Lord, Help My Unbelief

Do you have troubles that don't seem to subside? Maybe it's because you don't really believe in God's ability to handle your situation. Take your eyes off of the problem. Place your gaze on God. Cry out, "Lord, help me overcome my unbelief."

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Word today comes from the Gospel of Mark chapter nine beginning at verse nineteen. Mark chapter nine beginning at verse nineteen and I will be reading from the New International Version. And this is what the word says down from nineteen to verse twenty nine. 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. 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. Jesus asked 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. In other words, if I can, everything is possible for him who believes. Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, I do believe. Help me overcome my unbelief. 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. The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently, and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said he's dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up. After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, why couldn't we drive it out? He replied, This kind can come out only by prayer. So our noonday sermon topic today is Lord help my unbelief. Lord help my unbelief. This story in some form or another appears in Matthew, Luke, and here in Mark. So I would say go back and read it in all of those passages so that you get a full revelation of it. Last week we talked about faith and how it is impossible to please God without faith. Today we're talking about our belief system, our mind, what we are thinking about. Everything starts in the mind. Romans 10 talks about how belief works unto salvation. He says you've got to hear the word, then believe the word, then confess the word for salvation to be possible. And that is why it is paramount that we be so careful who we are listening to. At the beginning of this passage in Mark 9, I didn't read all of that. It says that when Jesus and Peter and James and John came down from the Mount of Transfiguration, where they were riding high on the word of God, they came upon the other disciples and a large crowd of people talking. Isn't that the way it is? We go to church, we feel good, and as soon as we leave, the devil tries to jump on us. No doubt a lot of them were talking very negatively. Evil and misguided things were probably being said. Because there in the midst of them, there was the man who had brought his son, who had an evil spirit, to the disciples to be healed, and they couldn't help him. So I imagine a lot of them, a lot of the people thought that Jesus and his disciples were hoaxes or pretenders, stump knockers. They weren't real. Jesus wasn't really real, and he couldn't do anything, nor could his disciples. So stay away from those crowds. Don't participate. Don't even listen. Protect your ears. Be careful little you know that the the the childhood song we used to sing, be careful little eyes what you see. Be careful little ears what you hear, hands what you do, feet where you go. For the father up above is looking down in love, so be careful. This applies to us as well. And so be careful who you listen to. But the crowd apparently had riled up the man, and he was all too willing to report to Jesus that the disciples, your disciples, couldn't help me. I brought my son to them and they couldn't do anything. And Jesus' response was O unbelieving generation, how long shall I stay with you? But it was not to criticize or to rebuke them, but to let them know that they had to have faith in Him. You can't be unbelieving and expect good results. In the Matthew passage of this story, Jesus tells them that if they have faith the size of a mustard seed, that they could say to the mountain, speak to the mountain, and it would move. In other words, the mountains in our lives can move when we believe in God's power to move them, not in what we can do, but rather having the faith that with God all things are possible. Stop looking at your problem, stop fearing the mountain in your life. Stop talking about it so much, complaining about it, but look to God in faith and tell your mountain, mountain, you have to move because I know a man. I know Jesus. He's been the fourth man in my fire, time after time. You know how the Hebrew boys were in the fiery furnace? And the king says, I thought we put three in there, but I see a fourth one that looks like the Son of Man. Yeah. Jesus has been the fourth man in our fire time after time after time. So speak to your mountain in faith. The man brought his son to Jesus and something striking happens. The demon that was in the man really went to acting up, going crazy and making the boy convulse and fall on the ground. Don't you know that demons and evil spirits recognize Jesus? They know who he is, and they recognize his power and authority. They know Jesus is the Son of God. As those created in the Imago Day, us, the image of God, created, we are created in the image of God, shouldn't we recognize Jesus as well and be reverent of him? But no, we doubt. I've never seen it anywhere in the Bible where a spirit, evil spirit, doubted that it was Jesus. Now when the sons of Skeva, who did not know Jesus, tried to use his name, the spirits knew better. And they came out and they whipped those sons. The spirits know Jesus. Shouldn't we know who Jesus is? Yes, we should. Absolutely we should. But then the word says in verse twenty one. Jesus asked 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. And Jesus was looking at the man like what if I can do anything, do you know who I am? He says. In other words, you know, everything is possible for him who believes. Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, I do believe. Help me unovercome my unbelief. Help us, Lord. Help us overcome our unbelief and believe in your power to handle any situation we encounter, any issue, any challenge. Jesus spoke to the demons right there, so that all could see. It says You deaf and mute spirit, he said, I command you come out of him and never enter him again. The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently, and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said he's dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up. Sometimes our situations seem dead, look dead, feel dead, but God can breathe life into any dead thing. Trust him. And finally, when they got alone, the disciples asked Jesus, why could they not drive out the demon? They asked him, Why couldn't we do that? You know, they had been given authority to heal and to cast out demons, so why couldn't they do it this time? And Jesus basically told them that they needed effective prayer. Effective prayer, the prayers of a righteous man availeth much. The fervent, effective prayers of a righteous man. And in other versions it says, even of times at times fasting, and what good does fasting do? It helps eliminate the distractions around us in our lives to increase our faith and belief in the Almighty, the one who can do it all. So today, if you're feeling weak and helpless, maybe it's because you've been looking at your mountain, your problem. You've been focusing on that, your issue, your challenge, concentrating on that too much. Cry out to the Lord, change your gaze, say, Lord, help my unbelief and turn your focus and gaze onto Jesus. Ephesians 3 and 20 says that God is able. So we need to let God do a work in us and through us. It's our faith and our belief that turns on the power of God to do his work. Because the people wouldn't believe on him. Isn't that sad? When Jesus healed so many and helped so many and cast out demons and delivered so many that others could not get anything because they were unwilling to believe. Lord, help my unbelief. God bless you. Let us pray. Lord, we thank you for the word today that reminds us that with you all things are possible. We can't do it, Lord. We don't have any power. But you have all we need, everything we need, and so we need to turn to you. And you never get tired of us asking or believing, you never get overwhelmed or anxious or overloaded because you are God. So we don't need to worry about any of that. We just need to turn it all over to you. We thank you, Lord, for what you're doing in the midst of our situation right now. We praise you, we glorify you, and we're thankful that you are in our lives. Now strengthen us, Lord. Strengthen us, give us more faith and help our unbelief. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen, everybody. Thank you for being with us today. I know that some of you had some challenges probably coming in and you got in a little late. No worries, I will send out the recorded copy to each of you, and I hope you have a blessed day. Now unto him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God, our Savior, be glory, majesty, dominion, and power both now and forevermore, let us all say, Amen. Lord, help my unbelief. Go and be great for God.