Young People's Group

“BELIEVE!”

by Pastor Mitch
November 09, 2014

“If You Can Do Anything …”

Deep and dark doubts can come and plague our faith if we are not on our guard against them. This is especially a problem when we have been seeking something from the Lord for quite some time but the answer is still not forthcoming. This could be clearly seen in the father with a spirit-possessed son in the text of Mark 9. He had tried so many times to help his son. This mute spirit had possessed his son since his childhood and had tried to kill him. The father must have done everything he could to save his son, and yet he was still not delivered. And so with this background, the father asked the Lord Jesus whether He could do anything to help his son.

“But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 
Mark 9:22

The sense of this phrase is that he doubted whether the Lord could help at all. He did not have much hope with regards to the healing of his son. The disciples of the Lord Jesus could not help. Would the Master of these disciples be able to help? The problem with this man was his inability to believe that Jesus could help. Sometimes we can struggle with a problem for so long that we doubt whether there can be any help from God.

“If You Can Believe …”

“Jesus said to him, ‘If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.'” 
Mark 9:23

The Lord Jesus reiterated the same conditional sentence to the father. The issue at hand was not whether He would be able to help. The greater concern was whether the father of this child had the faith to believe that Jesus indeed could help him. There are great possibilities awaiting us when we can exercise faith in the Lord Jesus. There was nothing wrong with the ability of the Lord Jesus. The problem lay with the father. Everything is possible (within the will of God) to anyone who really believes and continues in his faith. The emphasis is on the one who believes. If we truly believe, nothing is impossible.

“Lord I Believe …”

“Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, ‘Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.'”
Mark 9:24

The father of the child was deeply challenged by the words of the Lord Jesus. He tried his best to exercise faith. He cried out with tears and with some faith in the Lord. In his earlier plea for help, he did not use the title “Lord”. But in this second instance, he called Jesus “Lord”. He exercised some more faith in the Lord Jesus. And yet, he knew that he was still struggling with doubts. He sincerely asked the Lord to help with his unbelief. The Lord heard his cry and cast out the spirit in the boy.

“But Prayer And Fasting …”

“This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” 
Mark 9:29

The disciples of the Lord Jesus came to Jesus and asked why they could not cast out the demon. The Lord’s reply was that this kind of spirit can only be exorcised through great prayer effort. Faith and prayer go very much together. The challenge was for the disciples to develop their faith further. Only if they had developed their faith and put in greater prayer effort, would there be power from the Lord. Young people, let’s develop our faith even more. Let’s seek to commit our challenges and doubts to God in prayer. He can help us overcome them.

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