact place where he felt weak. Yeah. Meeting him where he was and some of the strongest prayers you, you will ever pray, sound like, Lord, this is all I have. Please just meet me here. Mm-hmm. Have you ever prayed that because I have prayed that when I. Have been on my knees or on my face, on the kitchen floor, crying out to God, Lord, this is all I have. Just meet me here. Yeah. You know? And Jesus responds to honesty. He responds to humility. He responds to dependence. Dependence on him, not on each other, on this earth, but dependence to him. Yeah. On him. And. Remember what he said in Matthew 11:28-29. He said, come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Yeah. He goes on to say, take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart. And you will find rest for your souls. Yeah. What peace we can gain from that. Yeah. That, um, take my yoke upon you and learn from me. That was, I was. Really, it was last year. He really accentuated that through 2024 for me, and it carried into 2025. And it's, it's more that the entirety of 11:28-29 and actually 30 is is a life verse, but really the take my yoga upon you, he says, and learn from me. And if that's all we ever do is. Give him our burdens and learn from him. Then we're doing pretty good. We are doing pretty good because, uh, Jesus, he teaches us that, uh, our faith doesn't need to be strong to be effective. The word says as if you have faith as strong as, as, as small as a mustard seed. Mm-hmm. Then you can say to that mountain move and it will, it'll move. Yeah. Uh, so we don't need to have super strong faith. We don't, uh, it. Yeah. To be effective, we, we are effective. Our faith becomes effective the more that we keep returning our gaze to Christ Jesus, our Lord. Yeah. So we just have to offer our faith toward him. The boy's father didn't come with perfect faith. He came, he came with a surrender faith. Oh yeah. He said, help me. Yeah, help. He's like, help me understand this. Help me with my unbelief. And he'd been through the ringer with this, with this son like you. You touched on. Mm-hmm. Um. So surrendered faith and with that surrendered faith, Jesus moved weak faith in the hands of a strong savior is powerful. Amen. Yeah. So we don't stand, we don't stand because our faith is flawless. There. There's nothing flawless about us. And if, if. Anyway, we won't get into that. There's nothing flawless about us. It's not a, it's not a flawless faith that the Lord's looking for. Uh, we stand because the one in whom we have our faith, the one in whom we're trusting, he's faithful to us. If we could only be as faithful to him as he is to us, we're golden. In fact, we are golden because we're new creations, but Right. That's a different podcast for another time. And Jesus takes the little bit that we have and he multiplies it. He doesn't add to it. He multiplies it with his power and his authority. Mm. Yeah. And another part of the solution is spiritual authority. Mm-hmm. Jesus tells the disciples that certain battles, especially the ones that feel. Completely overwhelming. Yeah. Require prayer and spiritual alignment. And this isn't about striving, you know, we've talked about that before. We've, we've talked about the fact it's not about striving, it's about posturing yourself in the presence of God, so that your spirit gets aligned with his spirit and the authority instead of being overwhelmed by the circumstances. So, did you know that prayer? Should not be our last resort. Did you know that? I did know that. It should be our first response. Our first response, right to everything. It should not be our last resort. I, you know, I hear people say, all I can do is pray. Well, that should be the first thing you do is pray. Oh, it should be our first response to any circumstance. It's how, that's how we step into the authority Jesus has already given us as his believing followers. Right. That's how we step into that authority. And there's usually the, when that's said by, by a believing follower. Yeah. That's usually set in such a, a, a pathetic tone. Right. Well, all we can do now is pray. It's like ior. Yeah. You know, and here comes Tigger. Well then we better pray. Right? Well, we don't, anyway, so yeah. It's all about, it's about the posture of our heart. Right. You know, and wow, wow. Am I speaking to myself here? Mm-hmm. You know, but, uh, but Jesus, we do that often on the show. We speak to ourselves often on the show. We do. And then I, I love this, uh, these two words, but Jesus, yes. He also demonstrates that breakthrough is rarely individual, but breakthrough is, it happens in community. Mm-hmm. Is when we look at the Mark 9 account with, with the, um. With the boy's father, uh, the disciples were present. There was, there was a crowd present. Jesus was present. Uh, and the boy's father was transparent. He didn't, he didn't hide his struggle. He didn't come in pretending, uh, he just needed a solution. Uh, and some of you listening need to hear this, so don't miss this. Faith gets stronger. In community faith gains momentum in community. We're not meant to carry our burdens in isolation. We're not meant to carry our burdens, period. Right. Jesus came to relieve us of those burdens, and if that sounds cliche to you, let me say it again. Jesus came. And bore your burdens on the cross. Release that to him so that you might receive his truth for you. Yeah, so we're not meant to carry our burdens, and we're certainly not to meant, meant to carry the burdens in isolation. We need people. Boy, did I not like to hear that one because I came from a a, a. Long, many, many years in isolation. But let me tell you, we need people. We need each other. We need people who can lift us up when our faith feels thin, when our circumstances seem heavy. We need people who can pray with us and stand with us and speak truth over us when our own thoughts are eaten us alive from the inside out. Friends, don't let the enemy isolate you. Believe me, I have lived in isolation for more times, more years than I care to recall when I was bound many years ago in addiction. And I've come to realize, I've come to believe that we need community. So in that, I'll, I'll turn this back over to you, babe. Check this out. The last five letters of community is U-N-I-T-Y. Unity. That's we will find unity in community. Actually community is common. Unity. We'll have people or find common unity in community. Yeah, so there it is. So the solution is, is threefold. It's honesty, it's spiritual authority, and it's supportive community. So bring your weakness to Jesus. Anchor yourself in prayer and let people know when you're struggling. I know it's not always easy. Sometimes it's really tough. Yeah. But that's when you gotta check the pride. And that's a whole, that's a whole nother podcast. But this is how faith stands in seasons when it feels weak. It's not by pretending to be strong, but by staying connected to the one, the only one who is Yeah. It's not his, it's not our strength that's gonna see us through. That's right. You know, we're finite creatures living under an infinite God. Mm-hmm. Living under and in his authority. And he's the one who will see us through when we decide to release. Hmm, the challenges to him and follow him through them. So we, we always like to, as we're winding down, we always like to leave you with a, a challenge for the week. So here's your challenge for the week. If there's any area, and I I say if, uh, if there's any area, there's an area in your life where your faith feels tired. Where it feels weak, where? Where you feel overwhelmed. This week we encourage you to pray the same prayer that the boy's father prayed in Mark 9. Just say, Jesus, would you help me with my unbelief? Say it when you wake up, say it before you go to bed. Say it in the middle of the tension, not as a confession of failure. Yeah, because. Under an in Christ authority as believers in Christ, we are not failures. We are never defined by our failures. That's right. We are sons and daughters of the one. True And living God. So our confession that we need Him is not a confession of failure, but it's an invitation to Jesus Christ to meet us where we are. Yeah, and don't do it alone. Again, reach out to someone you trust. Let them know you're battling doubt. I am blessed to have my husband, of course, but I am also blessed to have a group of women who I can reach out to at any given time and say, Hey, I need prayer. I'm struggling. I'm, you know, I'm dealing with this, or I'm dealing with that. I'm dealing with doubt. Right. You know, the enemy loves to come in, especially I, I don't wanna say especially, but as business owners, as a business owner, the enemy loves. To just come jab you with doubt. He does. And he does. Especially when, when the Lord placed that business. Yeah. For He gave you that business. Mm-hmm. He, he birthed that business And, and what And anything that the, the Lord created in this case, the Lord created through you. Freedom, support solutions. Mm-hmm. And the association of Christian Businesswomen and everything that the Lord creates, the enemy attempts to corrupt. For sure. I have a mentor that says, the enemy will always attack you at your highest calling. Yeah. And it's true. So it is, you know, surround yourself with community. Ask them to pray for you. Let the enemy lose his grip by refuting. By refusing to fight in silence.'cause silence won't help anything. Yeah. Weak faith does not disqualify you. It positions you for a deeper encounter with Jesus. Mm. I'm gonna repeat that. Weak faith does not disqualify you. It positions you for a deeper encounter with Jesus. Yeah, because he will meet you in the cracks. He will strengthen what's fragile? I, I picture a, I picture a stained glass window. You know all those pieces of glass last? He is the molding between them. Right? He's what strengthens that glass? The steel, the structure. The structure? Yeah. That, that glass could not be held together if it wasn't for that. Whatever that material was. Steel. I'm not even really sure. Steel. It is steel. Steel. It's steel. Yeah. So without that, that glass is fragile and he strengthens that. Yeah. And, and he will do the same for you. And he holds steady. What? You can't hold together on your own. Just like that stained glass. Right. He holds it together. He does hold it together. Yeah. And when we realize that he is the only thing holding it together and, and when we're, and when we finally reach the end of ourselves where we realize I can't hold this together. He's the one who holds it together and he's just saying, Hey, take my yoke upon you and learn from me. Hey, gimme that. Gimme that. Yeah. Take my y upon you. Give, give me your burden. Mm-hmm. You appear to be heavy laden. Give me your burden. And here, here's, here's my yoke. Mm-hmm. Let's move forward from here together. Mm-hmm. And hey, learn from me. Yeah.'cause I have so much to teach you about you and the journey and the plan that my father has for you. Yeah. So friends, we thank you so much for tuning in today. We thank you for taking, uh, time outta your day to spend with us. And, and we believe that this episode has touched a tender place in many of you. And we want to know where, where, where we can be praying for you, where we can be praying for you. How can we be praying for you? So. How did, how is Jesus meeting you with, with compassion, strength, and clarity in the very places of where your faith feels thin? So drop us a message, uh, and let us know, yeah. How he's moving in your life. This is how he's moving in ours and has moved in ours and continues to move in ours. How's he moving in your life? Or how do you need, or what do you need us to pray for, right in your life? Because again, we, you know, we believe in community. So we would be honored to pray for you. Yeah, absolutely. You can just go to faithfully invested.com and you can fill out a form there and let us know. Absolutely. We wanna be lifting you up. So as always, you know, keep your eyes on him, even if all you have is a whisper of faith because he honors that whisper he does every time. And remember, stay faithfully invested because when you do, God brings, God brings the the increase, increase. Take care. God bless. Thanks for joining us on Faithfully Invested with Allen and Stacy Jo, if today's conversation encouraged you, challenged you, or helped you see your calling more clearly, don't keep it to yourself. That's right. Share it with a friend. Leave a five star review and keep leaning into God's blueprint for your life, your leadership, and your legacy. So until next time, remember, when you invest in his kingdom, he brings the increase.